Dawn French played the role of Geraldine Grainger in The Vicar of Dibley (Image: BBC/Tiger Aspect Productions Ltd/Des Willie)
Beloved actor Dawn French almost wasn’t cast to play Geraldine Grainger in The Vicar of Dibley.
The popular comedy aired from 1994 to 2007 and regularly delighted viewers with its hilarious scenes and jaw-dropping moments.
But writer Richard Curtis originally had other actors in mind to play the iconic role before the Dawn and Saunders star landed the infamous part.
In a 2020 interview with , producer Peter Bennet Jones said the part was written for a “forthright comic actress,” though he didn’t name anyone specifically.
He told the publication: “It wasn’t written for Dawn but she made it her own. Richard wrote it for a forthright comic actress. I think he might have even seen three or four different people have a go at it. Dawn got cast and the rest is history as it were.”
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The actress originally had her doubts about the part (Image: PA)
Adding: “I know he had a couple of other people but I think the right call was made. She just made it her own. She knows where comedy is – she’s a comic actress really, you can’t really imagine it without her, funnily enough.”
Despite her eventual success in the role, Dawn initially had reservations about playing a vicar but according to Peter, Joy Carroll – one of the first female vicars in the UK – helped put Dawn at ease.
Peter explains: “Joy Carroll made Dawn feel much happier about doing the show because she told Dawn that vicars can drink and eat chocolate and have a sex life.
“Dawn was worried about doing the part… [She was worried it] might be a bit pious. Joy Carroll was such a force of nature.”
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She was iconic (Image: BBC/Tiger Aspect Productions Ltd/Des Willie)
The actress previously spoke publicly about the doubts she had playing Geraldine, saying: “I thought, ‘How on earth do you play a central character who’s so blooming good?'”
“I thought, ‘Where are the flaws? Where is the monster in this woman?’ That’s what I understand comedy to be… Alice was a very funny character from the off. But anyway, [Richard Curtis] wouldn’t let me play it.”
Since the end of the original series, Dawn has reprised her beloved character in various specials. This included six for Comic Relief from 1997 to 2015, and a feature during a French and Saunders marathon on Radio 2 in 2013.
During the -19 lockdowns of 2020, a combined effort of Comic Relief and Children in Need also saw her wear the dog collar once again.