If Mathews' and Linehan's "Father Ted" is the clerical comedy with a touch of the surreal and never ending absurdity, then Richard Curtis' "The Vicar of Dibley" is family fare in contrast endowed with a lot of heart, charm and warmth. Not in itself a bad thing if your main concern is to have it funny, as for very different reasons it's no less engaging or lacking side-splitting humor than the groundbreaking adventures of Ted & company on Craggy island. Curtis' writing transformed Rowan Atkinson into the dastardly snarky "Black Adder", made puppets deal heavy blows in "Spitting Image" and is responsible for the most successful British comedy features to date. And he did it again in the "Vicar of Dibley", blessed be his soul. Aside from partly bold and mostly hilarious writing the show succeeds thanks to a theater trained ensemble cast that couldn't have been chosen any better, a very fresh scenario (woman minister conquering ultraconservative domain sit-com style) and there's edgy social commentary modeled after a courageous real life female vicar. The latter only might have the disadvantage not to be as funny in church as the glorious Dawn French portraying a priest on church inspired TV.
Ah yes, the French is coming! To Dibley! That's what it's all about. The parish council consisting of the overbearing head conservative plus dimwit son, a pedantic minute man, Letitia, "floral supervisor" with a decisive lack of taste, stuttering Jim and farmer Owen with, let's say, a lot of love for animals, well, they all aren't particular happy about a change. Aside from the local verger. She has a rather unique view on life, the universe and everything anyway. So it takes a while for the locals until it dawns on them that this new minister is actually not as bad as she might appear at first. In retrospect that progressive development is one of the brilliant things of the series: It stretches over more than a decade with multiple specials throughout the years, so that characters grow, fall in love, marry, even die, and along the way the once questioned role of the female vicar becomes more and more indispensable. Warning: You might not be a Christian yet, but with this one you seriously risk conversion!
Ah yes, the French is coming! To Dibley! That's what it's all about. The parish council consisting of the overbearing head conservative plus dimwit son, a pedantic minute man, Letitia, "floral supervisor" with a decisive lack of taste, stuttering Jim and farmer Owen with, let's say, a lot of love for animals, well, they all aren't particular happy about a change. Aside from the local verger. She has a rather unique view on life, the universe and everything anyway. So it takes a while for the locals until it dawns on them that this new minister is actually not as bad as she might appear at first. In retrospect that progressive development is one of the brilliant things of the series: It stretches over more than a decade with multiple specials throughout the years, so that characters grow, fall in love, marry, even die, and along the way the once questioned role of the female vicar becomes more and more indispensable. Warning: You might not be a Christian yet, but with this one you seriously risk conversion!