The Bishop of Dibley!!

I've been a fan of Dawn French's "The Vicar of Dibley" for years -- decades, actually. It's a BBC sitcom dating back to 1994 featuring an English village's adjustment to having a female vicar assigned to their local Anglican Church. New seasons of the program have popped up over the years, most recently in 2007.

A year or so ago, I began hearing rumors about a new season of the program. Except this time, the program's title has changed to "The Bishop of Dibley"(!!):

There will be an episode of her sitcom in March for Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day. Echoing the historic decision on female bishops, French’s character Geraldine Granger becomes The Bishop Of Dibley in a show featuring some best-loved stars.

A source said: “Geraldine assumes she is a shoo-in but the joke is that there are some other unexpected names in the frame.”

In 2012, French, 57, hinted at a come-back once women were allowed to become bishops. The move follows decades of controversial debate and was described as an “important step forward” by Prime Minister David Cameron.

The Church of England’s first female bishop, Rev Libby Lane, will be ordained as Bishop of Stockport at York Minster on January 26.

This is pretty exciting!!

I've been mulling the creation of a convention panel about Religion and British Television Sitcoms. This would be a great opportunity to to make that panel very relevant!!