The Vicar of Dibley is a British sitcom which originally ran on BBC One from 10 November 1994 to 1 January 2007. 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, the Christmas and New Year specials entering the UK top 10 programmes of the year. 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.
In addition to the twenty main episodes between 1994 and 2007, the series includes numerous shorter charity specials, as well as "lockdown" episodes produced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Premise
Background
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.
Openings and epilogues
In earlier episodes, the opening credits were followed by a humorous village scene, such as a woman knitting directly from a sheep.
After the closing credits, Geraldine usually tells Alice a joke, to which Alice either overreacts, tries to interpret literally, or understands only after Geraldine explains it. There are a few exceptions to this in various episodes.
Cast and characters
Main cast
Recurring cast
Guest appearances
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.
Episodes
The Vicar of Dibley has had 31 episodes as of 2022 including numerous short reprises with charity specials and the In Lockdown minis.
The first series was broadcast on BBC1 from 10 November to 15 December 1994, consisting of 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. Thereafter 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", which were broadcast on Christmas Day 2006 and New Year's Day 2007.
The final 2006–2007 episodes, in which the Geraldine finds love and marries, were publicised as the "last-ever" episodes, although there have been several reappearances of certain characters since.
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. For Comic Relief 2021, Geraldine appeared in the Dibley vicarage, later lip-synching to "Juice" by Lizzo and appearing with the reverend Kate Bottley.
