The Vicar of Dibley

The Vicar of Dibley

Christmas Special 2006

The Vicar of Dibley first aired in 1994. There were only 21 episodes in total plus 3 special episodes filmed for the charity show Comic Relief. The last two episodes shown Christmas 2006 and New Year 2007 featured Richard Armitage as the newest resident in Dibley, Harry Kennedy, who steals Geraldine's heart. 

All the exterior locations take place in the village of Turville in Buckinghamshire.

Synopsis

The Handsome Stranger

Annoyed by 'townie tossers' buying up property in the village, Vicar of Dibley Geraldine and her verger Alice visit the latest inhabitant of 'Sleepy Cottage' ready to speak their minds when they are suddenly floored by the 'Handsome Stranger', Harry Kennedy (Richard Armitage), who opens the door to them with an enormous welcoming smile.

The Vicar and Harry are instantly attracted to each other and soon after their first meeting they embark on a series of dates. Meanwhile Geraldine is determined to involve the villagers in new and interesting hobbies - painting and reading - with less than successful results. These events are interspersed with absurd musings from Alice, who has deciphered Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and assumes she is the last living descendant of Jesus Christ.

After a lovely meal together and a third date consisting of 'one kiss, with tongues' Geraldine is upset to discover that a very attractive visitor has come to stay with Harry (Rosie, played by Keeley Hawes). She follows them secretly during a country walk (although how they didn't spot her I'll never know) and recreates a famously hilarious scene from a previous episode from the series, when she jumps into an enormous muddly puddle in order to hide from Harry and Rosie.

A few days later Harry visits Geraldine in her cottage to ask the Vicar to marry him, but Geraldine assumes incorrectly that he wishes to marry his attractive guest and would like her to perform the ceremony (this is another nod to an episode a few years ago, in which she assumed incorrectly that she was being proposed to). However, he soons put her straight on that and declares that Rosie is his sister. The following scene is hysterically funny as we watch the Vicar literally screaming with joy around the village, finally returning to her cottage to accept Harry's proposal.

The Vicar in White

Wedding preparations are underway and as a well-intentioned but not well-received wedding gift, the villagers are determined to organise every single aspect of Geraldine and Harry's wedding. Geraldine tries to persuade them otherwise but her attempts to intervene in the arrangements for her own wedding prove fruitless.

Alice is in charge of the wedding dress and chooses a Doctor Who theme. Jim will provide the wedding music, Hugo will be best man, Frank will do the reading and Owen will drive the wedding car and arrange the pyrotechnics! The Reverend Jeremy Ogilvy (Hugh Bonneville) is to conduct the ceremony, but not before he has declared his love for Geraldine and begs her to marry him instead. On the eve of her wedding, Geraldine also receives offers of marriage from Owen and Jim and finally closes the door to prepare for the big day.

On the day of the wedding, Alice lets Geraldine sleep in, so that she only has a few minutes to get ready. After screaming in horror, Geraldine does in fact manage to come down the stairs in a lovely white dress and cape, only to have mud splash her from head to toe as Owen pulls up the wedding car.

Geraldine arrives in the church a few minutes later wearing her pyjamas - Harry's favourite. During a ceremony in which the usual chaos ensues, and the Reverend Ogilvy tries once again to entice Geraldine to marry him instead of Harry, the couple are finally married. Geraldine runs out of the church and flies up into the air - doing a 'Superman'.

A joke traditionally appears at the end of every Vicar of Dibley episode, in which Alice never manages to understand the humour, but this time Harry is there in the background to explain it to her. She screams with laughter much to Geraldine's annoyance, and then Harry asks if they may now leave to go on their honeymoon.

Comic Relief Special Episode 2007

In the untitled special episode produced for the Comic Relief Red Nose Day 2007 charity event, the premise is a celebrity/non-entity wife swap reality TV show. Sting goes to stay at the vicar's house and Harry goes off to stay with Trudie Styler.

Richard is forced to wear a very unsightly tracksuit so as to appear less attractive to Trudie - it's not a great outfit but clearly the intention not to charm Trudie doesn't work! The episode aired 16 March 2007.

You can watch the two brief appearances of Richard in this special episode on the Vicar of Dibley downloads page.