That TV Comedy Podcast
Join us as we discuss our earliest comedic influences, our favourite shows, and how our passion for comedy has shaped our lives.
That TV Comedy Podcast
The Vicar of Dibley
The Vicar of Dibley: Humour, Heart, and Radio Dibley
Ever wondered how a female vicar could turn a conservative village upside down? Join us as we go through the enchanting world of "The Vicar of Dibley," where Dawn French's portrayal of Geraldine Granger brings both humour and heart to quaint village life. We recount the show's timely 1994 debut, just as the Church of England began ordaining women, and highlight the significance of female leads in 90s comedy. With reflections on trailblazers like Jennifer Saunders and Victoria Wood, we also touch on the current comedy scene and the ongoing challenges for women in the field.
This week, we look at 'Dibley Live.' Relive the delightful chaos of Dibley's parish council meetings and Alice Tinker's whimsical quests, from Jim and Frank's antics with a washing line to the (un)forgettable Curly Wurly competition. We also address the show's dated humour and the sometimes uncomfortable interactions between the male characters and Geraldine while celebrating the endearing qualities that have made the show a classic.
Presented by Amanda Davies and Jacquie J Sarah
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Hello and welcome to that TV Comedy Podcast. I'm Amanda Davies and my co-host is Jackie J Sarah. For each episode, we'll be taking a look at a television comedy series, breaking it down with a focus on a specific episode, giving it a bit of a deep dive, geeking out about it and generally discussing it. We'll be taking it in turns, picking a series, so it may not be something we've seen this week. It's my choice and it's the Vicar of Dibley. You picked a UK specific sitcom. I did, yeah, and I don't believe it's been out in the rest of the world, is it? I believe it's been shown in the USA as well, but probably through BBC America. Okay, this could be a gem. Yeah, because I believe you can get it on Prime.
Speaker 1:So if anybody around the world would care to watch. You can actually get it. So, mum, tell us about the Vicar of Dibley the.
Speaker 1:Vicar of Dibley. So the Vicar of Dibley, as you mentioned, is a British sitcom starring the wonderful Dawn French as the vicar Geraldine Granger. The first series was broadcast on BBC between the 10th of November and 15th of December 1994, comprising six episodes. Following the series, an Easter special and Christmas special were broadcast in 1996. A four-episode second series was ordered and screened 1996. A four episode second series was ordered and screened between the 26th of december 1997 and the 22nd of january 1998. Subsequent episodes consisted of christmas and new year specials, followed by a third series of four episodes, also referred to as seasonal specials as they had the titles Autumn, winter, spring and Summer, and those were aired between 24th December 1999 and 1st January 2000. After that came the two episodes of A Very Dibbly Christmas, broadcast between 25th December 2004 and 1st January 2005, and the two part finale, a holy, holy, happy ending, broadcast on Christmas Day 2006 and New Year's Day 2007. Six comic relief sketches and four lockdown specials.
Speaker 1:The show's set in the fictional Oxfordshire village of Dibley, which is assigned a female vicar following the 1993 changes in the Church of England that permitted the ordination of women. This was big news at the time, huge. Well, it's huge now because it's still an issue, it's still being talked about and, yeah, people got to remember. Was it 93, 94? I've got? Angela Berners-Wilson was the first woman to be ordained as a priest in the Church of England. It rumbled on a little bit. I think they passed legislation.
Speaker 2:They tried to pass it in 92.
Speaker 1:So it did rumble on 92, 93, 94. It's all a little bit blurred there while they were still arguing about it. And then the first episode of Vicar Dibley was November 94. So it's only between March 94 and November 94 that we have a programme about a woman, vicar. Yeah, imdb describes the series as a boisterous female minister comes to serve in an eccentrically conservative village's church and the series receives an overall rating of 8. Very good, a great series, yeah, I agree, which I have seen. This one man I've recently re-watched and I remember loving it at the time.
