Heaven-sent bloke

Michael Idato
December 10, 2007

Richard Armitage, who spends most of his working year facing off with Robin Hood as the nefarious Guy of Gisborne, says even jobbing actors get star struck.

Playing opposite comedian Dawn French in the two Vicar of Dibley Christmas specials, he says it "took a long time before I stopped sitting there, looking across the table and saying, 'What the f--- am I doing here?"'

Armitage comes to the village of Dibley as Harry Kennedy, a London accountant in the midst of a sea change. He meets Geraldine Granger (French), the vicar at St Barnabas's Church, and a romance is kindled.

"I suppose he's looking for some peace on a little Buddhist journey," Armitage says. "It's not really explored in depth in the story but he's been working in the city and he's burned out and he's come to the country to find some harmony."

Harmony? Dibley? Hardly.

Geraldine and Harry's romance hits its first stumbling block when he is sighted with the very attractive Rosie (Keeley Hawes), while Alice (Emma Chambers), Dibley's verger (an Anglican lay person who works in the church), comes to believe she is descended from Jesus after reading The Da Vinci Code. The clue? Her name rhymes with "chalice".

Even though the series has been around since 1994, only 18 episodes have been produced, plus a handful of short segments for the British charity Comic Relief. Early episodes focused on Geraldine's difficulty adapting to country life, the town's difficulty in adapting to a female vicar and the romance between Alice and Hugo Horton (James Fleet) - recent episodes have explored Geraldine's desire to marry. But is Harry Kennedy Mr Right? Armitage says he just might be.

Armitage is an accomplished dramatic actor but admits he approaches comedy - where there is less emphasis on the complexities of the character and more on mining the moment for its humour - with some trepidation.

"I have done very little comedy and I'm so not funny and Dawn is probably one of the funniest women in the country," he says.

"But the fantastic thing about Dawn was that she completely destroyed my fears about comedians. I'd always thought they would be the funniest people but she was tentative with everybody, particularly with me, and she found out where my sense of humour was lying and started to play with me. Once she'd located it, she started pushing my buttons.

"We actually have very similar senses of humour and ... it occurred to me the reason we have similar senses of humour is that I grew up watching French & Saunders, so my sense of humour had been shaped by her."

The first Vicar of Dibley Christmas Special airs on the ABC on Wednesday at 8.35pm.

...and she found out where my sense of humour was lying and started to play with me. Once she'd located it, she started pushing my buttons.

Danke Maike. Ein wirklich schöner Artikel. :daumen:



My mind is in the gutter. :shy:

Danke Maike. Ein wirklich schöner Artikel. :daumen:



My mind is in the gutter. :shy:

it occurred to me the reason we have similar senses of humour is that I grew up watching French & Saunders

Rundum schöner Artikel. Und so ganz ohne Zirkus

Am anderen Ende der Welt weiss man offenbar, was einen vernünftigen Artikel ausmacht .... oder die kennen die story noch nicht

Aber so was von ungalant!


Richard, sagt man so was über eine Dame? Ich glaube, daran müssen wir noch arbeiten! :schlaumeier: