Former home of Dibley star bans women vicars

The church in the town that Vicar of Dibley’s Dawn French once called home has banned female vicars.

St Fimbarrus chapel in the Cornish town of Fowey has not had a vicar for four years, but despite Anglican laws allowing female clergy, the church council has banned them from taking up the role.

French, the 65-year-old actress and comedian best known for her role as Geraldine Granger in the long-running BBC television series centred on a female vicar, sold her home in the town in 2021 after living there for 15 years.

The Rev Angela Berners-wilson, the first woman to be ordained as a Church of England priest, described the decision as a “shame”.