Alison Bowyer - Dawn French

PAN BOOKS

Faced with the annual battle to capture the all-important Christmas television audience, executives at BBC1 decided that the theme of their 2006 schedule would be decidedly French in flavour. Not for the first time, the Corporation was pinning most of its hopes on Dawn French, trusting that, in the guise of her alter ego the Reverend Geraldine Granger, she would prove the holiday ratings winner with the final two episodes of her most loved show, The Vicar of Dibley.

One of the Beebs consistently highest rating programmes since it began in 1994, it was no surprise that its grand farewell was seen as the icing on the BBCs festive cake. It was a huge responsibility for Dawn to shoulder. Well aware of the high calibre precedent set by previous Christmas Day success stories such as Only Fools and Horses not to mention her own ratings triumphs with previous Dibley Christmas specials she knew shed be heartbroken if it went out with a whimper.

She neednt have worried. More than 11.4 million people tuned in for the Christmas night episode, making it the most watched programme of the day. It may have been down on the 20 million viewers who tuned into the last ever Only Fools and Horses, but at a time when the BBC has to compete with digital, cable and satellite stations, to pull in that many viewers was a huge achievement. The New Years Day finale, which saw the perennially unlucky in love vicar finally get married to the man of her dreams, did even better, attracting 12.3 million viewers.

The audience figures, and the trust that the BBC invested in her at its most important time of year, was a personal triumph for Dawn. On the whole it is still men who are deemed to sell programmes, and accordingly it is generally men who are chosen to carry the majority of primetime TV shows. Most of the biggest names in British television today those who are considered guaranteed audience-pullers are men. Bankable stars like David Jason, Ray Winstone and James Nesbitt, are inundated with offers from TV companies who know their very name alone guarantees a ratings winner.

Dawn is one of only a select few actresses credited with having the same pulling power. The fact that she is judged capable of carrying a show as a woman is a feather in her cap. But making it as a woman in a predominantly male domain has taken guts and courage, and it is perhaps inevitable that she has come to be known within the industry as a somewhat formidable character. Theres no doubt about it, I am a very confident person, she admits. Having control over everything really excites me. Im not as tolerant as I used to be. I dont like it if mistakes that go on screen stem from other peoples wrong decisions or dubious judgements.

Adored by the public, she has a unique blend of talent and charisma which appeals to people from all backgrounds, and she frequently tops surveys on subjects as diverse as who people would most like to live next-door to, to naming the sexiest women in the world.

Her appeal lies in the fact that, whilst her wit has bite, it is never savage. She has an eye for the ridiculous and the silly that strikes a chord with people of all ages. Long feted as the queen of the alternative set, in reality she owes more to the variety tradition set by Morecambe and Wise. Critics have even dubbed her and Jennifer Saunders Morecambe and Wise on oestrogen.

She has undoubtedly been influenced by people like Joyce Grenfell and contemporaries such as Victoria Wood, but in many ways her comic roots go back further, to the early twentieth century and the slapstick of Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. Clowning antics such as when she cavorted as a roly-poly ballerina with the Royal Ballets Darcey Bussell, for example, are pure farce and are only funny because of Dawns size. There is, of course, nothing new or alternative about fat gags. Excuse the pun, but fat is a staple diet of comedy: think of Oliver Hardy, Les Dawson, Bernard Manning, Jo Brand and Roseanne Barr. Dawn claims to be annoyed at the erroneous equation fat equals jolly but at the same time relies heavily on her size to get laughs. Who, after all, could forget her portrayal of Hollywood sex siren Jane Russell, or the infamous Baywatch sketch in French and Saunders?

In a world seemingly populated by slim blonde actresses and television newsreaders, Dawn has shown that you dont have to be skinny to be successful. She has, in effect, become a professional large woman, launching her own range of outsize clothing and becoming an outspoken advocate of fat lib. But although she is Britains most famous ambassador for the concept that Big is Beautiful, there is no denying that she has capitalised on peoples natural inclination to snigger at the circumferentially challenged.

Theres nothing particularly jolly in being fat, she insists. Im not the fat one that gets the custard pie in the face, Im the one that ducks them. Dawn on top thats me. But she has always appeared happy to send up her appearance, whether its by donning a red leotard and long blonde wig to play Pamela Anderson or hamming it up as a less-than-svelte dancer. In fact some might say that her weight has been a major determining factor in her career. The classic perception is that comedians are often created, rather than born developing the ability to make people laugh in order to deflect mockery or criticism. They make themselves the butt of jokes before anyone else can and a lot of Dawns jokes are at her own expense.

In many ways she couldnt lose weight even if she wanted to. It is her trademark, and in the words of Liz Smiths Nana in televisions Royle Family, to many people she is that big funny girl who dresses up as a vicar.

Shortly before the new millennium, Dawn was voted the twentieth centurys funniest British woman in a poll by an internet bank. Being chosen as one of the most influential comedians of the century was significant for Dawn on several counts. Firstly, she was the only woman to appear in the top ten, no mean feat in such a male-dominated profession, and she was in fine company, appearing alongside recognised all-time greats such as Charlie Chaplin, Tommy Cooper and John Cleese.

Secondly, she came only three places behind her own comic hero Eric Morecambe, who polled 26 per cent of the vote to win the title of the twentieth centurys funniest Briton. To be so closely linked to the one person who had inspired her above everyone else was a fantastic achievement for Dawn.

Thirdly, and perhaps most significantly, she had been chosen as an individual artist, not as one half of French and Saunders. Her fans would say that this was only fair; she is, after all, a star in her own right, arguably more famous as a solo artist than she ever was as half of a double act. Strong roles like the Reverend Granger have secured her place in the annals of television history.

Indeed, in 2005 The Vicar of Dibley was voted Britains Best Ever Sitcom in a viewers poll, beating classics like Only Fools and Horses, Fawlty Towers and Porridge. Television presenter Carol Vorderman, who championed the show for the survey, analysed its unique appeal. The Vicar of Dibley stands alone in that at its heart its about the struggle to be good, to be tolerant and patient and still be funny... and thats not easy, she said. But it never gets overly sentimental. Theres a dash of whisky in the bedtime drink, a suspender belt under the cassock. Geraldine Granger is a fantastic comic creation and shes played by one of the greatest comic actors Britain has ever produced.

Even the shows creator Richard Curtis attributes much of its success to Dawns performance. Its pretty clear shes always been the heart and soul of the show, he says. Geraldine had to be funny but also a very good person and thats a tricky combination.