I'm quite shocked that the BBC thought this was an appropriate use of prime time TV under the guise of comedy. As previously mentioned, showing this episode within the Comic Relief framework would've been fine but as a standalone episode it was shocking. Given the focus on the work of relief agencies dealing with the Tsunami aftermath, I think it would've been more appropriate for the BBC to postpone it.
I did hear that they have made a Comic Relief special, will that feature Geraldine working in Africa or something less subtle I wonder.
The reasons it didn't work was it wasn't that funny, and obviously the timing. They were also trying to get too many facts across.
Obviously both Richard Curtis and Dawn French have alot to do with Comic Relief, and today sees the start of a year-long campaign to cut poverty by eradicating world debt, but this was done badly.
If it had been done for Comic Relief it would have worked. If it had been advertised as a charity special it would have worked. But it didn't.
I also find it patronising. Yes, I do actually know there are people dying of hunger, that our world isn't exactly balanced and there are terrible humanitarian problems every single day.
I don't need to be told it all in a comedy programme. In fact, if anything it makes me less inclined to want to have anything to do with the appeal, much like people coming up in the street and trying to guilt-trip me into donating does.
I feel cheated out of an episode of the Vicar of Dibley really, I got half of one with a charity broadcast bolted on the end.
BBC comedy programmes are not the place to push your own political views.
The reasons it didn't work was it wasn't that funny, and obviously the timing. They were also trying to get too many facts across.
Obviously both Richard Curtis and Dawn French have alot to do with Comic Relief, and today sees the start of a year-long campaign to cut poverty by eradicating world debt, but this was done badly.
If it had been done for Comic Relief it would have worked. If it had been advertised as a charity special it would have worked. But it didn't.
However, the message was a serious one.
I am the biggest fan of TVOD and was totally looking forward to tonights episode in great anticipation after the hilarious Christmas episode. I was totally disappointed at the start when they played the after credit joke at the beginning. This in itself spoilt the episode as I knew that there was now nothing great to laugh at in the end.
I was also stunned into silence and dismay at the end when the Aids video was shown. With respect to the actors, they performed the parts they were playing brilliantly, but as in agreement with previous posts, the ending was clumsily made and inappropriate for Light entertainment on New Year's Day. It seems all of a sudden we are no longer to enjoy a laugh without feeling guilty, no longer to watch a top comedy without being made to be feel guilty and more importantly, not be entertained by the BBC without feeling guilty.
I agree that the episode should have been shown in two parts with the sensitive ending shown on Comic Relief night. The first part should have been shown a week before. I actually think this episode ruined the impact of the brilliant first episode last week and I am worried that next year (as Richard Curtis told the Radio Times that he wants to do 2 more for next Christmas) people will feel let down and not tune in, thus causing the show to go out with a wimper rather than a high, thus destroying any credibility the show once had. For me, a loyal Dibley fan, today is a sad, sad, day. i feel Richard Curtis has made a big mistake with this otherwise great episode.
I didn't see it but if the reports I've read here and elsewhere are correct it shouldn't have been shown at all. There's a place for Charity fundraising and Scheduled Light Entertainment isn't the place.
I think Curtis did it beautifully at the end of Blackadder Goes Forth, but this moral message just didn't work.
Stuck out like a sore thumb- you'd have barely have got away with it on a VOD Comic Relief special.
Some of the lines really were too cringeworthy to hear, especially the whole "I'd rather play golf/Sainsburys traffic lights" bit.
Curtis is better than this.
The Vicar of Diberley is better than this.
I hope they do make more episodes (there have only been 20 episodes ever made), and I hope they return back to the point of the show, to end it on a high and get over this mistake.
BBC comedy programmes are not the place to push your own political views.
Indeed, as a Comic Relief special it would have worked, but as a standalone episode on New Year's Day it just felt wrong and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I think this has been the most blatent example of a writer's political views getting into a sitcom I've ever seen. The way they showed the appeal video was quite odd
