The Vicar of Dibley in Lockdown, episode 1 review: welcome back Vicar – even if it is over Zoom

The Vicar of Dibley is a show held in so much affection that a reunion special would have been just the ticket this Christmas. Alas, Covid restrictions make that impossible, so we get the next best thing: repeats of the original series followed by The Vicar of Dibley in Lockdown (BBC One). These are 10-minute shorts that take the form of Zoom sermons by the Rev Geraldine Granger, with the audience getting a parishioner’s-eye view.

It may be 13 years since the show ended (give or take a few one-off appearances, most recently for Comic Relief and Children in Need) but Dawn French slipped back into the role as if she’d never been away. She said last week that revisiting the character was “like putting that lovely old coat you’ve had in your wardrobe back on, and it fits you”. The BBC called these lockdown specials “the warm comedy hug we’ve all missed”, and being back in Geraldine’s embrace was definitely comforting.

French’s perfect comic timing couldn’t save us from the shortcomings of the format – or is it just that a year of real-life Zoom interactions has pushed me close to the edge? The Vicar of Dibley worked as an ensemble show, with a lovable cast of characters, and the humour was in the interactions between them. Hearing Geraldine read out a letter from Owen Newitt (the late Roger Lloyd Pack) or send a message to Jim Trott (Trevor Peacock) could never be a satisfactory substitute. It was great to see Hugo Horton (James Fleet) make an appearance, talking about the difficulties of being locked down with his dad.

The show lost something without audience laughter, either of the studio or canned variety. A Zoom call with schoolteacher Mrs Uddin (yes, multiculturalism has now reached rural Oxfordshire – next week we’ll even see Geraldine muse on Black Lives Matter) and her pupils, in which they questioned the logic of Bible stories, wasn’t quite as funny as the writers thought it was.

But it was still a welcome return. Geraldine is one of those beloved sitcom characters we wish were a part of our real lives. At a time when so many people are isolated at home, how lovely to have the illusion that she was talking directly to us and promising that we’d get through this together. And perhaps that tip about washing your hands – 20 seconds is precisely the time it takes for a Ferrero Rocher to melt in your mouth – is worth testing out. It is Christmas, after all.