The Vicar Of Dibley

BBC1

From Oh Brother to Father Ted, priests and vicars have been the staple part of British comedy over the years but in 1994 a new twist was introduced, the female vicar.

Female vicars were a fairly new concept in Britain at the time and indeed even today are still frowned upon by the traditionalists.  This concept was picked up by Richard Curtis, he of Four Weddings & A Funeral fame.

The combination of Richard’s sharp and typically British script and the comedy talent of the cast made The Vicar of Dibley a huge hit for the BBC.  At the helm was Dawn French who played Geraldine Granger, a friendly, bubbly, down to earth vicar with a fondness for her flock as well as handsome men and chocolate!

Aiding Geraldine was ditzy verger; Alice who lets face it was as daft as a brush.  Alice’s constant rambling and child like views of life were both a joy to behold and damn right hilarious to boot.

In each episode Geraldine would chair the local parish council meeting in the Church hall.  Sitting in on the meeting would be a number of the village dignitaries such as Lord of the Manor, David Horton and his son Hugo. Then there was Owen, the foul mouthed farmer, the indecisive Jim, camp Frank and finally dodgy cook and wartime tart Letitia.

David started the series as a pompous man hell bent of getting rid of Geraldine but her charms won him over and towards the end of the series he actually fell in love with her.  Living with David at the start was his son Hugo, a much nicer chap, who was still wet behind the ears.  Hugo had a bit of crush on Alice and as the series progressed they married and had loads of children!

Owen, had an extremely foul mouth on him and an abrasive nature. Jim was the Arkwright of the piece. When asked a question he would answer; “No, no, no, no, no…. Yes!”.  Frank was a rather wimpish old man, who at one stage seemed to be showing gay tendencies, was know for his long winded speeches.  He also was the Minute taker at the weekly meetings.  Then last but by no means least there was dotty Letitia, who's cooking was very risky to say the least.  Plum & Spinach Pie anyone?  Later on in the series we found out that Letitia was a bit of a slapper in her younger days. 

Unlike some BBC comedies of the day, The Vicar of Dibley did mix the jolly comedy with rather more sombre material, from Letitia’s death in 1996 to Geraldine’s battle to end her loneliness, but viewers were treated to something altogether different on New Years Day, 2005.

The Vicar of Dibley ended on a high in 2000, with all the loose ends tied up.  Then in 2004, the BBC had a one off Sitcom Award night.  Crashing in unexpectedly near the top of the pile was The Vicar of Dibley.  The BBC and Richard got together and trashed out plans for a few more specials.

The first one aired on Christmas Day 2004 and, unlike recent Only Fools & Horses episodes was actually very funny.  The country then settle back for the second episode on New Year’s Day but were in for a bit of a shock.  This particular episode started with Geraldine going Speed Dating but an underlying plot centred around collecting money for charity. Things then got bit weird.  The comedy went well over he top before suddenly stopping all together.

Geraldine showed her friends a short video on her laptop of a couple of African children dying of AIDS. The camera then pulled back to show Geraldine and co, emotionally moved. The programme then ended, no titles, nothing.  The next day, the BBC were swapped with emails and messages, half of them condemning the fact that comedy shouldn't be sacrificed in this way, whilst the rest praised the BBC for a thought provoking piece of television.

Geraldine and the gang returned for another Christmas outing in 2006.  This time everything was upbeat, with our favourite Vicar falling in love with a dashing man who wanted to take her up the aisle!  Oh, behave!   The final two episodes managed to draw in over 12 million viewers.
 

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Credits Jason D'Arcy ©TV Fetish 2005-2007