Vicar of Dibley: The White Band Show

One of the rare treats being a digital cable household in this area means we get BBC America, and thanks be to St. TiVo, I get to watch one of my favorite “Britcoms” when it occasionally shows up on the local PBS channel, The Vicar of Dibley. This show came out about 10 years ago, and following the British model, it aired 3 series (that’s “seasons” but with several years’ lapse between each) and several holiday specials.

Recently, TiVo snagged the Christmas and New Years‘ specials – the Yule special before we left on vacation, and the New Years’ one recorded while we were gone. The first one played pretty much like what it was – a reunion several years on of people who were revisiting beloved characters and showing what had happened to them in the meantime. It ended in a messy debacle, with Geraldine getting drunk on Christmas Eve and falling out of the pulpit while attempting to get through her sermon. The chocolate baby Jesus was a nice touch, but then I have a pretty subversive sense of humor for a churchy lady. Apparently the episode had caused a big ruckus in Britain when it originally aired, as it was actually broadcast on Christmas Eve, and there were a number of complaints (only 60 or so, not bad considering viewership must have been very high). It was funny, and nostalgic, and over the top. I thought it was pretty good but not absolutely “brill,” as it seemed some of the actors had changed quite a bit and were not quite back “on” in their characters, and some had not changed one single bit. It was eerie how cheefully dirty old man “No…no…no…no…yes” Jim hadn’t aged, but everyone else had.

But then last night I finally watched the New Years’ special, and to put it baldly, it was brilliant and moving and I was absolutely bawling my eyes out. I was a right wet mess, thank you very much.

And it wasn’t over the sentimental “my favorite BBC comedy, and this is the last reunion special in who knows how long” theme. The episode rolled along in its bawdy, character-based way, and at the end raised a serious issue in a totally believable way.

Geraldine, the Vicar of the title, was trying to get her parish council to get on board with a little tribute to the 20th anniversary of Live Aid. This was a momentous, life-changing occasion in her life and she wanted to do something, anything to commemorate it. Her efforts seemed doomed to failure, except for one shining, quiet moment when the right “take” on what she wanted to do came from a totally unexpected quarter. Fair enough, that seemed to cover the “social activism” corner of this cheekily, sneakily radically funny show.

But then in desperation to get everyone motivated, she invited them to her home for tea and Jaffa cakes, intending to hector and harange them some more and then show them a video from the MakePovertyHistory.org website. She hands out bits and pieces of white “slappy” bracelets and shoelaces and hankies to each for them to wear in some sort of solidarity with the spirit of the original Live Aid and the MakePovertyHistory.org campaign, which features white bands similar to the pink breast cancer and yellow Lance Armstrong bracelets. She tells them that they all should go up to Gleneagles and protest the coming G8 summit (one snobbish character allows as how he might go up to play a few rounds of golf).

This discourages her, but then she makes everyone watch the video, and the viewers see a full-screen scene of two African children, grieving for their dead mother and worrying about their dying father, crying inconsolably and obviously terrified at what the future will bring.

An instrumental track plays (a familiar tune, damned if I can put a name to it) and the video ends in tears and grief. The camera pulls back from the “computer screen” to show Geraldine apologizing for showing something that turned out to be so unexpectedly sad, and then we see that everyone else is standing silently, with tears in their eyes, wearing their bits and pieces of white slappys and handkerchiefs around their wrists and arms.

It was astoundingly moving, and so surprising a topic for a “light” little comedy to tackle. I’d seen MakePovertyHistory.org links here and there on other blogs but hadn’t really investigated it, but now I will. And due to the G8 meeting coming up in July, it was timely even for us laggards in the US. Also, the Live 8 concerts weren’t overtly mentioned in the episode, but it seemed to be alluding to them.

Thanks, Gerry. Well done you. I won’t forget.

White bands are available from a variety of British charities and carry the phrase “Make Poverty History.” In America, it’s called The ONE Campaign, and the white bands simply say “ONE.” I’m not sure why, but I suspect it’s because the original campaign is not US-based. Jeez, why do we always have to have our own party, rather than bring treats to everybody else’s?