More TV Vicar? Christians on the Telly: The Good, the Bad and the Quirky

Bryony Taylor analyses how Christians are portrayed on TV - taking a look at 'the Quirky' ...

Father Gerald - Four Weddings and a Funeral

‘In the name of the father, the son, and the holy spigot. Spirit!’

— Father Gerald (Rowan Atkinson) in Four Weddings and a Funeral

Rowan Atkinson’s bumbling priest in the British film Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) is perhaps the ultimate stereotype of the male Church of England vicar. In the first wedding of the four featured in the film, Rowan Atkinson’s Father Gerald is taking a wedding for the first time, visibly uncomfortable in his rich vestments and biretta (black priest’s hat). Right from his introductory ‘In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit’ we can feel his nerves, plunging both the on-screen and off-screen congregation into a pique of anxiety. Richard Curtis captures the moment that many of us have experienced when a person leading a service is having an excruciating time, making lots of mistakes and the congregation are doing their best to either stifle giggles or urge the vicar to get through it. There is nothing, I would contend, funnier than getting the giggles in a context in which it is inappropriate to laugh. This happened to me a few years ago when visiting a church with my husband. My husband was brought up in a rugby playing family – as a child he used to listen to his father’s records of rugby songs with the rude words bleeped out. Some of these songs we have since begun to sing with gusto on long car journeys. One in particular that was passed on to me is the pretty filthy ‘The Mayor of Bayswater’s Daughter’ sung to the Welsh folk tune ‘The Ash Grove’. We turned up at the church, slightly conspicuous as an unusually young couple on a Sunday morning (hence attracting some attention) and we came to sing the Gloria. Yes, you’ve guessed it, the tune for this hymn of praise was ‘The Ash Grove’. The giggles began to bubble up as we tried to sing sacred words to what in our mind was a profane tune. My husband had to sit down and put his head in his hands in a posture of deep piety to hide the hilarity. I held my order of service in front of my face and it shook violently as I tried to stifle the laughter. I have never laughed so much. Experiences like this are what Richard Curtis is tapping with this scene in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Unlike some of his other vicar characters, this one is largely sympathetic rather than cuttingly satirical. As Father Gerald finally gets to the end of the ceremony, Simon Callow’s character Gareth bellows (a rather patronising – but deservedly so) ‘BRAVO!’ and leads the congregation in clapping not the newly-weds but the vicar for getting through it.

When it was released in 1994 Four Weddings and a Funeral was perhaps the greatest British export for years. It came out at a time when British movies and music were deeply unfashionable. It presented a picture of modern Britain which played into stereotypes focusing on London, country villages, lovely churches and the upper classes (things of fascination to the Americans) and as a result heralded the beginning of ‘Cool Britannia’ – the resurgence of confidence in Britishness reflected in Britpop music and exploited by the New Labour government. Again, as we saw earlier, the church is at the centre of a nostalgic portrayal of England. Awkwardness of communication is a theme of the film and a characteristically British trait. Father Gerald is hilariously awkward where Hugh Grant’s character Charles is endearingly awkward – his floppy-haired stuttering declarations of love became the actor’s trademark.

Rowan Atkinson is a master of physical comedy and verbal dexterity. He is wonderful at speech impediments and mispronunciations probably because he has a mild stammer himself. Perhaps the reason Atkinson is the go to actor for the role of vicar is because there are very few other public roles that have such comedic potential.

After all, vicars are dressed in funny clothes (which are also a trip hazard), they have to recite arcane religious words in front of large groups of bemused people while juggling books and papers, they have to remember to get the names of the people they are marrying, burying or christening correct: the slapstick potential is endless.

Put this into the context of a serious church service and there is every expectation of hilarity. Kate Fox says in Watching the English that:

‘We have an intense need for the rules and formalities of ritual, but at the same time we find these ceremonies acutely embarrassing and uncomfortable.’

All of this comes together perfectly in the character of Father Gerald in the opening wedding of the film, playing up to all our expectations and creating a characteristically British cringefest which unfortunately is all too familiar. Father Gerald is pure stereotype and represents the apex of Rowan Atkinson’s portrayals of vicars – nervous, bumbling, embarrassing and posh.

This is an excerpt from More TV Vicar?Christians on the Telly: The Good, the Bad and the Quirky by Bryony Taylor, available now in paperback and eBook priced £9.99.