The Vicar of Dibley viewers were left in “floods of tears” after Dawn French paid an emotional tribute to her late co-star Emma Chambers.
Chambers, who played Alice Tinker in the BBC sitcom from 1994, died in 2018 aged 53 of a heart attack.
While there are no new episodes of The Vicar of Dibley airing this year, three 10-minute mini-episodes featuring Zoom sermons from Geraldine Granger (French) filmed during lockdown have accompanied repeats of the show over Christmas.
During one new clip, which aired on Monday (14 December), Geraldine spoke about Alice’s life, revealing that the “darling dumb blonde” died of cancer.
“She had one husband, six children, and three brain cells, but so much love in her heart she could defrost a frozen pizza on a Christmas day,” she said. “She wasn’t the brightest bulb in the box, but when we lost her, all our lights went out.”
Describing Alice’s death as “the dark night of my soul”, Geraldine held back tears as she continued: “I believe in eternal life in heaven, but I also believe in eternal life on earth, because those who die are eternally here, alive in our memories, and in who we are, because of how they changed us.”
“Someone whose final request was for her coffin to be carried into the church by six people dressed as Peppa Pig will never be forgotten,” she continued, telling her viewers to “love the ones you’re with, especially in these hardest of times”.
The scene prompted emotional reactions from viewers at home, who said they were left in “floods of tears” by the tribute.
“Watching @Dawn_French in The Vicar of Dibley Lockdown specials pay tribute to Emma Chambers and Alice broke me!! She will always be remembered!!!!!” one viewer wrote.
“The Vicar of Dibley tribute to Alice Tinker has completely done me in. I may cry for hours,” another commented.
“It genuinely breaks my heart watching old episodes of Vicar of Dibley and knowing Alice is no longer with us. She made this show for me,” another tweet read.
Alongside her work The Vicar of Dibley, Chambers was best known for playing Hugh Grant’s sister in 1999 romantic comedy Notting Hill.
