About "The Vicar of Dibley"

"You are the least boring vicar a parish could ever have. Because of you the churches are full, not empty, and because of you our lives are full, not empty."David's conversion to actually liking Geraldine. 2004 Christmas Special

When their vicar passed away in the middle of a service, the inhabitants of the small Oxfordshire village of Dibley expected the replacement to be another old man with a beard and bad breath. It turns out he didn't have a beard or bad breath... he was a she!

This was the premise on which Richard Curtis based 'The Vicar of Dibley'. At the time of the first broadcast (the mid-1990s) it was a highly topical theme; there was much controversy and debate in the Anglican Church in relation to ordaining women as vicars.

The action is set in the fictional village of Dibley (in reality the location of the village is Turville in Buckinghamshire). Dibley has an expectedly traditional rural feel and a similarly small Anglican village church with, at the start, less than a handful of regular attendees.

The village seems rather insular - we don't really hear much of relationships outside of Dibley, which adds to the incestuous feel of the place. Most of the born-and-bred residents of Dibley fulfil something of stereotypes charged against rural existence. The main characters are the very dim verger Alice Tinker; David Horton, the pompous parish councillor; Hugo his indecisive son; the incomprehensible Jim Trott; Frank the boring parish clerk; straight-talking farmer Owen Newitt and terrible cook Letitia.

The plot arc begins with the horror of the villagers upon being sent a new female vicar - Geraldine Granger; in subsequent episodes they "try her out" to see if she'll be as good as a male one; and then in the latter episodes the plot settles around the lives of the villagers as Geraldine becomes an integrated (yet not normal by Dibley standards!) member of the village.

Dibley has a keen sense of community about it, and people rally around each other to share trials and joys. Village events such as the fete and nativity play, and even the protest to prevent Dibley's closure are always well attended. Rather like the village itself, and indeed village rural life in general, the events that happen in Dibley aren't overly dramatic and exciting therefore the humour is generally centred on the characters' relationships, this however provides a rich vein of laughs thanks to the strong character traits.

A popular element of this sitcom is the 'end joke' which is played out whilst the credits role. This segment involves Geraldine and Alice sitting alone in the church (presumably after the congregation have left) at which point the vicar tells Alice a joke which she invariably doesn't understand. For example, when Geraldine tells the "Why the long face?" horse joke a debate ensues in which Alice tries to explain to a dumbstruck Geraldine that all horses have long faces so the barman shouldn't think the horse is depressed.

New Year's Day 2007 saw Dibley bow out for good in what was widely acknowledged as the last full episode (although it should be noted the production team said in 1999 they weren't writing any new episodes and then went on to make these new specials). The Vicar in White say Geraldine finally attending a wedding in a dress, not a dog collar, as she married the charming newcomer to the village.

Despite there being so few episodes Dibley - just 20 episodes of 'The Vicar of Dibley' and a few short Comic Relief appearances - this sitcom will no doubt go down as a classic. We acknowledge the sitcom isn't universally loved however no one can deny that it isn't one of Britain's most popular modern comedies when even the repeats bring in more viewers than most of the new programmes launched in a year can muster up together. The comedy's popularity was clearly signaled when the BBC announced in 2004 that 'The Vicar of Dibley' had beaten off classics like Fawlty Towers to be named Britain's 3rd favourite sitcom of all time in the BBC's Britain's Best Sitcom poll!