This was the first of a two episode special over the Christmas/New Year period and featured all the regular characters from previous series. In this story, the main character, Geraldine, questioned her calling as a vicar in the village and experienced further major set-backs, which seemed to confirm this point of view. At the end, however, the villagers loyalty to her and the good work she had done as their pastor persuaded her to stay on.
In summary, 66 viewers complained that some of the material denigrated Christianity, that similar material would not have been used if another religion had been featured, and/or it was unsuitable for Christmas night, one of the biggest festivals in the Christian year.
Viewers also complained about the general bad language and adult nature of some of the material including, at one point, a female characters speculation about a possible physical relationship with the Queen.
The BBC said that it was sorry that viewers found the episode unacceptable and regretted the offence caused. However, comedy which includes religious references often takes writers and broadcasters into sensitive areas. The references to Christianity were no more than a reflection of the predominance of the faith in the UK.
The BBC did not feel that there was any intention to mock or challenge Christian belief or the Nativity. The Vicar of Dibley was a comedy that had consistently used religious references in its jokes over the past ten years and was intended to be a gentle comedy with moments of irreverence. Most of the humour derived from the characters, their immature and nave behaviour and reaction to different subjects or issues, which was, at times, more adult in nature.
While the topics of humour were very much in keeping with that description, this episode possibly pressed its jokes a little further than the programme usually did. The BBC did not feel that the carol or Alices musings about the Queen went beyond the well-established mix of earthiness and irreverence. The sexual element was notable for the comic misunderstandings it led to, rather than any degree of explicitness.
The BBC felt that none of the material was out of place in this post-watershed special. It was not family entertainment, as suggested by some complainants. The preceding series also had some raunchy moments and the language used included none of the terms which the former BSCs research found were regarded as strong by most people.
We considered this programme against the requirements of the ex-BSC Code, with which BBC programmes have to comply. In particular we looked at whether:
In our view, there was a strong, positive Christian message at the outset, including, in discussion, the fact that Jesus would turn a world of hatred into a world of love. Throughout the show (as she has done in every series) Geraldine was constantly correcting the other characters well-established absurd misconceptions about the Christian faith.
The programme was broadcast after the watershed
The programme was peppered with farcical, broad comedy elements that would not have been out of place in a Carry-On film or a Whitehall farce. The culmination of Geraldines frustrations leading to her questioning her calling as a vicar, which included her getting drunk, forgetting Midnight Mass and falling out of the pulpit, again, would not have been out of place in a more traditional sit-com from a bygone age. In effect, a routine and traditional comedy vicar moment.
Overall, we felt that this series long ago established its ability to create bizarre and farcical moments from major misunderstandings within the community this has included outrageous statements about figures in both Church and State, strong language, adult material and, indeed, drunkenness on the part of the vicar. While the programme may, in places, have been at the limits of audience expectations, it did not go beyond them.
There remains the question of whether it was appropriate to schedule this particular episode on Christmas night. While it was appropriately scheduled after the watershed, we felt that it was perhaps questionable for the material, making fun of peoples misconceptions of Christianity, to be shown at this particularly important festival in the Christian calendar. However, on balance and bearing in mind the positive Christian messages throughout the episode, and Geraldines rejection of the villagers absurd religious naivety, we do not feel that this programme went so far as to actually denigrate the beliefs of those watching. In order for the jokes to work the audience needed to understand the real meaning of the Christian elements shown and discussed. The laughter demonstrated it was clear people were not laughing at the tenets of belief but at the characters' false interpretation of such elements.
The complaints were not upheld