Product Details

• Actors: Dawn French, Gary Waldhorn, James Fleet, Emma Chambers, Trevor Peacock
• Format: Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: BBC Video
• VHS Release Date: July 7, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004WG3D
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #292,172 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly funny, August 18, 2001

By 

Paul Cerra - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vicar of Dibley, Vol. 1 - The New Girl in Town [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The Vicar of Dibley is yet another comic offering from writer Richard Curtis (known for the movies 'Four Weddings and a Funeral', 'Notting Hill', and 'Bean' as well as the BBC series 'Blackadder'.) Starring Dawn French as the new female vicar of a tiny village with only six parishioners, this tape contains the first three episodes (30 minutes each) from the first season.

The first episode, 'Arrival', introduces the characters and the village of Dibley. After the longtime vicar dies, the town learns that a new one is being sent to replace him. The verger, Alice (Emma Chambers), gets to keep her job, but the new vicar, Geraldine, (Dawn French) has to fight for hers when Village Councillor David Horton (Gary Waldhorn) objects to the presence of a female vicar.

The second episode, 'Songs of Praise', sees Dibley selected to appear on a television program filmed each week in a different church. For United States viewers, some of the references in this episode may be a bit obscure. Nevertheless, the end of this episode features Alice and Geraldine in one of the funniest sequences I've ever witnessed on television. This is NOT to be missed.

The final episode is entitled 'Community Spirit'. Geraldine recruits Elton John to open the village's Autumn Faire after learning that he is Emma's cousin. I won't give away the ending, but the video's box cover says that this year's faire "could be the most memorable fete since 1987 -- when someone put cannabis in the cupcakes."

In case you're thinking that comedy about religion can't possibly be funny, let me reassure you that Dawn French's vicar downs liquor and chases men as often as she can. This isn't a tame series -- in fact, these people say things that American network television standards would never allow. The other characters in the village are also hilarious, especially Owen Newitt (played by Roger Lloyd Pack), the strange farmer. I can't recommend this series enough.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where British comic genius collides, November 15, 2000

By 

tropic_of_criticism - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vicar of Dibley, Vol. 1 - The New Girl in Town [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Following a vote in the 90s allowing female vicars in the Church of England, Dawn French latched on to an unlikely, if topical, idea: there's comic gold in them there pews. An odd notion, indeed, for a woman who'd been partly responsible for penning the most decadent comedy in the 90's: ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS. Yet the idea equally intrigued Richard Curtis--best known for being a creative force behind BLACK ADDER, A THIN BLUE LINE, FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL, and NOTTING HILL--and together they created one of Britain's best, most trans-Atlantically understandable series.

What makes it so good is that it manages to make familiar that which most people never see: the personal life of their local religious leader. It's all about the intersection of humanity with religion and the ways in which a Reverend, unafraid to admit her foibles, nevertheless leads her flock and community.

More than that, it's a comedy which takes the best elements from previous series Richard Curtis and Dawn French worked on, and improves them. Chief among these legacies is the relationship between the two leads. French's Vicar Geraldine and her friend, Alice, are in many ways like Curtis' Black Adder and Baldric. Geraldine is just a wee bit smarter than Alice, and, as with Black Adder and Baldric, much humor is derived from watching explanations of the obvious unfold. Yet the relationship is nowhere near as harsh as the delightfully abusive one in BLACK ADDER. It's as if French's Patsy and Edina have rubbed off on Geraldine and Alice. In AB FAB, Patsy and Edina kept each other in line, and here, too, Alice occasionally rescues Geraldine from herself. Like Patsy and Edina, Alice and Geraldine are friends who genuinely need each other--not the sort of master and servant that are Black Adder and Baldric. Plus, Emma Chamber's Alice may be dim at times, but she doesn't know it. Hers is a blissful ignorance, as if she's looking at the world through glasses that make her vision of the world seem perfectly focussed. More often than not, she's also the moral voice of the show--the conscience of her vicar. In short, the buddy formula that both French and Curtis have used before to great effect has settles here into the form of affectionate, genuine friendship.

This first tape introduces us to these latter day buddies, along with the other characters who inhabit Dibley. Though the show definitely hits its stride in later episodes, this first tape is indispensible for getting properly oriented to Dibley's inhabitants.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious comedy - really top notch!, September 19, 2002

By 

Get What We Give (Georgia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Vicar of Dibley, Vol. 1 - The New Girl in Town [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Dawn French as the Vicar of Dibley is truly gifted. This television series from England is one of the funniest ever to hit any shore.

When the ancient vicar of the tiny hamlet of Dibley dies on the pulpit, the archbishop sends a new vicar to the tiny village: none other than Dawn French playing Geraldine, or Gerri. While this might seem innocuous in this modern age, such modern thoughts are not necessarily present in this small town. Confrontation is imminent - to a hilarious degree.

The cast includes: David, the head of the town council (and a wealthy, pompous bore); David's adult son, Hugo, a Kylie Minogue fanatic, and borderline idiot; Frank, the dim bulb council secretary; Letitia, the aged council member, a self-proclaimed innovative cook (devils food cake with coffee and ketchup icing, anyone?); Owen, the curmudgeondy farmer, who always seems to have some sort of digestion troubles; Alice, the moronic verger and best friend to Gerri; and finally, no no no no no no no, yes, Jim, the befuddled excentric council member.

Most of the episodes deal with the council and their lives, but occasionally they deal with a bit broader subject matter. Either way, this show cannot be beat for hilarity!

And after the credits roll, do NOT miss the dialogue between Gerri and Alice - each week Gerri tells the mutton headed Alice a joke which she undoubtedly doesn't understand.

Don't miss this one!