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.
Episode menu
Series 3, Episode 2 - Winter
Further details
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
- 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
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 |
Charles Pemberton | Vet |
Linda Beckett | Woman at Nativity |
Richard Curtis | Writer |
Paul Mayhew-Archer | Writer |
Emma Freud | Script Editor |
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 |