BBC - Comedy - Vicar of Dibley

New Year Special 2005

It is the start of 2005 and Geraldine is very keen to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Live Aid. Unfortunately, the rest of seem more keen to make the other anniversary, Geraldine's 40th birthday, an occasion to remember...

Alice helps to cement Geraldine's fears of being 'past it' with her stream of insensitive babble and the Guinness Book of Records is dug out by the well-meaning Hugo looking for the oldest women in the world to have babies.

Brains are racked as the Parish Council think of an appropriate present for Geraldine. Ideas are thrown into the air - how about renting the services of Mel Gibson for an hour - or perhaps a truck load of anti-ageing cream would be more suitable?

A night at 'Suzie's Speed Dating Extravaganza' is the unanimous vote - so Geraldine is packed off for the evening in the hope of finding her perfect man.

In the end the Parish council come up with the best birthday present Geraldine could have wished for...

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Richard Curtis explains why he wrote the episode.

"Geraldine would have been 20 at the time of Live Aid - and so it seemed a very apt idea for an episode of Vicar of Dibley to centre around her trying to mark the anniversary of a day which changed her world.

"I believe she'd still be totally up in arms about the horrific statistics 20 years on - one child dying every 3 seconds, unnecessarily, of the results of extreme poverty.

"Dying of diarrhoea, dying of TB, dying of hunger. Dying simply because they're born poor."

The white band worn at the end of the programme is the symbol of the Make Poverty History campaign.

Bringing together more than 100 charities including Comic Relief, trade unions and faith groups as well as public figures and celebrities, its aim is to use the truly unique opportunities in 2005 to change the face of poverty forever.

More information about the Make Poverty History campaign is available at www.makepovertyhistory.org