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[[File:VicarOfDibley001.jpg|frame|Reverend Geraldine Granger]]
▲A British [[Sit Com]], starring Dawn French as Geraldine Granger. Following the Ordination of Women into the Church of England, Geraldine replaces the old archetypal [[The Vicar|vicar]] in the sleepy and quirky country village of Dibley. The village has to get used to the laid back "babe with a [[Bob Haircut|bob cut]] and [[Buxom Is Better|a magnificent bosom]]" being their new vicar, while Geraldine herself has to cope with a village full of lunatics and inbreds, as well as the corrupt machinations of councillor David Horton. [[Hilarity Ensues|Hilarity]], as they say, ensues.
The show ran from 1994 to 2007, and has been seen resurfacing for sketches or charity appeals. It was released at approximately the time of female ordination.
Came third in ''[[
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{{tropenamer}}
* [[Cordon Bleugh Chef]]
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Abhorrent Admirer]]: On occasion, Owen towards the Vicar.
* [[Adorkable]]: Hugo Horton.
* [[Away in
* [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]]: Geraldine and David through much of the series, though it's decidedly one-sided. David was so used to arguing with people that he misinterpreted Geraldine's resistance to him as genuine affection. She ''does'' care about him in a weird way, [[Let's Just Be Friends|just not in that way]].
* [[Big Beautiful Woman]]: The village certainly seems to think Geraldine is, with constant references to her "lovely arse
* [[Big Eater]]: While Dawn French is certainly not skinny, the degree with which she is occasionally shown to binge on chocolate (and occasionally other foodstuffs, such as icecream) would kill an entire team of sumo wrestlers. An entire human-sized freezer of Haagen-Daas in one sitting is beyond the appetites of ''most'' people, but not Geraldine.
* [[Big No]]: Geraldine uses the "Short answer: No. Long answer: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO." version long before [[Zero Punctuation|Yahtzee]] and [[Homestar Runner|Strong Bad]] did.
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* [[Brick Joke]]: The human-sized puddle comes back to haunt Geraldine in the penultimate episode, after she [[Tempting Fate|specifically insists to Alice that she'll never fall for it again.]]
* [[British Brevity]]: Twenty episodes and four specials were made. Over thirteen years.
* [[But You Screw One Goat!]]: Owen, supposedly.
* [[Calling the Old Man Out]]: When David tells Hugo that, if he marries Alice, then "you will no longer be welcome in this house, you will no longer be my son, and as this will attests, you will have nothing!" Hugo actually stands up to David (a rare feat for him), shoves the will back at him, and says, respectfully but coldly, "On the contrary, sir, I shall have everything in the world that I desire."
* [[The Cameo]]: The series has featured some notable celebrity cameos, including [[Kylie Minogue]], [[Sean Bean]], and [[Johnny Depp]].
* [[The Cassandra]]: David during the episode
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: See [[Curse Cut Short]]
* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: The vast majority of the village have a strange detachment from reality, but Alice Tinker especially suffers from this (almost bordering on [[The Ditz]] territory).
{{quote|
'''Geraldine''': Which stuff?
'''Alice''': I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.
'''Geraldine''': Oh, yes.
'''Alice''': Well, I can't believe it's not butter.
'''Geraldine''': Yeah, well I believe that is the idea, yeah.
'''Alice''': Then yesterday, I went to Crookenden and I bought this other stuff, like a sort of home-brand, you know?
'''Geraldine''': Yes...
'''Alice''': And you know, I can't believe it's not I Can't Believe It's Not Butter
'''Geraldine''': Mmm. I'm losing you now.
'''Alice''': Well, you know I Can't Believe It's Not Butter?
'''Geraldine''': Yeah, you think it is butter.
'''Alice''': No no, I mean you know the stuff that I can't believe is not butter is called I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.
'''Geraldine''': Probably, yeah, yeah.
'''Alice''': Well I can't believe the stuff that is not I Can't Believe It's Not Butter is not I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and I can't believe that both I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and the stuff that I can't believe is not I Can't Believe It's Not Butter are both, in fact, not butter. And I believe they both might be butter, in a cunning disguise. And in fact there's a lot more butter around than we all thought there was.
'''Geraldine''': Yeah. You see, I don't know what you're talking about.
** In fact Dibley itself qualifies as a [[Cloudcuckooland]]. Regarding the council meetings, Geraldine at one point says: "We're getting a little close to the outskirts of Looney Land here." Later... "Ding ding, everybody off, Looney Land city center."
