Product Details

• Actors: Dawn French, Gary Waldhorn, James Fleet, Emma Chambers, Trevor Peacock
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: BBC Video
• VHS Release Date: August 15, 2000
• Run Time: 75 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004W21V
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #211,022 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Vicar is still the best of the best, November 27, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (Kampen, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vicar of Dibley, Vol. 5 - Autumn & Winter [VHS] (VHS Tape)

When reviewing the first four tapes of "Vicar" I pointed out that all twelve episodes were much of the same thing: the best comedy you're likely to find anywhere. It has taken a year for me to get my hands on these latest two tapes and I have to admit that I was a little apprehensive: could that quality have been maintained? The grateful answer to that is an unqualified "yes". Unlike many series, this one has not taken a nosedive.

Having said that, I have to point out that it is not exactly "much of the same thing". The differences are subtle (or I think they are), but very much in evidence. Formerly the characters who inhabit the magical, mad villiage of Dibley were eccentric (and that is a subtle understatement), but in these last four episodes (i.e. volumes five and six) they become more and more absurd. Is it at all likely, for example, that Alice might suddenly speak fluent Hebrew and indulge in a tirade about implied homosexual rape? Would even Owen seriously consider juggling with live babies? What about Frank's increased references to his own homosexuality? And as for Jim's outfit for one of the Kings in the Nativity ...

These questions do not in the least take away from the hilarity of the series. Quite the contrary: they add an absurdist twist which induces the kind of hysterical laughter that forces one to stop the video for a while, just to calm down before the next onslaught. In so many ways these absurdities help to save the situation from becoming dull and predictable (although there are one or two really predictable jokes).

A must for devoted fans, newcomers might prefer to watch the first four tapes before embarking on these latest ones. I suspect that a knowledge of the characters is necessary, were one to make sense of all the madcap goings-on.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Vicar, September 9, 2000

By 

Leona (Binghamton, New York, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vicar of Dibley, Vol. 5 - Autumn & Winter [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This tape has two forty minute episodes, "Autumn" and "Winter." Sparks fly in "Autumn" when David's brother Simon returns for a visit. Very sad and sweet ending to this one. In "Winter," Alice has "her first very good idea indeed," and the christmas nativity has a very real spin put into it. Personally my favourite episode is "Winter," just because it's so great.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get this for Christmas, November 5, 2000

By 

tropic_of_criticism - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vicar of Dibley, Vol. 5 - Autumn & Winter [VHS] (VHS Tape)

When Christmas rolls around, it seems that every television show wants to produce a holiday-themed episode. Unfortunately, most are tired retreads of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" or O. Henry's "Gift of the Magi".

Not so, VICAR OF DIBLEY. Instead of going for these obviously derivative storylines, the "Winter" episode takes its cue from a much less comically rich source: the book of Matthew. Somehow, this tape finds a way to tread between high Christian tradition and human foible--and still be very, very funny. Like every episode of the series, there is humor to be found pretty much everywhere in the fine ensemble cast, but most is derived from the interaction of the long-suffering but gentle Vicar Geraldine and her confidently dimwitted gal pal, Alice. Some of the humor here, too, will be familiar to anyone who's ever had to organize a church or school play using less-than-Oscar-winning actors.

Wihout giving away the clever plot, it's fair to say that this episode works on at least two levels. For the family looking for a new holiday story that is respectful of Christian tradition, yet emblematic of the modern Church of England/Episcopal Church, this is definitely your gig. It's also a great buy for lovers of character-based British comedy, Christmas-themed or no.

That being said, it should be noted that some more conservative Christians may well challenge the notion of female church leadership (even though it's a fact of life in the C of E), and will balk even more at the other episode on the tape, in which the Vicar enjoys, then regrets, a pre-marital affair. Though there's really nothing on a sex or violence scale to offend in "Winter", some parents may wish to preview the tape before letting their children watch it. Non-Christians may not want to expose their children to a story so obviously steeped in Christian tradition.

Of course, from my perspective, there's nothing that children need to be shielded from here, especially in the Christmas episode. The series is not afraid to make strong statements of faith, but it doesn't do so didactically. impressively, Geraldine's humorous, but firm, defense of Christmas as "the greatest story ever told" is a fine example of how to live one's faith--whatever It might be--with joy.