UKTV
U&Gold celebrate 30 years of The Vicar of Dibley
Praise Be! Geraldine in stained glory…
A giant stained-glassed inspired artwork dedicated to The Vicar of Dibley has been unveiled at the site where the much-loved sitcom was originally filmed, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the sitcom first airing on BBC One.
Featuring dedications to the most iconic moments and best jokes, the billboard-style installation was unveiled by the Rev. Kate Bottley, in the churchyard of ‘St Barnabas’ – the fictional church from the programme as part of U&GOLD’s 30th celebrations for The Vicar of Dibley. The installation will temporarily be in place before it is gifted to a superfan of the popular series.
Gerald Casey, Director of Programming – Comedy & Entertainment:
“We’re so excited to be able to celebrate 30 years of The Vicar of Dibley with our special stained-glass window. It feels like yesterday when Geraldine turned up in the village to much furore.
“However, as we all know, she won over not just the hearts of Dibley but the nation too. There are too many favourite moments to mention, but you can catch them all on U&GOLD this month, along with a whole load of Christmas specials taking place throughout December to remind you of how much fun The Vicar of Dibley has provided us over the years.”
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The 15ft by 6ft stained-glass effect installation mimics the effect of sunlight coming through a church window and includes a series of famous moments from the show, as voted for by the British public. Over 20 ‘Easter Eggs’ from Dibley’s 30-year history feature within the artwork, which will test the knowledge of even the keenest Dibley fans.
The favourite ever moment from The Vicar of Dibley according to Brits, and as portrayed in the artwork– is Geraldine Granger memorably falling through a puddle. The Christmas Lunch incident, where Geraldine attends four Christmas dinners, in second place and Alice not being able to ‘believe it’s not butter’ rounding off the top three.
All of these, and many more memorable moments cryptically feature in the stained-glass inspired installation and were commissioned by UKTV to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the village-based comedy that centred around the local vicar.
Top 10 most memorable moments from The Vicar of Dibley, according to Brits:
- Geraldine falling in the puddle – Geraldine trips and falls into a large puddle right outside the vicarage in the episode “Arrival.” This running gag is revisited multiple times in the series.
- The Christmas lunch incident– Geraldine finds herself having to attend four Christmas lunches. The first she happily accepts and reluctantly accepts the next three as she does not want to disappoint or offend those offering who are relying on her attendance.
- Alice just can’t believe it’s not butter – Alice shares her amazement to the fact that “I can’t believe it’s not butter” is in fact, not butter.
- Alice and Hugo’s wedding – With Teletubbies bridesmaids, a wedding crasher and Jim over-enthusiastically belting out the Spice Girls’ 2 Become 1, Alice and Hugo’s nuptials were every bit as chaotic as you’d imagined them to have been.
- Alice gives birth – As the residents of Dibley attempted to put on a nativity no-one was expecting Alice to give birth to a real baby while playing a heavily pregnant Mary.
- Geraldine and Darcey Bussell’s ballet performance – Geraldine arranges a performance with Darcey Bussell for the village charity gala.
- Geraldine’s first day – Geraldine arrives in Dibley and introduces herself to the parish council. Her attempts to make a good impression are met with hilariously awkward reactions from the villagers.
- Jim’s best man’s speech – Jim pays Geraldine a visit to test out his best man speech on her, which just so happens to be a rendition of the Abba classic Knowing Me, Knowing You.
- Sean Bean saves the day – After accepting a bizarre marriage proposal from stuffy David Horton, Geraldine has anxiety-induced dreams about their possible wedding day.
- The “open the door” scene – A running joke where the villagers struggle to open the church door, resulting in comedic antics.
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The show is still much loved, by Brits, with the humour (62%), characters (59%) and heart-warming feel of the show (38%) making it so particularly memorable for Brits.
Geraldine Granger is the nation’s favourite character, followed by Alice Tinker and Jim Trott. Geraldine’s humour and wit, her breaking down of stereotypes as well as her comedic timing were voted as the top reasons for why Brits see her as a ‘comedy icon’.
The TV personality Reverend Kate Bottley, who unveiled the special billboard outside the church of St Barnabas from the show, said “I cannot believe The Vicar of Dibley is celebrating 30 years of fun, wisdom and most of all laughs! It’s an absolute honour to unveil this stained-glass window for show’s 30th anniversary, which is being celebrated by U&GOLD.
“Geraldine Granger inspired me to become a vicar all those years ago with her fearless approach to parish life and tackling prejudice wherever she went with kindness, humour and compassion. Seeing this incredible artwork today reminds me all the brilliant Dibley moments from the show, there are simply too many to celebrate. I’m still trying to work out some of them– see how many you can spot!”
The Vicar of Dibley airs on U&GOLD on Sundays, with Christmas specials continuing the 30th celebrations into December.
UKTV/PA
The survey of 2,000 British adults was conducted by 3Gem in October 2024 on behalf of UKTV.