*** Some context: That last quote is in response to Hugo saying that the old (broken) church window depicted Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount... from a boat. Or, he says, perhaps just a huge boat-shaped cigar.
* [[Cluster F
{{quote|
'''Hugo:''' Well, I can't tell you what he actually said because, because you're the vicar. But let's say a certain word is represented by another word that, that sounds a little like that word, like, uh... like... "duck
'''Geraldine:''' Well, duck me.
* [[Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere]]: The first Easter special, where everyone has to give up something for Lent. David suggests that Geraldine give up chocolate, which she reluctantly does. Of course, David then basically waves chocolate under Geraldine's nose at the parish council meeting.
* [[Coming Out Story]]: Part of the "Radio Dibley" episode deals with Frank coming out as gay during his live radio show. However, it later turns out that no one bothered to tune in to his show, meaning that only Geraldine knows the truth (it is apparently common knowledge a few episodes later, however).
** Given that David's reaction to Frank's... rather interesting change of clothes in that same episode makes it quite clear that he's caught on (or at least suspects), it is probable that everyone knows even before the next episode takes place.
* [[Cordon Bleugh Chef]]: Letitia Cropley is known as the "Queen of Cordon Bleugh" for her penchant for making disgusting-looking ''(not to mention tasting)'' recipes such as Marmite cake, peanut butter and anchovy sandwiches, tripe salad, chocolate coated cod roe and parsnip brownies, thus making her the [[Trope Namer]]. She also bred her own snails, apparently for Bread and Butter Pudding Surprise.
* [[Crossover]]: ''Dibley'' did one with ''[[
* [[Curse Cut Short]]: ''And He shall be thy {{spoiler|fuccour}}'', due to the whole [
** The children carol singers.
{{quote|
'''Vicar''': Oh, ''God''...
'''Children''': An angel who was bored came down and [[A Date
'''Vicar''': MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!
** And in the episode with the 'Great Storm', when Hugo unexpectedly shows up in Geraldine's living room.
{{quote|
* [[Cut a Slice, Take
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: David. Geraldine does this too, but she isn't as much of a jerk about it.
** Owen has his moments too.
* [[Did I Just Say That Out Loud?]]:
{{quote|
* [[Dirty Old Man]]: Jim.
* [[Dirty Old Woman]]: Letitia has her moments.
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* [[Don't Explain the Joke]]: [[The Tag|The end of every episode]], often one of the funniest moments of the night.
* [[Doomed New Clothes]]: {{spoiler|Geraldine's wedding dress}}.
* [[Double Standard Rape (Male
* [[Early Installment Weirdness]]: In [[The Tag]] of the very first episode Geraldine tells Alice a joke (a [[Running Gag]] that lasts the entire series) and is surprised by how Alice's over-the-top reaction to how hilarious she finds it. Obviously the writers realized that this type of reaction would not remain funny over the course of the entire show, and from then on Alice never understands any of Geraldine's jokes (until Harry explains it to her in the final episode).▼
* [[Earth Mother]]: Geraldine is called upon to provide love, sympathy, understanding and support to her flock twenty-four and seven, and dispenses this generously and unstintingly. However, the crankier side of the Earth Mother comes out when she is jilted by her lover, and she barricades hersef into the vicarage for several weeks with only a ton of chocolate for company. Who nurtures the Earth Mother when she is hurt?▼
▲* [[Early Installment Weirdness]]: In [[The Tag]] of the very first episode, Geraldine tells Alice a joke (a [[Running Gag]] that lasts the entire series) and is surprised by how Alice's over-the-top reaction to how hilarious she finds it. Obviously, the writers realized that this type of reaction would not remain funny over the course of the entire show, and from then on Alice never understands any of Geraldine's jokes (until Harry explains it to her in the final episode).
▲* [[Earth Mother]]: Geraldine is called upon to provide love, sympathy, understanding and support to her flock twenty-four and seven, and dispenses this generously and unstintingly. However, the crankier side of the Earth Mother comes out when she is jilted by her lover, and she barricades
** This quite often bordered on having Geraldine become a [[Mary Sue]]. She was already on her way there with the first episode, with the whole setup essentially being her swooping in to save these simple, backwater people from themselves (picture [[White Man's Burden]] except everyone's the same race). Since she was one of only two people in the entire town with a lick of intelligence and common sense, and the other one was a [[Jerkass]], the show sometimes seemed like [[The Simpsons (animation)|Lisa Simpson]] grew up, got fat, and (re)found religion.