Speaker 1:And, as we just said, female vicars were so new that this was like a big so, controversial, yeah, and then you've got the initial Still controversial, so controversial and then you've got still controversial the initial episodes where you've got her arriving in the village and you've got the local councillor who's trying to get rid of her, basically because they're all setting their ways.
Speaker 2:Women can't be the vicar in the parish can't be a vicar it has to be a man.
Speaker 1:The series just shows how her personality wins over, yeah, the villagers and, let's be honest about this a female lead on a comedy program exactly. This is something else that was very when we were growing up. Let's put dawn french into context in comedy. Let's just say when we were growing up there was dawn french and jennifer saunders and there was Victoria Woods and Julie Walters, and these people were on TV all the time.
Speaker 1:Maybe they weren't TV all the time, but these were the people we've looked up to make sure we watched exactly, we admired, and there were male comedians around and we still liked, like Rick Mayall, ade E and the comic strip and this was all happening. But these women were trailblazers. And then you've got I'm going to say something a bit controversial now, but let's have this been the controversial episode, shall we? Okay, a lot of millennials, let's just say just for ease of reference, because obviously the, the gen x, millennials, gen z, they're just easy references, isn't it? I don't actually believe in the law of it, but anyways, just say the millennials. Many of the females have said to me the thing is, women are just not funny, no way. And you're like, what are you talking about? And you can understand why they don't think women are funny because women were barely on tv, they weren't allowed to be on panel shows.
Speaker 1:Not, they weren't allowed, but very few were on them it was so male dominated yeah, still male dominated comedy, yeah, and we were lucky that we grew up with all these female role models and we we knew women are funny. And now we've got the situation which I call it's all the m's, it's millennial middle class male comics. There's a few season air as well. I appreciate that. And they've just dominated. They've. They've all got podcasts with the talks about food and the sponsored by shops.
Speaker 1:What's happening now is that companies are approaching people to make podcasts. It's not about oh, we've got an idea like, we have this idea, yeah, podcast, and we ran with it. No, celebrities are being approached to host podcast series by companies, but how many are run by women? How many podcasts, how many panel shows have women? How many have hosted by women? How many podcasts, how many panel shows have women? How many are hosted by women? For example, the Kathy Burke one. But again, she was a pro Kathy Burke. But Kathy Burke goes back to the French and Saunders days, doesn't she? She does, she was on the Harry Enfield programme.
Speaker 1:So she started as a comedian yes, Sorry, actress. Well, not a comedian, but she did comedic acting. Sorry, actress rather than a comedian, but she did comedic acting and then became a very successful director and now she hosts a podcast. Was asked to do it. I wasn't really trying to get into a thing on podcasts, though. I was talking about how an industry tried to make out that women weren't funny. Yeah, and we were lucky enough to be young when women were trailblazing. So back to the Vicar of Dibley shall we talk about the?
Speaker 1:Vicar of Dibley. I recently re-watched the Vicar of Dibley, yes, and watching it I remembered why I loved it at the time. It doesn't all translate well to today, no, nope definitely not.
Speaker 1:A lot of it is dated, but the charm of the series is still it captures that village, almost stuck in time but also moving with the times, which is great. And when I decided to choose a particular episode, I didn't want to just go for the higher rating ones the one that everybody knows, the Christmas lunches Very funny episode, don't get me wrong. Or the one where she meets the man she. These are really high rating episodes. But that wasn't what I wanted in this. I wanted to choose an episode that had a bit of the Vicar of Dibley and it aired on January, the 8th 1998. And in this episode the village has a radio licence for a week to celebrate the 650th anniversary of the St Barnabas Church. Written by Paul Mayhew Archer and Richard Curtis, it receives an IMDb rating of 8.1. It's got lots of laughs but it has the characters at the heart of the series and it's not one of those episodes that's just about her disastrous love life. No, it's funny but it's sad as well.
Speaker 1:And what makes it even sadder is watching it. You just realise this is the dad's army of today. Yeah, it really is. Yeah, only two of the actors From the original From the original cast are still with us James Fleet and Dawn French. Yeah, and that's horrifying in a way when you think it wasn't that long ago. Yeah, but it was.
