Vicar Of Dibley - The Complete Collection (Box Set) > Reviews > Having a bad day and need a laugh?

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Hilarious, Dawn french at her best
Disadvantages:	None

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This is the complete Vicar of Dibley DVD Box set containing 5 DVD's of all the hilarious antics of the sleepy village of Dibley.

When Dibley's ancient Vicar Reverend Pottle dies during a service the villagers await the arrival of their new vicar. Hoping that the "new chap" will be able to awake the locals into attending church again and raise the congregation from the lowly single figures of late.

What they discover however is that Geraldine a joke-cracking, chocolate munching female Vicar has been sent to them much to the disgust of David the local head figure who does everything in his power to try and rid his village of her before anyone finds out!

Once the novelty of having a female vicar wears off it just so happens that her wonderfully humerous attitude to life is just what this sleepy village needs!

The Characters

Geraldine - The Vicar (played by Dawn French): Geraldine is a fun loving, kind hearted, larger than life lady who has two loves in life, Sean Bean and chocolate (which she indulges in all too frequently!). She wins over the whole village to prove that she is exactly what Dibley needs and puts her self out for her parishinors despite the fact that in doing this she often causes hilarious consequenses for herself!

Alice Tinker/Horton - Verger (played by Emma Chambers):
Alice is the very dippy and ever so slightly dotty verger at the church. Alice believes in the existance of fairies, the Easter Bunny and even that the teletubbies are real! She likes to think that she is up on current affairs and has a great sense of humour, much to a lot of people's frustration this ends in having to explain many situations to her. Alice's main obsession in life is Hugo Horton, which leads to a very funny couple.

David Horton - The Parish Councillor and Chairman of the Parish Council (played by Gary Waldhorn): David is an incredibly old fashioned, pompous and self rightious man who always likes to get things his own way and God help anyone who gets in his way. He is totally opposed to the idea of a female vicar, but in time dicovers that he is actually in love with Geraldine!

Hugo Horton (played by James Fleet): Son of David, Hugo is a rather down trodden and nervous young man who has grown up in the shadow of his over powering father. Hugo often tries to involve himself in conversations but invareably ends up in a huge amount of waffling. He has been attracted to Alice since they were children and when his father is dead set against his proposal to Alice he goes ahead and marries her anyway!

Owen Newitt (played by Roger Lloyd Pack): Owen is a down to earth, straight talking farmer. Due to him living alone for much of his life after his brother, father and mother all died he has developed a strange liking for killing things. However he is a kind hearted man who develops a romantic liking for the vicar but seems oblivious to the fact that she does not reciprocate these feelings!

Jim Trott (played by Trevor Peacock): Jim is the dithering king of Dibley, he's favourite answer to most questions asked of him is No, No, No, No.....Yes. Although Jim is a married man he is sex crazed and truly believes the heart of a happy marriage is "sex and lots of it.....with as many women as possible!"

Frank Pickle (played by John Bluthal): Frank by agreeance of all the Dibley residents is one of the most boring men who ever lived, he's stories and speeches seem to go on forever and given the oppurtunity will spend hours telling them. He is the Parish Secretary and takes the minutes at the Parish Council meetings but takes perdantism to new heights!

Letitia Cropley (played by Liz Smith): Unanimously acknowledged as the "Queen of Cordon-Bleugh"! Letitia was famously known for her somewhat unusal approach to cooking having come up with branston pickle flavoured icing for a chocolate cake! Her flower arranging was also well know in the village with some unusual additions like a pineapple!

Series One

"The Arrival"
This episode see the hilarious arrival of Geraldine to the village and all the prejudice that comes with being a female vicar, with the help and belief of Owen Newitt the strangest farmer you would evercare to meet but having a heart of gold wants to give the rev a fair chance, so following a vote of the parish council Gerry is given the oppotunity to see how her Sunday service goes. When she packs the church to it's rafters there is no hope that this vicar will be going anywhere!

"Songs of Praise"
When the BBC find out that Dibley has got a female Vicar they write and ask whether they can film an episode of Songs of Praise at St Barnabus. After David saying that he thinks it's the worst idea he's ever heard the rest of the council decide that actually, it's a great idea and agree to let Beeb into the church. Geraldine falls for the producer Tristan, meanwhile David falls for Ruth the camera "man", leading to the pair of them having their hopes dashed when they find out that Tristan and Ruth are indeed a couple.

"Community Spirit"
With the annual Autumn Fayre looming and having previously raising poor amounts of money, Gerry decides to get some more publicity for the event by getting a big celebrity to open it which is more easily said than actually achieved. When Alice casually mentions she has a long-lost cousin called Reg Dwight, Gerry puts two and two together and gets five thinking she is referring to Elton John. Alice writes to her long lost cousin who turns up on the day and much to Gerry's embarassment isn't Elton John but then a "lucky" thing happens when Kylie turns up in Dibley!!

"The Window and the Weather"
When Dibley is hit by arguably one of the "greatest" storms the Village has ever seen, the lightening decided that the Church is not it's friends and strikes a tree which crashes through the great North Window. Whilst the Parish Council are arguing about what the window portrayed Gerry has got a task on her hands to try and raise the 10 thousand pounds needed to replace the window. That's where one of David's very rich friends comes in and Gerry manages to get the money from him, however on the other side of the world is an earthquake. Can Gerry use all the money on the window or should she help the Earthquake children?

"Election"
When the local elections are due to take place, Davind thinks that he can rely on the whole of the village to re-elect him, that is until he decides that he can't help them with everything they need for the community, but instead is far more interested in Foreign Friends. Up steps Geraldine when the Parish Council announce they want her are Councillor and she tells them that actually David would be far better for the job if only he would just make a few "teensy" election day promises.

Animals
When a villager comes to ask Gerry to perform a funeral for one of their pets, she realises that actually people genuinly lovetheir pets sometimes more than each other. So she decides to open the church doors to all the animals of the village. David of course is fuming at this and hopes to find her falling flat on her face and calls the Bishop. Of course, in true Gerry style she pulls it off and proves David wrong much to the delight of the whole village

Seasonal Special

"The Easter Bunny"

"The Christmas Dinner Incident"

Series 2

"Engagement"

"Dibley Live"

"Celebrity Vicar"

"Love & Marriage"

"The Seasons" (Series Three)

"Autumn"
Hugo and Alice have returned from their honeymoon slightly late, after an unfortunate drug-smuggling incident - and more than slightly pregnant. Meanwhile Geraldine's dalliance with David's brother at last reaches it's passionate climax - laughter, tears and condoms all round.

"Winter"
With the Millennium fast approaching Dibley's in trouble, with no celebrations planned. Then, unbelievably, Alice has her first ever good idea. A classic Christmas episode, featuring the Great Dibley Farmyard Nativity, where the audience get a far more realistic birth than they bargained for.

"Spring"
Spring is in the air and the strangest thing has happened - David and Geraldine can't stop agreeing with each other. As the christening of Baby La-La approaches, a great love story unfolds - David risks everything for love with the usually tragic results.

"Summer"
Dibley is in the grip of a drought and the Water Company's radical solution could mean then end of Dibley forever. In an epic conflict reminiscent of the Battle of Waterloo, the villagers rally for one last mighty effort to stop them all drowning like risible rats.

More to come!