‘The show has always wrapped its arms around the truth’: Dawn French teases details about The Vicar of Dibley’s ‘funny and silly’ festive special
She’s set to reprise her role as Geraldine Granger for the BBC classic’s Christmas special later this month.
And Dawn French teased details about the upcoming edition of The Vicar of Dibley in Lockdown as she appeared on Tuesday’s The One Show.
The actress, 63, admitted that while the series will boast ‘funny and silly’ moments, it’ll also ‘pay tribute to those who aren’t with us anymore’ during the coronavirus pandemic.
‘It has always wrapped its arms around the truth’: Dawn French teased details about the festive special of The Vicar of Dibley in Lockdown as she appeared on Tuesday’s The One Show
Joining hosts Amol Rajan and Alex Jones, the screen star explained how she and the show’s producers decided to bring her character back to life, 13 years after its last special.
The media personality said: ‘Richard Curtis, Paul Mayhew-Archer and I decided, ”what would Geraldine be doing at Christmas?”
‘She’d be zooming her parishioners and ministering to them like that, so that’s what we’ve done. It’s 10 minutes long but it’s three little sermons so it takes us all the way through the lockdown.’
Exciting times ahead: The actress, 63, is set to reprise her role as Geraldine Granger for the BBC classic’s Christmas special later this month (pictured with James Fleet as Hugo Horton)
Lifting the lid: The comedian admitted that while the series will boast ‘funny and silly’ moments, it’ll also ‘pay tribute to those who aren’t with us anymore’ during the pandemic
‘What would she be doing at Christmas?’ Joining hosts Amol Rajan and Alex Jones, the screen star explained how she and the show’s producers decided to bring her character back to life
Sharing how the brief episodes will document the global crisis while injecting a hint of its signature humour, the comedian added: ‘It’s a cross between newsletters, community notices and a sermon for everybody that’s there.
‘But like everything in Dibley, there’s funny, silly stuff about people getting stuck in the church when lockdown started, so they’re still in the church.
‘We also pay tribute to those who aren’t with us anymore. Dibley has always been able to wrap its arms around the truth as well as being silly and funny.’
Last month, the French and Saunders star joined co-star James Fleet in a first look image at the festive show.
‘But like everything in Dibley, there’s funny, silly stuff’: The screen star shared how the brief episodes will document the global crisis while injecting a hint of its signature humour
The BAFTA-winning thespian looked delighted as she took her seat on the sofa in Geraldine’s cosy living room on to deliver a virtual sermon to the people of the Parish of Dibley.
Dawn was accompanied by James, 68, who plays the hapless Hugo Horton in the series, with the star looking dapper in a shirt, jumper and tie as he smiled alongside his friend.
The three 10 minute episodes will air weekly, with a 30 minute compilation episode of all three sermons airing later over Christmas.
While The Vicar of Dibley originally aired from 1994 to 1998, the series returned for various specials before officially concluding in 2007, but has briefly headed back to screens for various shorts in aid of Comic Relief.
It’s back! The Vicar of Dibley originally aired from 1994 to 1998 (Dawn pictured centre with the original cast in 2006 for a special)