Speaker 2:But it was yeah, At the same time yeah, and in all fairness, one of the actors who played Dallas Emma, Chambers.
Speaker 1:Emm Chambers died ridiculously young. She was only 53. 53, yeah, yeah, it is especially sad, yeah, very sad. So the episode it starts off. We've got the parish council meeting, which was a mainstay for this. Remember, this is a studio sitcom. We haven't actually said that yet. It's a studio sitcom. So there was a limited amount of sets and the parish council meeting was one of the main sets on here the village hall, yeah, so we've got the village hall, we've got the vicarage and we've got David Horton's living room.
Speaker 1:Essentially, yeah, it does wander out slightly in some of the episodes. We get to the farm, there's the outside scenes, which is actually in the village, yeah, and then of course in the Christmas episode they had to widen the sets a bit because you had to visit the different houses. But essentially the action takes place in the village hall, in the vicarage, in the vicarage or david horton's house yeah, so that we're starting off with a parish council meeting.
Speaker 1:Yes, the episode sorry actually begins with the title. I completely forgot about this. They have a comedy openness, don't they? As? The title comes, and in this one, yeah, it was a washing line, so there's a woman hanging out washing and you've got Jim and Frank holding up the washing line.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the washing posts. They are the posts of the washing line.
Speaker 1:I've forgotten yeah they did those.
Speaker 2:Yeah, little funny starters to the episode. What would you?
Speaker 1:call them Tableaus, tableaus. Yes, yeah, these comedy tableaus, yeah, and they had them in many, if not all, episodes. Yeah, the parish council, parish council meeting, best kept village discussion. This is probably a conversation that happened in so many village halls across the country. There's a little bit of confusion between how much money you stand to win as the winner of the best kept village. They didn't do so well in the previous show. Bless them, they came 54 out of 54. They did indeed, so they're not really that interested in taking that was not even an issue.
Speaker 1:They weren't gonna do it. And then they move on. That frank has something to say.
Speaker 2:Always got something to say yes, I do yeah, go to, yeah, go to Frank.
Speaker 1:No, I don't, no, I don't, but it was really funny. Gripping stuff, gripping stuff, frank. So look, david gets the really funny lines doesn't he?
Speaker 1:He does, yes, he gets the cutting, the sarcastic lines. He gets a lot of these. And then we hear about Jim talking about watching plays. Jim's character comes out with quite sm. Jim is smutty, but also Owen is as well. Owen is very smutty too. They objectify the vicar a little bit too much, yeah, yeah, and I think that's unfortunately of its time slightly, although we were starting to move away a little bit from that, but I think they've included that to show that it's this CP village.
Speaker 2:Yeah, stuck in time, stuck in time, the men are stuck in time. Yeah, stuck in time, stuck in time, the men are stuck in time, really, yeah, so the attitude to women is what it always was yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So the vicar announces that they've got this license for a week. She's got her own little jingle we're ready to go. Nothing could be hotter, nothing could be slicker. Lock up your son and daughter, because here comes the vicar.
Speaker 2:It's very awkward. It was very cringy, that wasn't it, but I think it was meant to be. Yeah, it was meant to be a bit cringy, daughter.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then it moves to the vicarage and now we see the wonderful alice tinker. These are always my favorite scenes when it was just geraldine and alice. Alice has decided she wants to be a shock jock. Geraldine's busy working, asking Alice just to hang on because she's in the middle of a crucial sentence and Alice has started to wax lyrical about her sermons and it turns out it's not a sermon at all.
Speaker 1:What's she up to, jack? She's entering a competition to win a year's supply of Curly Whirlies. I was thinking, oh, I used to love Curly Whirlies, I know. Do you remember she was obsessed by curly whirlies, curly whirlies, and she just used to have a fridge full of curly whirlies. I remember, instead of getting drunk one time, she ate dozens of curly whirlies. Now, for anybody who doesn't know what a curly whirlie is, it's a chocolate bar. I'm sorry for you Sorry for you. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:It's made by Cadbury's.
