Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Translation of "The Vicar of Dibley"?


There is to be an American version of "The Vicar of Dibley".
Shock, horror!! How could they? How can they? Why need they?

Kirstie Alley will play Dawn French's part and will be Minister of Divine rather than Vicar of Dibley. "The Vicar of Dibley" is already shown on our cable network here in the US, at 11.30pm of a Sunday night - a time slot not for the faint-hearted. It'll be interesting to watch how the American version pans out. I wish they'd chosen Ellen DeGeneris for the part though, I can see how that might have succeeded.

The Vicar of Dibley relies on its cast of very typically English country folk for its humour as much as on the female vicar. I'm not sure that it'll be possible to portray a group of comparable characters who will appear funny to ALL Americans, beause America is so diverse. Perhaps Richard Curtis will be able to manage it.

In order to bring a whisper of astrology into my bloggy whinge I sought out birth data for Dawn French and Kirstie Alley. There's no reason why there should be any similarity between them, though.

Dawn French was born 11 October 1957, Holyhead, Anglesey, UK.
Kirstie Alley 12 January 1951, Wichita, Kansas, USA.

Dawn French has a stellium in Libra (Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Sun) which sextiles Uranus in Leo. Kirstie Alley's Jupiter in Pisces exactly trines her Uranus in Cancer
Those harmonious aspects Jupiter/Uranus are the only similarity I could spot without benefit of birth times. This minor similarity probably has to do with humour - Jupiter/Uranus - the jovial and the unexpected (or even shocking). I can well imagine that some of the affectionate irreverence of "The Vicar of Dibley" might appear shocking to many viewers in America's Bible Belt.
I wish they hadn't chosen this one to translate into American, but that's globalisation for ya !

2 comments:

Barbara Palliser said...

Oh my God! not the Vicar of Dibley! Is nothing sacred?

Seriously, Yes, that is a shock. Yes, why on earth need they?!

Apart from 'All Creatures Great And Small', this has to be one of the most quintessentially (spelling?!) British tv shows ever.

I still watch the reruns of both these shows. It's like chicken soup tv...specially on these deary winter days.

Twilight said...

Hi Barbara

Yes, it's "comfort viewing" for me too -we have a set of the DVDs. I can watch episodes over and over again - as well as seeing them on TV. :-)