The Vicar Of Dibley. Geraldine Grainger (Dawn French). Copyright: Tiger Aspect Productions
The Vicar Of Dibley

The Vicar Of Dibley

  • TV sitcom
  • BBC One
  • 1994 - 2020
  • 20 episodes (3 series)

Comedy about a small, backward rural village and its female vicar, Geraldine Grainger. Stars Dawn French, Emma Chambers, Gary Waldhorn, James Fleet, John Bluthal and more.

  • Series 3, Episode 2 repeated Saturday at 12:25pm on Gold
  • JustWatch Streaming rank this week: 360

Episode menu

Series 3, Episode 2 - Winter

It's Christmas - not to mention the turn of the Millennium - in Dibley, and the Vicar is determined to put on a festive show that will be talked about for years. With Hugo, Frank and Owen in charge, they don't get off to a good start, but plans for a special live nativity, with the actually pregnant Alice as Mary, are soon being made.

Further details

The Vicar Of Dibley. Image shows from L to R: Frank Pickle (John Bluthal), Jim Trott (Trevor Peacock), Owen Newitt (Roger Lloyd Pack). Copyright: Tiger Aspect Productions

It's Christmas 1999, the dawn of a new millennium, so Geraldine thinks about the need for some seasonal entertainment in the village. The natural choice is some kind of nativity production, but that's far too clichéd, as apt as it may be. Alice wonders whether it might be possible to stage a 'live' nativity outdoors around the village; she then becomes too enthusiastic about this and suggests that the audience need to be shouting "He's behind you" to the wise men when looking for Jesus!

Geraldine jumps on the first half-decent idea her verger has had. Auditions immediately commence, but with all of Dibley's usual eccentricity: Frank auditions as a wise man and speaks in the voice of Stephen Hawking; Owen wants to play the King and so dresses as Elvis; and Jim also wants to audition for the King, so dresses as Martin Luther King! Meanwhile, Hugo lets on that David has his eye set on the part of God...

Alice and Hugo prepare very successfully for the roles of Mary and Joseph, (somehow) learning Hebrew perfectly. Geraldine casts David as Herod, who insists on bringing out the allegedly "nicer side of Herod"! The rehearsals happen with great chaos and misunderstanding, and the Vicar keeps having to step in to show Alice and Hugo in particular, how to perform.

On the evening of the play, things start going predictably and terribly awry. Animals run off, leading the Vicar as narrator to procede through Dibley on the back of a tractor, no one seems able to remember their lines or follow where the story has got to - and to top it off, Alice goes into labour, which causes mayhem and confusion on the stage but makes for the most realistic nativity since the real one!

The only question Alice has is, has she given birth to the Baby Jesus?