Speaker 1:It's owned by an American company now, but it was British. It used to taste a lot nicer and it used to be bigger. It's caramel with chocolate covering it, yeah it was very chewy, wasn't it? It was very chewy, but it also. But it had holes in there, yeah, to make it curly, whirly, yeah.
Speaker 2:Delicious though.
Speaker 1:Delicious. So Alice has got a suggestion. What's her suggestion? So there's only 15 words allowed to finish this sentence. So Alice thinks very carefully about this and she says that Curly Buddies, they're very, very, very nice. Geraldine's not 100% sold on this. Yeah, not sure that would have won the competition. So fair play to Alice. She tries again, and then what does she?
Speaker 2:add to this. You tell me.
Speaker 1:So they're very, very nice with sausages. Obviously, I never really tried a Cooley Whirly with sausages Never in my life, so it might work, but I have had a deep five miles bath.
Speaker 2:Does that count? Oh, we discussed that before.
Speaker 1:It was disgusting and then alice tells the vicar that david said that her only value in life is as an organ donor. See, that is horrible, isn't he? He is so horrible to alice. She's not the brightest of people, but he said she has an intellect of a prawn sandwich. It's not kind. Alice is okay, she's got the intellect of a prawn sandwich. It's not kind. Alice is okay, she's got the intellect of Andrew Einstein. She has razor sharp intellect. Yes, so she's all right about it. The vicar always I say always, not always, because sometimes she shouts at her yeah, but there's always a kindness behind what she says and Alice is just a lovely person, yeah. So then the action switches. It's weeks later now, isn't it? And guess where we are? Again Back in the town hall for the parish council meeting. And then I love this bit. Frank's got an idea Desert island desks, where Frank will talk about his favourite eight desks and rank them yeah why not An hour of Frank talking?
Speaker 1:And then there's a very sick one, the Moral Maze with Jim Trott about poodles. Yeah, let's skip over that, oh gross. Yeah, skip, skip, skip. David Horton in conversation with Alice Tinker yeah, he's not impressed by that. No, he said Geraldine says she was desperate to be involved and he said then nail her feet to the floor and use her as a mic stand. It's horrible but it's quite funny, isn't it? And then you make some joke about the Pope.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that didn't land. Skip skip, skip that didn't land.
Speaker 1:And then we find out that David has won the last 27 years of the village quiz. But it's okay. What's Jim done? He's going to win. What's Jim done? He's learnt all the answers from last year, Of course yes. He's going to win, definitely. And then they try to decide what the prize will be for the best broadcast of the week. And what's it going to be? Obviously Book token, of course. And then, as soon as she hears the groans, it's not going to be book tokens so then the action switches guess where to Geraldine's house.
Speaker 1:So she decides she's got to find a prize. That's better than a book token. So she starts going through a box of things and there's a Black Sabbath LP and Alice thinks that Black Sabbath are gospel choir. And then Black Sabbath LP and Alice thinks that Black Sabbath are Gospel choir, gospel singers. And then we get to find out about Alice's questions to David and she's got a notebook. She's done some prep. Geraldine's really impressed by this she is yeah.
Speaker 1:And the first question is if you could meet any character from fiction which Womble, would it be? Yeah, and then there's a phone call. Who's on the phone? It's the Curly Wurly competition runners. Yeah, and what's she won? Well, she didn't win the year's supply of Curly Wurlys, unfortunately, disaster. She won. The first prize was an all expenses trip to disneyland, paris 500 pounds spending money, wow. So she's got a prize. She's got the prize now, which she can't wait to tell everybody at the next parish council meeting, which is handy because it's the next scene. Yeah, then the council meeting and she announces the prize, but Dave's like nobody's going to be impressed by that and what ensues is some singing it is bizarre.
Speaker 1:It really was bizarre.