* [[Embarrassing Middle Name]]: Alice's full name is Alice Springs Tinker. Subverted, in that she completely fails to understand why her middle name might be slightly embarrassing.
** She names her baby Tinky-Winky. Springs is nothing.
** Geraldine's middle name is [[Julie Andrews]] [[Dick Van Dyke]] [[Mary Poppins|Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious Chim Chimeny Chim Chimeney Chim Chim Cher-ee]] (gasp).
* [[Establishing Character Moment]]: The second scene of the first episode (the first parish council meeting) was designed as this for the entire main cast, save Geraldine (who isn't present at this point) and Alice (who isn't on the council. They get their moments a couple of scenes later, at Geraldine's welcoming party.
* [[
* [[Fairytale Wedding Dress]]
* [["Falling in Love" Montage]]: Parodied, with the famous puddle scene.
* [[Fourth Date Marriage]]: {{spoiler|Geraldine and Harry.}}▼
* [[Fly At the Camera Ending]]: The last episode ends with Geraldine ''flying into the air and towards the camera''.
* [[Good Shepherd]]: Geraldine.
* [[Hidden Depths]]: In the episode "Songs of Praise", Owen applies for the church
* [[Hot for Preacher]]: Frequently, and in [[All Love Is Unrequited|both directions]]. Naturally though, [[Abhorrent Admirer|most of the guys who are interested in Geraldine]] are nothing like [[Mr. Fanservice|the guys she's interested in herself]].
* [[Innocent Innuendo]]: From "The Easter Bunny":
{{quote|
* [[Irish Names]]: One episode features a character named Aoife (pronounced "EE-fa"), and Geraldine is unable to pronounce it properly (or, rather, she barely tries, likely due to the fact that she's jealous of the fact that Aoife is involved with Tristan, whom Geraldine has a crush on). Later, this conversation occurs:
{{quote|
'''Tristan''': You can say that again, her brother's called Brethnick.
'''Geraldine''': Oh, what, it spells ''Krtnqz''?
'''Aoife''': That's the guy!
* [[I Was Quite a Looker]]: Mrs. Cropley:
{{quote|
* [[Jerk
** [[Jerkass Has a Point]]: David's portrayed as elitist and assholish for thinking of the residents of Dibley as morons, idiots, and fools... except that the residents of Dibley being morons, idiots, and fools is where 90% of the show's jokes come from. He's also portrayed as arrogant and egotistical for thinking that his family is the heart and brains of the town... except that until Geraldine arrived, he was apparently one of the few people in town [[Only Sane Man|with enough common sense to fill a thimble]].
* [[Killed Off for Real]]: {{spoiler|Letitia}}.
* [[Kissing Cousins]]:
* [[Last
* [[Last Request]]: {{spoiler|As Letitia lies on her deathbed, her dying request to Geraldine was that she take over from her as the Easter Bunny, taking chocolate eggs around the village each Easter. Hilariously, it was subsequently discovered that Letitia had made the same request of every member of the parish council.}}▼
▲* [[Last Second Word Swap]]: When Geraldine is blindsided by someone who came into the room without knocking.
▲* [[Last Request]]: {{spoiler|As Letitia lies on her deathbed, her dying request to Geraldine was that she take over from her as the Easter Bunny, taking chocolate eggs around the village each Easter. Hilariously, it was subsequently discovered that Letitia had made the same request of every member of the parish council
▲{{quote| '''Geraldine:''' Oh, fuc...rying out loud! }}
* [[Les Yay]]: [[In
* [[Miss Conception]]: The first episode where Alice is pregnant with her and Hugo's first child, she mentions that she can't be pregnant because "the hamster didn't turn blue". To her credit Geraldine lampshades it by saying, "I don't think I'm familiar with that particular pregnancy test."<ref>Apparently it's a traditional pregnancy test in Dibley. The woman urinates on a hamster, and if it turns blue she's pregnant. [[Fridge Logic|Make of that]] [[Fridge Brilliance|what you will.]]</ref>▼
* [[Mistaken for Gay]]: Geraldine herself, no thanks to Alice.▼
* [[Mirror Routine]]: In "Celebrity Vicar", this happens as part of a ballet performance. Rather slim prima ballerina Darcy Bussell [[The Cameo|in a famous cameo]] is reflected by not-at-all slim Geraldine.
▲* [[Miss Conception]]: The first episode where Alice is pregnant with her and Hugo's first child, she mentions that she can't be pregnant because "the hamster didn't turn blue
▲* [[Mistaken for Gay]]: Geraldine herself, no thanks to Alice.
