From Homeland to Dibley: Damian Lewis joins Dawn French in one-off sketch for Comic Relief

 
Damian Lewis
rex features
14 March 2013
The Weekender

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Homeland star Damian Lewis is to appear as a man of the cloth in the The Vicar Of Dibley.

Lewis will join Dawn French as she revives her character Geraldine Granger in a one-off comeback for tomorrow's Comic Relief.

French will also be delivering Radio 2's daily Pause For Thought religious slot as the character during the Chris Evans breakfast show earlier in the day.

The new 10-minute Vicar Of Dibley sketch, written by Richard Curtis, is to be screened during BBC1's Comic Relief - Funny For Money and is the first time the cast have been reunited in seven years.

It sees Geraldine and her parishioners - including regulars such as actors James Fleet (who plays Hugo Horton) and Roger Lloyd-Pack (Owen Newitt) - heading to London on a mission, where they meet a charming vicar played by Lewis.

French said: "It's the first time we've been together for ages, so everyone can witness the rapid deterioration of us all - since we last saw the Vicar and her parish members, the astonishing and shocking amount of decay is alarming.

"I don't want to give too much away about the sketch but the Vicar heads up the fight for equality in church law."

Lewis said: "Richard Curtis has done a brilliant thing in getting all the cast back together. It's very funny and anyone who loves the Vicar Of Dibley is just going to have a riot with this."

French will also be joining up with old friend Jennifer Saunders on Radio 2 tomorrow as controllers of the station for the day.

Evans said of the Vicar's role in his show: "I'm a huge, huge fan of The Vicar Of Dibley and I have a big soft spot for Geraldine Granger. I'm very much looking forward to welcoming her to the studio

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