Speaker 1:It dated it slightly a bit, didn't it? Because I don't think you would do that now. No, so they start singing Disney songs and I was thinking, how did they get a license? For this BBC can get a license. It must have cost them a lot of money. No, it doesn't. No, they've got a license. This may have changed or this may not have been. It's not there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the BBC have got a massive library of music which they can use on their own programmes. They've already paid for the rights. Okay, but you know, when you get a BBC TV programme, maybe, or BBC podcasts if you ever listen to BBC podcasts they've got every pop song you can think of in them, a lot of them, because they don't have to pay for it. That's your difference between your indies and your Okay, so that's why they start singing such an array of disney songs. Yes, ending with hi ho, hi ho. Yeah, that was a bit cringy as well, wasn't it? Yeah, cringe, but it was charming in its own way. Yeah, but everyone goes. Oh, I can't watch david brent, it makes me cringe. Oh, but this is fine. Is it because this is more nostalgic?
Speaker 2:isn't it? And then?
Speaker 1:the scene changes. And this is a really funny scene, isn't it? Yeah, this is the comedy of errors, isn't it? Yeah, the start of the radio show. Yeah, the vicarage. And then what she says to jim. What does it mean when the red lights on and he says you're a prostitute, I mean that's not so funny. But if she says no, it means you're on air. And then Jim sorry, owen mistakes, and it's the start of the programme.
Speaker 2:And he starts playing the jingle it's funny, isn't it?
Speaker 1:and then she says no, no, no. They start complimenting her inappropriately and then apologising into the mic so that everybody can hear. And Owen starts swearing a bit as well, doesn't he? Yeah, whilst Like swearing whilst on air. And then David rings in, not realising he's on air, not realising to cancel his interview with the moron Alice, yeah. And then insults the others saying they're zombies, yep. And then, when she asks him about his haemorrhoids to get him back and say that he's announced it on air live, he pretends to be Rory Bramner. Terrible accent, awful accent. But obviously it was good enough for Owen, frank and Jim Jim. They just fell for it, didn't? They Fell for it big time. That was a really funny scene.
Speaker 2:They weren't watching.
Speaker 1:Rory Bramner again, they're not watching it. No, no, he's blown it. Yeah, very funny scene. Yeah, okay, so then the action switches. Still in the vicarage, different time. Yeah, alice is upset about the moron comment. Yeah, she is. She's hatched a plan, it's fine. What's she going to do? Take him on the village quiz. Yeah, geraldine laughs, she laughs, but then she realises she's serious. It was a good chance for her to try out yeah, a question yeah, what's the capital of france f?
Speaker 1:she got it in the bag. Oh, and then we've got another scene of hue. Now it moves on, doesn't?
Speaker 2:it.
Speaker 1:Yes, we're still back in the he was on there. This is funny, but it shouldn't be. Yeah, it's a bit. Yeah, so mr brown's lost. Yeah, it's a bit, yeah, so Mr Brown's lost his wife. He's a bit careless, a bit careless for you, mr Brown.
Speaker 1:And then he realises and says sorry, yeah, but then he ruins it again. He says Mr Brown has requested Joan Sutherland sing an Ave Maria, as always moves him to tear, but Hugo hasn't got that. No, he hasn't got that. So what's he going to play him instead? A saucy little number that always gets his eyes watering by Louise, and she's naked. Oh, that is cringy. It is cringy. Things get a bit worse when Geraldine asks Hugo to help David to be nicer to Alice. Yeah, and then he starts describing things that David says about her, and of course, alice overhears, doesn't she? Yeah, she's as sick as two short planks glued together with stupid glue.
Speaker 1:It's mean, but it's quite funny. But Alice is generally upset, so she runs out crying and Hugo follows her. And then Geraldine says, as the song goes, things can only get better. Then she opens the door. Hello, it's the Frank Pickle Hour. And then she says spoke too soon. And then the next scene is David Horton's house. Yep, we finally got there. We were finally in David's house. And what did Alice ask David? I don't know. David tells Hugo. Hugo says to him I've had enough of you basically being mean to him.
