TV episodes review: Vicar of Dibley: Holy Wholly Happy Ending (2006-2007), directed by Ed Bye

I remember watching The Vicar of Dibley when it was first shown on Swedish TV, and thought it was very funny. Sitcoms about priests do actually work (see also: Father Ted), even if you’re not of the faith yourself, provided the writers are good. The Vicar of Dibley had Paul Mayhew-Archer and the King of RomComs, Richard Curtis. Therefore, it’s not without reason you might expect the ending of The Vicar of Dibley to be magnificent if it’s about romance …

And it sure is.

The ending consisted of two hour-long episodes originally shown on Christmas Day 2006 (5.1 The Handsome Stranger) and New Year’s Day 2007 (5.2 The Vicar in White), and it starts off with Vicar Geraldine (Dawn French) feeling terribly lonely. She gets celebrated for having performed 100 weddings in the village, and she has yet to find the man of her dreams.

Incidentally, David Horton (Gary Waldhorn) has just sold off the cottage next to the vicar’s to some “rich townie bastard” who will no doubt destroy the waning village spirit by only spending the occasional weekend there. Geraldine goes with dim-witted Alice (Emma Chambers) – who spends the two episodes believing she’s the offspring of Jesus, because she’s reading The DaVinci Code and her name rhymes with “chalice” – to meet this new person … aaaand there he is: Harry.

Harry is not so much of a townie bastard, more like Prince Charming. He is tall, dark, stunningly handsome, loves books, has a sense of humour, is altogether lovely – and oh, he just happens to be played by Richard Armitage.

Also starring: Keeley Hawes and Hugh Bonneville, with Trevor Peacock as Jim, John Bluthal as Frank, Roger Lloyd-Pack as Owen, and James Fleet as Hugo.

If that wasn’t enough, Richard Armitage has said that Harry is quite similar to himself in real life, which doesn’t exactly help all of us swooning fans come down from our happy highs. Harry falls in love with the vicar – and of course, she falls in love with him – even though he’s an accountant.

The final two episodes are laugh-out-loud hilarious (example: Alice as Matron of Honour dressed up as the 10th Doctor with two Daleks as bridesmaids) and romantic and wonderful and should be seen by everyone who loves a good RomCom. This was written by the best and acted by the best, and even if you’re not a Richard Armitage fan, you will be after this. (If not, go watch North & South and it’s a done deal.)

5 out of 5 handsome strangers!