Music Coles learned to play the
saxophone,
clarinet and keyboards. He moved to London in 1980 where he played in theatre. which won the
Grierson Award. Coles joined
Bronski Beat (initially on saxophone) in 1983. Somerville left Bronski Beat, and in 1985 he and Coles formed
the Communards, The band split in 1988, and Somerville went solo.
Church ministry , Northamptonshire Coles provided narration for
the Style Council's film
JerUSAlem in 1987 and also started a career as a writer, particularly with the
Times Literary Supplement and the
Catholic Herald. He took up religion in his late twenties, after "the best of times, the worst of times" pop success and the deaths of friends as a result of
HIV. From 1991 to 1994 he studied for a BA in theology at
King's College London. While at university, Coles became a
Roman Catholic and remained so for the next ten years before returning to
Anglicanism in 2001. Coles was selected for training for the
priesthood in the
Church of England and began his training at the
College of the Resurrection,
Mirfield, West Yorkshire, in 2003. He was
ordained in 2005. Coles was an inspiration for the character of Adam Smallbone (played by
Tom Hollander) in the
BBC Two sitcom
Rev. and was also an advisor to the show. Coles mentions in his book
Fathomless Riches that he is also the inspiration for the character "Tom" in the
Bridget Jones novels. In January 2011, Coles was appointed as vicar of St Mary the Virgin,
Finedon, in the
Diocese of Peterborough. Since 2011, Coles has been on the board of Wellingborough Homes, a social enterprise providing housing and community support for the
Borough of Wellingborough and, after its name change to Greatwell Homes, became its Patron. In 2012, Coles was awarded an honorary doctorate by the
University of Northampton and also became a fellow of the
Royal Society of Arts. In 2016, he was awarded an honorary
DLitt by the
University of Warwick. In 2019, he was appointed Honorary Chaplain to the
Worshipful Company of Leathersellers. In July 2017, Coles was elected a fellow of
King's College London and separately as chancellor of the
University of Northampton. Coles retired as vicar of Finedon on
Low Sunday 2022. Looking back on his time as a "half-time vicar", he said: How do you do all the things you do?' I am frequently asked, and the answer is by neglecting important things and disappointing people. I was once called in the middle of the night to attend a parishioner's deathbed and I could not because I was in Glasgow doing
Celebrity Antiques Road Trip. I found someone to cover, but it should have been me." He explained: "I will still be a priest, I will always be a priest, and I will minister where I am able. Next month I am going to my first conference of prison chaplains and I hope I can make myself useful as a volunteer with inmates in the criminal justice system." In April 2022, Coles announced that he retired from parish duties due to the Church of England reputedly increasingly excluding
gay couples, and what he described as its "
conservative, punchy and
fundamentalist" direction.
Writing Biography On 1 November 2012 (
All Saints' Day), Darton, Longman and Todd published Coles's book
Lives of the Improbable Saints, illustrated by Ted Harrison, a précis of the life stories of nearly 200 lesser-known saints. In the following year volume two,
Legends of the Improbable Saints, was published. In 2014, the first volume of his memoirs,
Fathomless Riches, was published by
Weidenfeld & Nicolson (W&N). A follow-up volume,
Bringing in the Sheaves, was published in 2016.
Fiction In June 2022, Coles's debut novel
Murder Before Evensong was released. It is the first in the
cozy mystery series about Canon Daniel Clement, the
rector of the fictional village of Champton during the late 1980s and early 1990s, who becomes involved in the solving of local murders. Shortly after publication,
Murder Before Evensong was optioned for
a television adaptation, with Coles serving as an executive producer. Filming got underway on the adaptation in February 2025, with the series being released on 29 September 2025. The first Canon Clement sequel,
A Death in the Parish, was published on 8 June 2023. In 2023, Coles signed a deal with W&N to write three more Canon Clement books. The first of these,
Murder at the Monastery, was released in June 2024.
Broadcasting and media , 2012 Coles still works as a broadcaster, which he describes as "just showing off", on programmes including
Nightwaves on
BBC Radio 3, which he formerly presented, and
Newsnight Review on BBC Two. He has appeared on the Radio 4 panel game show
Heresy twice: first in May 2008 and then in May 2010. He had earlier guested regularly as a camp Robin Hood on
Dan and Nick: The Wildebeest Years. Coles has appeared eight times as a guest on the topical television news quiz
Have I Got News for You: in 1994, May 2009, May 2013, April 2016, June 2017, April 2020, May 2021, and December 2025. He presented a special edition of
Songs of Praise in January 2010. He regularly guest-hosted the Radio 4 programme
Saturday Live, while the regular host
Fi Glover was on maternity leave from 2008 to 2009. Coles replaced Glover permanently in 2011. On 1 September 2011, he presented a short piece on his home town and parish of Finedon for the Radio 4 programme
You and Yours. In December 2012, December 2013 and November 2014, Coles appeared as a guest on the BBC comedy quiz show
QI. In January 2014, he won the BBC's
Celebrity Mastermind, with his specialist subject being the
Mapp and Lucia novels of
E. F. Benson. Coles featured as the subject of
Fern Britton Meets... on BBC1 in December 2014. Since 2014 he has appeared regularly in the "Pause for Thought" slot on Radio 2's
The Chris Evans Breakfast Show, for which he won a Jerusalem Award in 2014. In July 2016, Coles appeared on the BBC cooking series
Celebrity Masterchef, finishing in fifth place. In December 2021, he once again appeared on the programme, this time winning the edition. In February 2017, he co-presented
The Big Painting Challenge with
Mariella Frostrup on BBC1. From September 2017, Coles was a contestant in the
15th series of BBC's
Strictly Come Dancing. He was paired with professional dancer
Dianne Buswell. They were the second couple to be eliminated after scoring 14 points for their
Paso Doble to the theme from
Flash Gordon – at the time, the lowest scoring Paso Doble in the history of the show. On 18 December 2017, Coles was a guest panellist on
the Christmas special of the eleventh series of BBC1 comedy quiz
Would I Lie to You?, hosted by
Rob Brydon. Coles was captain of a team from the
University of Leeds who were series champions on the BBC's
Christmas 2019 University Challenge. In December 2020 Coles was featured in the BBC series
Winter Walks, walking from
Sutton Bank to
Rievaulx Abbey. He said, "At the centre of what we do in order to be who we are, we need silence, we need retreat, we need contemplation." Coles appeared in a January 2021 episode of the
BBC Four series ''
Britain's Lost Masterpieces, discussing the story of the Magi in the gospels, in relation to a portrayal of Balthazar by Joos van Cleve. In August 2022, Coles appeared in the Channel 4 documentary Good Grief with Reverend Richard Coles'', discovering some of the different ways people deal with bereavement. From 7 to 11 November 2022 Coles guest-hosted Channel 4's game show
Countdown as part of its 40th-anniversary celebrations. On 22 March 2023,
The Guardian reported that Coles was disappointed to be leaving the BBC Radio 4
Saturday Live programme following that week's edition, due to the programme's relocation to
Cardiff. On 17 May 2024, he was featured on the podcast
Rosebud with Gyles Brandreth. From 21 November 2024, Coles was a contestant on the 2024 series of ''
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'', coming third to runner-up
Coleen Rooney and winner
Danny Jones. ==Personal life==