Speaker 1:And David said she's done being stupid. She asked me why there's a foreign secretary last week when there's so many English girls who can shorthand. That's a sexist joke right, there isn't it. Yeah, it really is a sexist joke. It's mean and it's sexist that a secretary has to be a woman. But David realises that Hugo will marry her. He does love her, he will marry her. He does love her, he does, he will marry her. But she just deserves to be in a pond with fellow tadpoles. That's right. Genetic throwback yes.
Speaker 1:And then we get to a really nice touching scene which is so sad in its own way. It's funny but sad, so sad, but this is why it's good comedy. I think this comes from nowhere. Yeah, absolutely it. I think this comes from nowhere.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely it was a shock, wasn't it?
Speaker 1:And this is one of the reasons why this is a great sitcom. Yeah, frank is a boring character. People do not want to listen to him. No, he's even been in the newspapers, hasn't he? Yeah, most boring man in Britain. Geraldine's not expecting a lot, so she sets him up. She settles down on the sofa, that's it. And he up. She settled down on the sofa, that's it. And he's saying well, I'm here for an hour, but it might be slightly longer because I have to put my coat on after and say goodbye to the vicar. Geraldine lays back on the sofa.
Speaker 1:She knows this is going to be a long hour very long hour and frank settles in, yeah, and starts saying that he's had something he's wanted to speak to his friends about for a long time and says I first discovered I was gay aged 18 when I fell in love with a farmhand called Justin. The reactions from Dawn French in the background are Mouth drops, doesn't it?
Speaker 1:She just stares and mouth drops. She'd been twiddling her hair. Yeah, everything stops. The studio audience are going wild. Yes, but it's sad because he always found it too tricky to come out. So she sits up, she listens and then he talks about how he's wanted to say things for years. Yeah, and then, because he's talking to a microphone, it's not like he's coming out to his friends, it's much easier to tell through the microphone Lovely scene.
Speaker 1:He's much easier to tell through the microphone Lovely scene. He's come out, yeah. And then we switch to the parish council meeting. They all come in saying they enjoyed the show. Frank's obviously worried about their reaction and they all say encouraging things like well done. David says, oh, it was enlightening. Yeah, well done, frank, he's so happy that it doesn't yeah, it doesn't matter, that doesn't matter. Nope, and he has to go off upset. Yeah, and joel dean realizes nobody listened to his show nobody knows.
Speaker 1:But then frank returns. He's in a bright red blazer, pink jacket yeah, pink blazer, yeah, yeah. And they just look at him and say okay, and then just carry on. Yeah, yeah, lovely scene, yeah. And then we move on to the ending, the town hall, quiz, village hall. I've got town hall in everything, so it's a village, it's not a town. Okay, you're right, it's the village of dibbly in oxfordshire, you're right, the brain of dibbly.
Speaker 1:Dibley quiz. Brain of Dibley, and of course it's Alice versus David. Yeah, the funniest thing Fingers on button. So what does Alice do? Touch the button on a cardie? She does. And of course the competition is fixed. Yes, geraldine has fixed the competition, so Alice can win Later. David has no points, so Alice can win Later. David has nil points, but Alice has got 245 points, so she is the undisputed brain of Dibley. He hands over the little cup with words of congratulations. Not enough for Geraldine, not enough for her. No, she suggests that David kisses her and he has to do it properly so people can hear it on the radio. That's right. And Alice tries to hug him, but he's not having any of that. But the good news is Hugo has won the holiday. Hugo hot dog hunting Him and Alice are going to Euro Disney or Disneyland Paris.
Speaker 1:I should say now, yep, they're off to Disneyland Paris, right, with £500 spending money. They got the very final jingle from Radio Dibley. They have, oh damn, oh blow. Radio. Dibley's got to go. And then it's the end titles. But on every episode of the Vicarage of Dibley we have a post-credits scene. They do, and it always involves Alice and Geraldine in the vicarage and it's in the vestry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's not always with Alice, though it is.
