"The Vicar of Dibley" (1994) TV series 1994-2007

User Rating:

8.5/10   

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Release Date:

10 November 1994 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A boisterous female minister comes to serve in an eccentricly conservative small town's church.

Plot Keywords:

Vicar | Conservative | Chocolate | Church | Holiday

Awards:

5 wins & 15 nominations

Cast

Dawn French	...	Geraldine Granger (24 episodes, 1994-2007)
Gary Waldhorn	...	David Horton (24 episodes, 1994-2007)
James Fleet	...	Hugo Horton (24 episodes, 1994-2007)
Emma Chambers	...	Alice Tinker / ... (24 episodes, 1994-2007)
Trevor Peacock	...	Jim Trott (24 episodes, 1994-2007)
Roger Lloyd-Pack	...	Owen Newitt (24 episodes, 1994-2007)
John Bluthal	...	Frank Pickle (23 episodes, 1994-2007)

Runtime:

10 min (Comic Relief Specials) | 30 min (Season 1-2) | 40 min (Season 3, 1996 Easter Special, 1997 Christmas Special, 2005 New Years Special) | 55 min (2004 Christmas Special) | 60 min (2006 Christmas Special, 2007 New Years Special - finale)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Singapore:PG | UK:12 (some episodes) | UK:PG (some episodes) | Australia:M (some episodes) | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane, Shepherd's Bush, London, England, UK

Company:

Britcom

Trivia:

Dawn French initially requested to play Alice Tinker, because she felt the vicar wouldn't be funny enough and that she understood Alice's humor. She later requested that the Vicar have some sort of faults -- hence her being a bit lonely, a bit vain, and having a massive chocolate obsession.

Quotes:

Owen Newitt: I am a great supporter of sex before marriage. Otherwise I wouldn't have had sex at all.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Funny Blokes of British Comedy (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Psalm 23

Praise be, there's no no no no no no no more

Firstly, don't get me wrong. To begin with I thought the Vicar of Dibley was a great comedy, full of good story lines, interesting and eccentric characters and a lot of genuine laughs.

However it has been a case of diminishing returns for some years now. Just look at the episode guide and see the large gaps in production of the series, so disjointed that in 12 years only 23 episodes were produced, in the same period a successful American comedy would probably output around 250 episodes. The first series or two were brilliant, but then the superior Father Ted came in and when VoD does return it feels more tired each time. It probably should have ended after this point. It is a mystery to me why British comedies struggle to maintain quality for more than two series, but it is nonetheless true that most sitcoms produced in this country end after either two seasons (Fawlty Towers being the prime example - and John Cleese looks more sensible for doing so all the time) or after three possibly. because the third series did not match the first two (Black Books).

I was surprised to like it at all since I am no fan of Dawn French, but I found that without Jennifer Saunders she can be very funny. My opinion changed in the last two episodes however as the programme rapidly descended into the 'Dawn French Show,' with her running round screaming and generally leaving other characters with very little to say. This brings me to the conclusion that much of the praise that this comedy deserves belongs to Emma Chambers as Alice who plays the village idiot exceptionally well. Other characters like Roger Lloyd-Pack as Owen started off well but has more recently become a one-joke sheep farmer stereotype which only needed a Welsh accent to reach rock-bottom.

Based on the early episodes, Vicar of Dibley deserves an 8 or 9 out of 10, but the last few series have been increasingly poor in comparison so I have awarded it 5/10.