The Vicar of Dibley | |
---|---|
Genre | Sitcom |
Written by | |
Directed by |
|
Starring | |
Opening theme | "The Lord Is My Shepherd" |
Composer | Howard Goodall |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 3 |
No. of episodes | 20 (not including charity and lockdown specials) (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Producers |
|
Editors |
|
Running time |
|
Production company | Tiger Aspect Productions |
Original release | |
Network | BBC One |
Release | 10 November 1994 – 1 January 2000 |
Release | 24 December 2004 – 1 January 2007 |
The Vicar of Dibley is a British sitcom. It consists of three series, which aired on BBC One from 10 November 1994 to 1 January 2000, and several specials, the most recent of which aired on 23 December 2020. It is set in the fictional Oxfordshire village of Dibley, which is assigned a female vicar following the 1993 changes in the Church of England that permitted the ordination of women. Dawn French plays the lead role of vicar Geraldine Granger.
In ratings terms, it is among the most successful British programmes in the digital era, with the Christmas and New Year specials entering the UK top 10 programmes of the year. [1] [ failed verification ]The Vicar of Dibley received multiple British Comedy Awards, two International Emmys and was a multiple British Academy Television Awards nominee. In 2004, it placed third in a BBC poll of Britain's Best Sitcoms .
The series was created by Richard Curtis and written for actress Dawn French by Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer, with contributions from Kit Hesketh-Harvey. The main character was an invention of Richard Curtis, but he and French extensively consulted Joy Carroll, one of the first female Anglican priests, and garnered many character traits and much information. [2]
In earlier episodes, the opening credits were followed by a humorous village scene, such as a woman knitting directly from a sheep. [3]
After the closing credits, Geraldine usually tells Alice a joke, which Alice either overreacts to, tries to interpret literally, or understands only after Geraldine explains it. There are a few exceptions to this in various episodes.
Actor | Character | Episodes |
---|---|---|
Dawn French | Geraldine Granger | 20 (+ 6 Comic Relief & 4 Lockdown specials) |
Gary Waldhorn | Cllr David Horton MBE FRCS | 20 (+ 5 Comic Relief specials) |
James Fleet | Hugo Horton | 20 (+ 6 Comic Relief & 3 Lockdown specials) |
Emma Chambers | Alice Horton (née Tinker), the Verger | 20 (+ 4 Comic Relief specials) |
Roger Lloyd-Pack | Owen Newitt | 20 (+ 5 Comic Relief specials) |
Trevor Peacock | Jim Trott | 20 (+ 6 Comic Relief specials) |
John Bluthal | Frank Pickle | 20 (+ 3 Comic Relief specials) |
Liz Smith | Letitia Cropley | 7 |
Actor | Character | Episodes |
---|---|---|
Richard Armitage | Harry Kennedy | 2 (+ 1 Comic Relief special) |
Simon McBurney | Cecil, the Choirmaster | 4 |
Clive Mantle | Simon Horton | 2 |
Peter Capaldi | Tristan Campbell | 2 |
Patricia Kane | Doris Trott | 3 |
Keeley Hawes | Rosie Kennedy | 2 |
Edward Kelsey | Mr Harris | 2 |
Gareth Vaughan | Gonads, the tenor | 5 (4 of which uncredited) |
Hugh Bonneville, Mel Giedroyc, Richard Griffiths, Miranda Hart, Alistair McGowan, Geraldine McNulty, Philip Whitchurch, Nathalie Cox, Nicholas Le Prevost, Brian Perkins, and Roger Sloman have all made one guest appearance each.
Pam Rhodes, Kylie Minogue, Rachel Hunter, Terry Wogan, Jeremy Paxman, Martyn Lewis, Darcey Bussell and Sean Bean each appeared as themselves in one episode.
Sarah, Duchess of York, Richard Ayoade, Orla Brady, Fiona Bruce, Annette Crosbie, Johnny Depp, Ruth Jones, Hilary Kay, Damian Lewis, Maureen Lipman, Jennifer Saunders, Sting and his wife Trudie Styler, Stephen Tompkinson, Dervla Kirwan, and Emma Watson have made guest appearances in short charity specials.