Speaker 2:It's mainly with Alice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there are a few other episodes. Oh, is there, she does one with David.
Speaker 2:Don't remember that With her husband.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, I remember that, but she also did one with David. I think it's when Alice and Hugo have gone off on honeymoon. Ah, okay, so what happens is Geraldine tells a joke and Alice never gets it. She does not understand the joke ever and will complicate it into a way that, yeah, she breaks it down. So explaining why it's just not funny.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Although there was one episode where she explained the joke and got it, but I don't know if that was an episode of whether it was like a comic relief right special, where she actually broke down the joke completely, yeah, and shocks geraldine, but in every other episode, no, she doesn't get the joke the joke's funny and but she just doesn't get it and explains why it's wrong. Yeah, this is another reason why this show is so funny, so popular. It's just a lovely episode.
Speaker 2:It is a lovely episode.
Speaker 1:And something of that age is going to have problems. Yeah, yeah, I agree, people's tolerance change Absolutely and the writing reflects the majority of people's thinking at that particular time. I really wish they did more episodes of this, because I only think they only did about 20 episodes in total, a couple of comic relief specials. They only did one series of six episodes. I know they did some comic relief, I don't count.
Speaker 2:No, because they're so short, they were proper episodes.
Speaker 1:No, yeah, I wish Richard Curtis held off the films a bit. Yeah, but Bill Dinn is a very successful film by JP as well. Yeah, that's probably what took it over, but I would have been happier with more Dibley, and I think the millions of people who watched it would have. I think it's the third most successful British sitcom. Wasn't that Terms of Downloads on iPlayer? It was just voted that.
Speaker 2:I think it was voted.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know it's one of the most downloaded BBC sitcoms, so that's the episode, and now it's time for everybody's favourite part of the episode no no no, no, no, no, just your favourite. I'm not that bothered. It's time for the quiz. Yay, okay, you can start. What chocolate does Geraldine want to win a year's supply of?
Speaker 2:Cu Whirly.
Speaker 1:Cu Whirly. See, a nice easy one to start with. I can't wait to hear what my first question is. What is Alice Swerving? No, it's not that. Where did Dibbly rank in the previous year's Best Kept Village Award? 54 out of 54. What band does Alice think are gospel singers Black Sabbath? Yeah, what was the name of the village? Think are gospel singers black sabbath? Yeah, what was the name of the village? Oh, this is a mean one. Oh, here we go. What was the name of the village where a lorry load of bse infected toxic waste crashed into a nuclear fuel tanker, creating a crater 200 foot wide and causing the evacuation of the village? You are in trouble. And they came 53rd. This village? Yeah, no, I don't know the name of this village. Go on, denfield? Yeah, but again, bse infected Assault.
Speaker 1:Because, that was big at the time, wasn't it? Yeah, okay, a nice, easy one. Now for Amanda again. What is the name of the person Frank falls in love with at the age of 18? Oh, it's a farmhand called Justin it was. What anniversary is St Barnabas celebrating which allows it to have a one week licence for a local radio station? 650 years, yeah, she told me the answer. Don't even. When Geraldine announces Hugo as the winner winner of the holiday what middle name, sorry, what middle nickname does she give him? You go, hot dog. Well, that's not quite right. I said what was the middle name, hot dog. Thank you, jumping frog, I'm a cookie. Go on, okay. How does david rate alice's intellectual capacity as prawn sandwich? Prawn sandwich, that's pretty gutted.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:What is the final jingle of Radio Dibley? The one that I just did? You did, but I don't think you said it right when you said it. Oh, but there were two, the very final one or the one before the final one? Oh damn, oh blow, radio Dibley's got to go. It's not the one before. There was one before it. Yeah, with about tuning to Dibley Radio for fun with Holy.