* [[Mood Whiplash]]: {{spoiler|Letitia's death}} in "The Easter Bunny".
* [[Narrative Profanity Filter]]: Hugo and Geraldine discuss Hugo's father's reaction to the news that he is dating Alice:
{{quote|
'''Geraldine:''' Well, duck me!
* [[
* [[One
* [[Only Sane Man]]: David and Geraldine are well aware that they are the only people in the village with more than two braincells. Before Geraldine arrived, David pretty much anchored the entire village on his own.
▲* [[One Scene Wonder]]: Hugo and Alice's wedding is interrupted by a woman who storms in with a marriage certificate, insisting that the groom is already married to her. Hugo turns around in shock, at which point she says: "Oops, wrong church!" and slips away again.
* [[Overly Long Name]]: The vicar's full name in the series final is Geraldine [[Mary Poppins|Julie Andrews Dick Van Dyke Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Chim Chiminey Chim Chiminey Chim Chim Cher-ee]] Granger. Unsurprisingly, she's [[Embarrassing Middle Name|horribly embarrassed by it]].
** An earlier episode reveals her name as [[Embarrassing First Name|Bodicea]] Geraldine Granger.
▲* [[Double Standard Rape Male On Male]]: One of the jokes that Geraldine tells Alice is the one in which Superman sees Wonder Woman lying naked on a rooftop and attempts to have sex with her in the shortest time possible. Wonder Woman asks what happened, and then the Invisible Man climbs off her and says "I don't know, but it hurt a lot." Alice doesn't laugh, pointing out that this joke besmirches Superman's reputation by implying that he committed homosexual rape on the Invisible Man, which she doesn't consider funny.
▲{{quote| '''Alice:''' And quite frankly I think you should be ashamed of yourself.<br />
▲''(Alice leaves) (beat)''<br />
▲'''Geraldine:''' ...Prude! }}
* [[Really Gets Around]]: Letitia Cropley, apparently, especially when she was younger.
* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: The documentary, Story of Dibley, reveals that once the writers realised they could get away with a bit of filth, they could use this trope to include absolutely anything they wanted. Owen being openly stated as having sexual relations with animals is just one example of this.
* [[Relative Error]]: {{spoiler|Geraldine is intensely jealous when she spots Harry hanging around a lot with another woman, Rosie. It later turns out that Rosie is, in fact, Harry's sister
* [[Running Gag]]: In the earlier episodes, Owen was often late to the parish council meetings due to either a) problems with his bowels ("It's like the big ride at Alton Towers in my innards."), or b) problems with his animals ("Sorry I'm late. Sheep exploded.").
** Whenever Geraldine called the Archbishop, she would send her love to the Archbishop's [[Girl of the Week|Guy Of The Week]].
* [[Screaming Birth]]: Averted when Alice gives birth to baby Geraldine - she's certainly not quiet, but she isn't exactly screaming either.
* [[Second Place Is for Winners]]: Geraldine tries to win second place in a chocolate contest. [[Springtime for Hitler|She fails.]]
** Not that she isn't very happy with first prize, though.
* [[Shipper
{{quote|
* [[Sir Swearsalot]]: Owen.
* [[Suddenly Bilingual]]: Alice and Hugo speak Hebrew for a gag. It is hilarious.
* [[Suddenly Sexuality]]: Frank showed multiple signs of interest in the opposite sex in the early
* [[Suspiciously Apropos Music]]: The Reverend Pottle was dead for the singing of The day thou gave us, Lord, has ended.
* [[The Swear Jar]]: In
* [[The Tag]]: Each episode would end with Geraldine telling Alice a joke, which Alice would then [[Don't Explain the Joke|completely misinterpret]]. One episode broke this trend by having her tell the joke to David Horton, (Alice was on her honeymoon), who ''did'' get it and thought it was hilarious.
** It was hilarious, but the real joke was that Geraldine starts explaining it to him out of habit.
** Broken again at the end of the
* [[Trademark Favorite Food]]: Geraldine and chocolate. She has bars stashed everywhere, including her robes and [[Book Safe|her Bibles]].
* [[Unusual Euphemism]]: "Sizzle my sausage!"
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* [[The Vicar]]: Geraldine is notably a major subversion, shagging the brother of the parish council's chair, and being generally very laid back.
** Ironically, Dawn French and Richard Curtis developed many character traits after interviewing one of the first ''real life'' female vicars.
* [[Wedding Day]]: The episodes
* [[Your Cheating Heart]]: Geraldine's whirlwind romance with Simon screeches to a halt when he admits that he has another girlfriend.
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