Series | Episodes | Originally aired | Ave. UK viewers (millions) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | ||||
1 | 6 | 10 November 1994 | 15 December 1994 | TBA | |
Specials | 8 April 1996 | 25 December 1996 | TBA | ||
2 | 4 | 26 December 1997 | 22 January 1998 | TBA | |
3 | 4 | 24 December 1999 | 1 January 2000 | 13.53 | |
Specials | 25 December 2004 | 1 January 2005 | 12.05 | ||
Specials | 25 December 2006 | 1 January 2007 | 12.74 |
The Vicar of Dibley has had 20 episodes as of 2007, with additional short reprises consisting of Comic Relief and the In Lockdown minis.
The first series was broadcast on BBC1 from 10 November to 15 December 1994, comprising six episodes. Following the first series, an Easter special and a Christmas special were broadcast in 1996. A four-episode second series was ordered and screened between 26 December 1997 and 22 January 1998. Subsequent episodes consisted of Christmas and New Year specials, followed by a third series of four episodes, also referred to as seasonal specials as they have the titles Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer airing from 24 December 1999 to 1 January 2000. After that came the two-episode "A Very Dibley Christmas", broadcast between 25 December 2004 and 1 January 2005, and the two-part finale, "A Wholly Holy Happy Ending", broadcast on Christmas Day 2006 and New Year's Day 2007.
The final two episodes, in which Geraldine finds love and marries, are officially the "last-ever" episodes, [4] although there have been several reappearances of certain characters since in the form of charity specials.
On 15 March 2013, French reprised her role as Geraldine Granger as part of her French and Saunders marathon on BBC Radio 2. She was interviewed by Chris Evans on his Pause for Thought section. The following year, on 29 March 2014, French appeared in character as Granger on Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4.
There have been eight short charity TV specials: six for Comic Relief between 1997 and 2015 and a seventh in April 2020, in which French appeared on The Big Night In as part of a joint Comic Relief and Children in Need special to support those affected by COVID-19. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the segment was filmed at French's home. [5] For Comic Relief 2021, Geraldine appeared in the Dibley vicarage, later lip-synching to "Juice" by Lizzo and appearing with the reverend Kate Bottley.
In December 2020, a series of short "lockdown" episodes of The Vicar of Dibley were broadcast. [6] The series consisted of three short episodes followed by a compilation episode of the previous three episodes' material shown back-to-back, but including previously unseen material and scenes. The style was completely different to the main series, with Geraldine and Hugo breaking the fourth wall via video messaging, talking directly to the viewers as if they were the Dibley congregation. The same method was used for the 2020 and 2021 Comic Relief shorts, also made and set during the Covid pandemic.
The programme is set in the fictional Oxfordshire village of Dibley. Some villagers, including Alice, Jim, and Owen, speak with slight West Country accents, as were once common in Oxfordshire but are now less common. The series was filmed in the Buckinghamshire village of Turville, near High Wycombe, with the village's St Mary the Virgin Church doubling as Dibley's St Barnabus. [7] The exterior location for David Horton's manor is in the village of Little Missenden, Buckinghamshire.
The opening titles show aerial shots of the M40 motorway's Stokenchurch Gap, the Chiltern Hills of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, and the village of Turville.
The theme music was a setting of Psalm 23 composed by Howard Goodall, and was performed by the choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, with George Humphreys [8] singing the solo. The conductor was Stephen Darlington. Two versions are used over the opening credits: one with a full choir and one with a solo. Goodall originally wrote it as a serious piece of church choral music. It has been released as a charity single, with proceeds going to Comic Relief. [9] It also appears on Goodall's CD Choral Works, which additionally includes his theme for Mr. Bean , another popular comedy co-created by Richard Curtis. A snippet of The Vicar of Dibley's theme music was used in the Mr. Bean episode "Tee Off, Mr. Bean" and the music from Mr Bean plays during Sean Bean's cameo in The Vicar of Dibley episode "Spring".
Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1997 | British Comedy Awards | Best TV Comedy Actress | Dawn French | Won |
1998 | Nominated | |||
Emma Chambers | Won | |||
BAFTA Awards | Best Comedy (Programme or Series) | The Vicar of Dibley | Nominated | |
Best Comedy Performance | Dawn French | Nominated | ||
National Television Awards | Most Popular Comedy Performer | Nominated | ||
Most Popular Comedy Programme | The Vicar of Dibley | Won | ||
RTS Television Award | Best Situation Comedy or Comedy Drama | Won | ||
International Emmy | Popular Arts [10] [11] | Won | ||
1999 | BAFTA Awards | Best Comedy (Programme or Series) | Nominated | |
National Television Awards | Most Popular Comedy Performer | Dawn French | Nominated | |
2000 | Nominated | |||
Most Popular Comedy Programme | The Vicar of Dibley | Nominated | ||
BAFTA Awards | Best Comedy Performance | Dawn French | Nominated | |
Suitation Comedy Awards | The Vicar of Dibley | Nominated | ||
Lew Grade Award | Nominated | |||
2001 | Nominated | |||
Best Comedy Performance | Dawn French | Nominated | ||
2005 | Situation Comedy Award | The Vicar of Dibley | Nominated | |
TV Quick Awards | Best Comedy Show | Won | ||
2007 | BAFTA Awards | Best Comedy Performer | Dawn French | Nominated |
Banff Rockie Award | Best Comedy Program | The Vicar of Dibley | Nominated | |
Rose d'Or Light Entertainment Festival | Golden Rose Award for Comedy | Won | ||
2021 | National Television Awards | Comedy | The Vicar of Dibley (Lockdown Specials) | Nominated |
The series also won the TV Choice Award for Best Comedy in 2005 and again in 2021 for the Lockdown Specials. [12]
In May 2007, Richard Curtis received a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award for his humanitarian pursuits, as well as his creative work, including The Vicar of Dibley. [13]
The Vicar of Dibley was released on DVD in Region 2 (UK) in 2001. In 2002, a DVD entitled The Best of The Vicar of Dibley was released featuring a 90-minute film of Dawn French talking to the producer, Jon Plowman, with clips from the series. A 2002 documentary narrated by Jo Brand, entitled The Real Vicars of Dibley, was also on the DVD. In 2005, a "complete collection" box set was released. This included all the then-aired episodes. The final two episodes and a 6-disc "ultimate" box set were released on 26 November 2007.
In Australasia (Region 4), all episodes have been released on DVD.
All episodes have been released on DVD in the United States and Canada (Region 1).
DVD Title | Discs | Year | Ep # | DVD release | Special episodes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||||||
Complete Series 1 | 1 | 1994 | 6 | 21 October 2003 | 26 November 2001 | 1 October 2003 | The 1996 Christmas special (R2) | |
The Specials | 1 | 1996 | 2 | — | 2001 [14] | — | ||
Complete Series 2 | 1 | 1997–1998 | 6 | 21 October 2003 | 2003 | 8 April 2004 | The 1996 Easter special & Christmas special (R1 & R4) | |
Complete Series 3 | 1 | 1999–2000 | 4 | 21 October 2003 | 2003 [15] | 2 March 2005 | The 1997 & 1999 Comic Relief shorts (R1 & R4) | |
A Very Dibley Christmas | 1 | 2004–2005 | 2 | 27 September 2005 | 14 November 2005 | 3 November 2005 | The 1999 & 2005 Comic Relief short (All) | |
A Holy Wholly Happy Ending | 1 | 2006–2007 | 2 | 9 October 2007 | 26 November 2007 | 16 January 2008 | The Story Of The Vicar Of Dibley (1 hour BBC documentary, 31 December 2007) | |
Complete Series 1 & 2 | 2 | 1994–1998 | 10 | — | 7 May 2007 | — | The 1996 Christmas special (R2) | |
Complete Series 1–3 | 3 | 1994–2000 | 16 | 21 October 2003 | 14 October 2019 | — | — | |
Complete Series 1 – 2005 Sp. | 4 | 1994–2005 | 18 | — | 14 November 2005 | 7 July 2005 | — | |
Complete Series 1 – 2007 Sp. | 6 | 1994–2007 | 20 | 9 October 2007 | 26 November 2007 | 3 April 2008 | The Story Of The Vicar Of Dibley as well as several shorts | |
The Best of... | 1 | N/A | — | — | 25 November 2002 | — | Dawn French in conversation with producer John Plowman |
On 6 February 2007, Fox announced plans to adapt The Vicar of Dibley into an American sitcom titled The Minister of Divine. The series starred Kirstie Alley as a former "wild child" who returned to her hometown as its first female minister. [16] The pilot was broadcast on Fox, but the series was not made. [17]