Speaker 1:Lady, I shall tell you what it was, because I have all the scripts, my Vicar of Dibley Compendium, and it's oh, oh no, radio dibbley's got to go. So no one go round, blow rhymes would go. Yeah, I'm not arguing, but it's oh no, it's oh damn, oh no, radio dibbley's got to go. So you got that wrong. So that means I've won again oh damn. Oh blow, no. So, damo, no, we're going to have to re-watch this. I don't need to re-watch it Tune into the next episode to find out.
Speaker 1:No, I don't need to. I've got the script manned. It's fine, okay.
Speaker 2:Last one is it.
Speaker 1:No, I'm finished. Go on. Then, when Geraldine wins the Curly Wurly competition, who is the man in the photograph she gives a thumbs up to and says cheers, mate, Jesus, Not Jesus. Or is it Sean Bean? I can't remember Neither who's that Robson Green Forgot she's got. Yeah, so she has picture frames up and it's one of Jesus and it's one of a proper celebrity. Yeah, different male celebrities as you go along. Is that the last one? Because I've said five questions, I got seven. You're always trying to Go on.
Speaker 2:It means I've won. What's the final?
Speaker 1:score of the quiz 245 to 0. That's right. What was the last one? What's the jingle played at the Brain of Dibbly competition? Oh, I don't know. Tune into Dibbly Radio for fun with Holy Lady. O, there we go.
Speaker 1:I just literally about two minutes ago, told you that, and that's the end of the quiz. I win. And now it's time for Geek Corner. So my fact this week yeah, the main character of Geraldine Granger was the invention of Richard Curtis, of course, but he and Dawn French extensively consulted Joy Carroll, one of the first female Anglican priests. They wanted to make it as realistic as possible and even borrowed some character traits from her. Okay, I'll let you see some more facts. It was filmed in the village of Turville near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, so when they did the outside scenes, that's where it was.
Speaker 1:Dawn French has always said she would like to do more and did return for three specials during lockdown, obviously sadly, because most of the original cast are no longer with us. Yeah, she did three or four, didn't she? Dawn French received hate mail from male vicars when the program first aired. Disgusting, that's not very christian, is it? No, we could pretend. This is not a problem today. They're still having votes about having women in the clergy. As of 2019, only a third, which is 32 percent, of those ordained, are female. They're lockdown specials. She talked a lot about the world, so obviously they're very lowly rated on IMDb because they were trying to be woke and it was always just this sweet sitcom and they shouldn't have talked about other issues. She also did a nice remembrance thing for Alice, didn't she? Yeah, but the problem is, this was a story about a female vicar.
Speaker 1:A vicar's definitely going to talk about what's happening in the pool. Yeah, and that was an issue at the time when this sitcom came out. Make your mind up, people. There was only a nine-year age gap between the actors who played David and Hugo. Alice Tinker's, full name Bodicea no, oh, no, that's Mrs O. Mrs O was Bodicea, yeah. Alice Springs, tinker. Alice Springs, yeah. And Dawn French permanently damaged her knee during a recreation of the pedal scene, so the pedal scene is really well known. She's walking hand in hand.
Speaker 2:It's in one of the seasons. It's in one of the seasons.
Speaker 1:Yeah, in one of the seasons With David's brother, simon, and she sees a big pedal and she thinks, oh, it'll be fun to splash into it. But she jumps into it and she completely disappears and has to be rescued out of it. Which happens twice in the show, doesn't it? She does it to hide from him?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And then she does it another time. Yeah, and that's to be pulled out, yeah, so she recreated it for a chat show and it didn't go well. And it put me what's that? Paul O'Grady?
Speaker 2:show. Paul O'Grady show. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And that is the end of Geek Corner. Aww. And that brings us to the end of the show. Yes, so thanks for joining us. Remember, we get a lot of this stuff from the internet, and did you know the internet can lie. Contact us on Instagram, a tvcomedypod, on the website thattvcomedypodcast. com, or email at thattvcomedypodcast at outlookcom. Bye-bye.
Speaker 2:. It is a deliciously bright podcast Produced by Jacki J Sarah. For extended episodes and exclusive content, become a subscriber at patreoncom forward slash that tv comedy podcast.
