MovieChat Forums > The Vicar of Dibley (1994) Discussion > Comic Relief show with Horrible Dramatic...

Comic Relief show with Horrible Dramatic Ending

posted 9 years ago by harrison_1
8 replies | jump to latest

I believe the show I'm talking about was one of those comic relief episodes. The very ending of the show featured the villages watching a disturbing video in the church that featured a African boy hysterically screaming and crying as he told some story of how his parents were killed in some atrocity. Now instead of there being a respectful pause after this followed by a quiet fading into a final scene of the vicar telling a joke to Alice to help lighten the mood a little and put the show to bed, the show simply ended with the horrible specter of this video and Owen or somebody saying something like "I don't think I feel much like celebrating now" and then it ended. I was absolutely flabbergasted and could believe they would end the show in this really bizarre and disturbing manner.

[–] EllenRipley47 9 years ago

I may be wrong but I thought it was the whole point, i.e. to draw the attention to suffering and pain and disaster. Not really to entertain. I don't mind the episode, I think it's touching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5Y-AG5BNiM

[–] NotAmyMerrick 9 years ago

It wasn't comic relief, it was the g8 summit. They had the joke at the start of the episode.

[–] harrison_1 9 years ago

Now that you come to mention it, I think I do vaguely remember the joke being at the start of the episode, which made it seem completely out of whack to begin with. In my opinion the whole G8 summit thing and its heavy issues would have been better left to an episode of a popular drama or soap instead.

[–] laurence01 9 years ago

If I remember rightly it was originally shown on New Years Day.

Let Zygons Be Zygons.

[–] artguylarry 9 years ago

Wasn't that the episode "Happy New Year" where Geraldine was trying to commemorate Live Aid '84 with no help from the council until she shows them the video at the end of the two brothers who lost their parents to AIDS?

If not, it sounds very much like it. And I PITY anyone who feels the need to complain about this episode. Much shame on you. I wish on you their fate.

[–] harrison_1 9 years ago

Well maybe I'll be an African boy who loses his parents to AIDs in a future incarnation, But seriously, surely you must think it was downright strange and bizarre that they would put something so horrific like that in an episode of a feel good comedy. Totally wrong medium.

[–] NotAmyMerrick 9 years ago

It wasn't an episode of feel good comedy, it was a special episode made specifically for G8 / Live 8, everyone at the time knew this.

[–] artguylarry 9 years ago

There is never a wrong time to care. Never a wrong actor, a wrong character, TV show, director, producer, viewer...never a wrong REASON to care. And there's never a wrong medium in which to be supportive of Live Aid's efforts.

These kids die every day no matter what is on your TV. And to think that watching a certain subject matter should protect you from having to look on the horror of what happens, just because it interrupts your giggles, well that's just burying your head in the sand. Those kids don't give a damn if you get to hear a joke at the end of the show. They just want to know that someone cares.

And this was Live Aid's way of getting the attention of people who don't think they should HAVE to care.