The series has also been adapted into two stage plays by Ian Gower and Paul Carpenter, both incorporating plots from the TV episodes. [18] The first is titled The Vicar of Dibley, and is concerned mainly with Alice and Hugo's engagement and wedding. The second, A Vicar of Dibley Christmas – The Second Coming, is based on the episodes "Dibley Live" and "Winter", in which the villagers set up a radio station and put on a nativity play at Owen's farm. A third adaptation by Steve Clark and David Lovesy, titled The Vicar of Dibley - The Holy Trinity , covers Baby Geraldine’s Christening, David Horton's brief wooing of Geraldine, and the Save Our Dibley campaign as a new reservoir threatens the village. Performance rights for all three are available through United Agents.
In February 2016, it was reported that Dawn French was interested in returning to the role in a new series, The Bishop of Dibley, to follow on from the 2015 Red Nose Day Special. [19] In December 2020, French opened up about the prospect of The Vicar of Dibley returning for a new series in 2021. [20]
In December 2022, Channel 5 aired a 67-minute special retrospective for their "Comedy Classics" series. Actors and celebrities, including co-writer Paul Mayhew-Archer, take a look back, discuss and pay tribute to the show. [21]
Blackadder is a series of four period British sitcoms, plus several one-off instalments, which originally aired on BBC1 from 1983 to 1989. All television episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as the antihero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robinson as Blackadder's dogsbody, Baldrick. Each series was set in a different historical period, with the two protagonists accompanied by different characters, though several reappear in one series or another, e.g., Melchett, Lord Percy Percy / Captain Darling and George.
A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television.
Absolutely Fabulous is a British television sitcom created and written by Jennifer Saunders, which premiered in 1992. It is based on the 1990 French and Saunders sketch "Modern Mother and Daughter", created by Dawn French and Saunders.
French and Saunders is a British sketch comedy television series written by and starring comedy duo and namesake Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders that originally broadcast on BBC2 from 1987 to 1993, and later on BBC One until 2017. It is also the name by which the performers are known when they appear elsewhere as a double act. The show was given one of the highest budgets in BBC history to create detailed spoofs and satires of popular culture, movies, celebrities, and art. French and Saunders continued to film holiday specials for the BBC, and both have been individually successful starring in other shows.
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis is a British screenwriter, producer and director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known primarily for romantic comedy films, among them Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Notting Hill (1999), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Love Actually (2003), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), About Time (2013), and Yesterday (2019). He is also known for the drama War Horse (2011) and for having co-written the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean, and The Vicar of Dibley. His early career saw him write material for the BBC's Not the Nine O'Clock News and ITV's Spitting Image.
Mr. Bean is a British sitcom created by Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis, produced by Tiger Aspect Productions and starring Atkinson as the eponymous title character. The sitcom consists of 15 episodes that were co-written by Atkinson alongside Curtis and Robin Driscoll; the pilot episode was co-written by Ben Elton. The series originally aired on ITV, beginning with the pilot episode on 1 January 1990 and ending with "The Best Bits of Mr. Bean" on 15 December 1995.
Dawn Roma French is a British actress, comedian, and writer. She is known for writing and starring on the BBC sketch comedy series French and Saunders (1987–2007) with her best friend and comedy partner Jennifer Saunders, and playing the lead role of Geraldine Granger in the BBC sitcom The Vicar of Dibley (1994–2020). French has been nominated for seven BAFTA TV Awards and won a BAFTA Fellowship with Saunders in 2009.
