The Vicar And The Sitcom
For many years the traditional Sunday morning church service has been a staple of the British way of life. It’s therefore only fitting that the local vicar should play a part in sitcom.
Over the years there have been various sitcoms out vicars
We’ve had
The Vicar Of Dibley, Dawn French plays a woman vicar in a local village parish, here the comedy comes from the interaction between the various local characters
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On the other side of the scales we have Father Ted. Three Irish priests banished to the parish of Craggy Island for previous misadventures. Their continuing scheming and misadventures was a huge hit with audiences until the sad death of Dermot Morgan. It still remains popular to this day having being voted second to Fawlty Towers in a list of “the greatest British sitcoms” compiled by a panel of comedy experts for the Radio Times in 2019
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Going back in time to 1978, we have Bless Me Father. Fresh from starring as Captain Mainwaring in Dad’s Army, Arthur Lowe starred in this ITV sitcom set in the 1950’s about an Irish Priest, Father Duddlesworth, and his young curate. It managed three series between 1978 and 1981.
But it’s not just sitcoms about vicars and priests, the local vicar has been popping up in sitcoms for years.
Perhaps the most famous was the Reverend Timothy Farthing in Dad’s Army
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The local vicar was a regular fixture in Steptoe and Son, brilliantly played by Anthony Sharp
The local vicar also popped up in Terry and June
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Perhaps one of my personal favourite vicars was played by Kenneth Williams in Hancock’s Half Hour
Whilst not strictly speaking sitcom you can’t look at vicars and comedy without an appearance from