Broadcast details

Date
Saturday 25th December 1999
Time
9:30pm
Channel
BBC One
Length
40 minutes

Repeats

  1. Saturday 30th March 2024 at 12:25pm on Gold

Show past repeats

Date Time Channel
Wednesday 8th December 2010 10:00pm Gold
Thursday 9th December 2010 8:00pm Gold
Sunday 17th April 2011 12:05pm Gold
Tuesday 23rd August 2011 8:05pm Gold
Wednesday 24th August 2011 5:15pm Gold
Saturday 22nd October 2011 7:05pm Gold
Sunday 23rd October 2011 1:00pm Gold
Thursday 15th December 2011 10:00pm Gold
Friday 16th December 2011 8:05pm Gold
Tuesday 7th February 2012 10:00pm Gold
Wednesday 8th February 2012 12:15am Gold
Saturday 10th March 2012 3:45pm Gold
Sunday 11th March 2012 3:35pm Gold
Saturday 28th July 2012 10:20am Gold
Saturday 28th July 2012 8:05pm Gold
Friday 23rd November 2012 7:00pm Gold
Saturday 24th November 2012 12:30pm Gold
Tuesday 25th December 2012 11:00pm BBC1
Sunday 20th January 2013 12:40pm Gold
Tuesday 23rd April 2013 9:15pm Gold
Sunday 9th June 2013 8:10pm Gold
Friday 12th July 2013 7:05pm Gold
Saturday 13th July 2013 12:00am Gold
Saturday 7th September 2013 4:15pm Gold
Sunday 8th September 2013 8:05am Gold
Sunday 15th December 2013 9:05pm Gold
Monday 16th December 2013 7:00pm Gold
Wednesday 15th January 2014 9:00pm Gold
Wednesday 15th January 2014 11:55pm Gold
Tuesday 18th February 2014 10:35pm Gold
Sunday 16th March 2014 2:20pm Gold
Wednesday 23rd April 2014 9:15pm Gold
Thursday 24th April 2014 4:10pm Gold
Wednesday 2nd July 2014 8:05pm Gold
Thursday 3rd July 2014 4:10pm Gold
Sunday 23rd November 2014 7:55am Gold
Tuesday 2nd December 2014 7:00pm Gold
Wednesday 3rd December 2014 5:00pm Gold
Monday 15th December 2014 10:00pm Gold
Tuesday 16th December 2014 8:00pm Gold
Wednesday 24th December 2014 10:15pm BBC1
Friday 3rd April 2015 10:20am Gold
Thursday 9th April 2015 7:30pm Gold
Friday 3rd July 2015 8:30pm Gold
Saturday 4th July 2015 2:30pm Gold
Saturday 12th September 2015 6:00pm Gold
Thursday 19th November 2015 8:00pm Gold
Friday 20th November 2015 3:05pm Gold
Sunday 6th December 2015 10:35pm Gold
Monday 7th December 2015 7:00pm Gold
Thursday 18th February 2016 8:00pm Gold
Friday 19th February 2016 12:40pm Gold
Sunday 27th March 2016 6:00pm Gold
Monday 28th March 2016 9:35am Gold
Saturday 11th June 2016 6:15pm Gold
Sunday 12th June 2016 3:35pm Gold
Thursday 17th November 2016 8:00pm Gold
Friday 18th November 2016 7:00pm Gold
Saturday 24th December 2016 10:50pm BBC1
Friday 16th February 2018 9:00pm Gold
Saturday 17th February 2018 4:20pm Gold
Friday 4th May 2018 10:20pm Gold
Wednesday 27th June 2018 8:10pm Gold
Thursday 28th June 2018 3:10pm Gold
Saturday 25th August 2018 1:10pm Gold
Saturday 25th August 2018 7:15pm Gold
Wednesday 12th December 2018 3:20pm Gold
Wednesday 12th December 2018 8:40pm Gold
Monday 4th February 2019 8:00pm Gold
Tuesday 5th February 2019 2:20pm Gold
Friday 20th September 2019 8:05pm Gold
Saturday 21st September 2019 2:55pm Gold
Thursday 5th December 2019 8:05pm Gold
Friday 20th December 2019 9:40pm Gold
Tuesday 24th December 2019 10:40pm BBC1
Sunday 22nd March 2020 2:35pm Gold
Sunday 22nd March 2020 6:15pm Gold
Saturday 23rd May 2020 11:00am Gold
Friday 12th June 2020 8:05pm Gold
Saturday 13th June 2020 1:05am Gold
Saturday 10th October 2020 9:55pm Gold
Sunday 11th October 2020 9:00am Gold
Friday 4th December 2020 8:10pm Gold
Saturday 5th December 2020 3:45pm Gold
Saturday 6th March 2021 3:05pm Gold
Sunday 7th March 2021 3:10am Gold
Sunday 7th March 2021 7:45am Gold
Saturday 3rd April 2021 4:20pm Gold
Saturday 17th July 2021 6:05pm Gold
Sunday 18th July 2021 12:35pm Gold
Monday 6th December 2021 8:00pm Gold
Tuesday 7th December 2021 12:40am Gold
Tuesday 7th December 2021 12:00pm Gold
Wednesday 8th December 2021 6:45pm Gold
Thursday 9th December 2021 11:15am Gold
Tuesday 14th December 2021 8:00pm Gold
Wednesday 15th December 2021 1:15am Gold
Wednesday 22nd December 2021 6:00pm Gold
Sunday 2nd January 2022 6:40pm Gold
Monday 3rd January 2022 12:25pm Gold
Tuesday 8th February 2022 9:05pm Gold
Monday 18th April 2022 1:55pm Gold
Monday 18th April 2022 7:25pm Gold
Tuesday 4th October 2022 8:20pm Gold
Sunday 18th December 2022 4:20pm Gold
Monday 19th December 2022 12:20am Gold
Sunday 25th December 2022 11:20pm BBC1
Saturday 18th February 2023 10:55pm Gold
Sunday 19th February 2023 2:35am Gold
Sunday 19th March 2023 2:50am Gold
Sunday 19th March 2023 9:55pm Gold
Tuesday 28th March 2023 8:00pm Gold
Tuesday 28th March 2023 10:20pm Gold
Tuesday 3rd October 2023 9:40pm Gold
Friday 5th January 2024 9:35pm Gold
Saturday 6th January 2024 1:15am Gold
Tuesday 19th March 2024 8:20pm Gold
Tuesday 19th March 2024 11:30pm Gold
Wednesday 20th March 2024 2:40pm Gold

Cast & crew

Cast
Dawn French Geraldine Grainger
Emma Chambers Alice Tinker
Gary Waldhorn David Horton
James Fleet Hugo Horton
John Bluthal Frank Pickle
Trevor Peacock Jim Trott
Roger Lloyd Pack Owen Newitt
Guest cast
Charles Pemberton Vet
Linda Beckett Woman at Nativity
Writing team
Richard Curtis Writer
Paul Mayhew-Archer Writer
Emma Freud Script Editor
Production team
Gareth Carrivick Director
Jon Plowman Producer
Margot Gavan Duffy Producer
Richard Curtis Executive Producer
Peter Bennett-Jones Executive Producer
Mark Lawrence Editor
Andrew Howe-Davies Production Designer
Howard Goodall Composer

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