My Family is a British sitcom created and initially co-written by Fred Barron, which was produced by DLT Entertainment and Rude Boy Productions, and broadcast by BBC One for eleven series between 2000 and 2011, with Christmas specials broadcast from 2002 onwards. My Family was voted 24th in the BBC's "Britain's Best Sitcom" in 2004 and was the most watched sitcom in the United Kingdom in 2008. As of 2011, it is one of only twelve British sitcoms to pass the 100-episode mark. In April 2020, BBC One began airing the series from the first episode in an 8 pm slot on Friday nights; along with this all 11 series were made available on BBC iPlayer.
Turville is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills, 5 miles (8.0 km) west of High Wycombe, 6 miles (9.7 km) east-southeast of Watlington, 7 miles (11 km) north of Henley-on-Thames and 2 miles from the Oxfordshire border. The name is Anglo-Saxon in origin and means 'dry field'. It was recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 796 as Thyrefeld.
The Royle Family is an English sitcom produced by Granada Television for the BBC, which ran for three series from 1998 to 2000, and specials from 2006 to 2012. It centres on the lives of a television-fixated Manchester family, the Royles, comprising family patriarch Jim Royle, his wife Barbara, their daughter Denise, their son Antony and Denise's fiancé David.
John Bluthal was a Polish-born Australian actor and comedian, noted for his six-decade career internationally in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Emma Gwynedd Mary Chambers was an English actress. She played Alice Tinker in the BBC comedy The Vicar of Dibley and Honey Thacker in the film Notting Hill (1999).
Gavin & Stacey is a British sitcom written by James Corden and Ruth Jones about two families: one in Billericay, Essex; one in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan. Mathew Horne and Joanna Page play the eponymous characters Gavin and Stacey, while Corden and Jones star as Smithy and Nessa. Alison Steadman and Larry Lamb star as Gavin's parents Pam and Mick, Melanie Walters plays Stacey's mother Gwen, and Rob Brydon plays Stacey's uncle Bryn.
Outnumbered is a British sitcom about the Brockman family, starring Hugh Dennis as the father, Claire Skinner as the mother and their three children played by Tyger Drew-Honey, Daniel Roche and Ramona Marquez.
Geraldine Granger is a fictional female vicar, the central character of the successful British BBC sitcom The Vicar of Dibley. She is portrayed by Dawn French, described by the British Comedy Guide as "the jolly, down-to-earth female vicar of Dibley, a small country village inhabited by oddballs. After overcoming the town's initial shock at her gender Geraldine helps to improve the village." Much of the source of comedy comes from the way French plays the female vicar with her extroverted and fun-loving nature, frequent colourful language, and behaviour as a vicar which would usually be frowned on by the church.
Susan Nicola Vertue is an English television producer, mainly of comedy shows, including Mr. Bean and Coupling. She is the daughter of producer Beryl Vertue.
Citizen Khan is a British sitcom produced by the BBC and created by Adil Ray. It ran for five series, from 2012 to 2016. It is set in Sparkhill, South Birmingham, described by its lead character, a British Pakistani man Mr Khan (Ray), as "the capital of British Pakistan". Citizen Khan follows the trials and tribulations of Mr Khan, a loud-mouthed, patriarchal, cricket-loving, self-appointed community leader, and his long suffering wife and daughters Shazia and Alia. In Series One, Kris Marshall starred as Dave, the manager of Mr Khan's local mosque. The first name of Mrs Khan is Razia; however, Mr Khan's first name is never revealed.
"The Christmas Lunch Incident" is a Christmas special episode of the British television sitcom The Vicar of Dibley. The episode was first broadcast on BBC1 in the United Kingdom on 25 December 1996. It was the eighth episode of The Vicar of Dibley to be produced and transmitted. Repeats are broadcast regularly around Christmas on both the original channel and more frequently on the UKTV comedy channel Gold. The episode was written by regular writers Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer.