Comic Strategies of Inclusion and ‘Normalisation’ in The Vicar of Dibley

Abstract

The comic adventures of the Revd. Geraldine Granger (the eponymous vicar of Dibley) and her country parishioners have become something of an institution in British TV comedy. The show may have notched up only 26 instalments between the winter of 1994, when the first episodes were aired, and the latest Comic Relief Special, which was broadcast on 13 March 2015. Yet the very fact that the show was repeatedly extended and picked up for holiday and Comic Relief Specials well after the series had officially ended in 2000 demonstrates its longevity and considerable popularity. It can be argued, in fact, that the intermittent production of the show — with three short series and two Comic Relief Specials between 1994 and 2000 and a further eight holiday and Comic Relief Specials between 2004 and 2015 — as well as its scheduling around Christmas and Easter and for Red Nose Day have turned each new episode into something of an event, simultaneously drawing on and reinforcing the show’s persistent popularity and ‘significant audience ratings’ (Mills, The Sitcom 12).