The Vicar of Dibley

The Vicar of Dibley

The Vicar of Dibley is a British sitcom which originally ran on BBC One from 10 November 1994 to 22 January 1998. The series was created by Richard Curtis and written for actress Dawn French by Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer. Pam Rhodes, Kylie Minogue, Rachel Hunter, Terry Wogan, Jeremy Paxman, Martyn Lewis, Darcey Bussell and Sean Bean have each appeared as themselves in one episode. In April 2020, the show returned for a short segment in The Big Night In – fundraising for both Comic Relief and Children in Need.

About The Vicar of Dibley in brief

Summary The Vicar of DibleyThe Vicar of Dibley is a British sitcom which originally ran on BBC One from 10 November 1994 to 22 January 1998, and then from 24 December 1999 to 1 January 2007. 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. In 2004, it placed third in a BBC poll of Britain’s Best Sitcoms. In April 2020, the show returned for a short segment in The Big Night In – fundraising for both Comic Relief and Children in Need. Pam Rhodes, Kylie Minogue, Rachel Hunter, Terry Wogan, Jeremy Paxman, Martyn Lewis, Darcey Bussell and Sean Bean have each appeared as themselves in one episode. Sarah, Duchess of York, Richard Ayoade, Orla Brady, Fiona Bruce, Annette Crosbie, Johnny Depp, Ruth Jones, Damian Lewis, Maureen Lipman, Jennifer Saunders, Sting, Stephen Tompkinson and Emma Watson have made guest appearances in shorts made for Comic Relief. The final 2006–2007 episode, in which Geraldine marries, was publicised as the \”last-ever\” episode, although there have been three Comic Relief charity specials 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. In November 2020, it was announced that the show would return for three new, ten-minute episodes that see Geraldine delivering monthly sermons via Zoom. The new episodes, primarily featuring Dawn French, but with appearances by James Fleet, are planned to air following repeat broadcasts of classic episodes in the run-up to Christmas, with a half-hour compilation of all three to air subsequently. The main character was an invention of Richard Curtis, but he and Dawn French consulted Joy Carroll, one of the first Anglican woman priests, and garnered many character traits and much information.