Royal Mail start the year with a surprise - at least to the readers who wrote in suggesting subjects for the stamps of 2025. This subject was suggested by only one who wrote in (well done CW!).
Royal Mail are celebrating one of the United Kingdom’s most successful and award-winning comedy series ‘The Vicar of Dibley’.
The Vicar of Dibley is a British situation-comedy which originally ran on BBC from November 1994 to January 2007 and was set in the fictional Oxfordshire village of Dibley. Following the 1993 changes in the Church of England to permit the ordination of women, the series portrayed a female vicar who had been assigned to the church in the village.
It is among the most successful British programmes, receiving multiple British Comedy Awards, two International Emmys and was a multiple British Academy Television Awards nominee. In 2004, it placed third in a BBC poll of Britain's Best Sitcoms.
However, the niche humour and subject lines meant that it was not widely exported and so was not a great success as an earner of overseas currency. It is unlikely that the stamps will be any more widely appreciated. So, just after it's 30th anniversary, Royal Mail kick-off a new year with a subject of minority interest.
The stamps
A set of 8 stamps featuring the series' key characters in 'iconic scenes' - and unlike Porridge, with no captions. Two stamps each of 2nd class, 1st class, £1 and £2.80 (the rate for airmail letters worldwide).
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| Set of 8 stamps marking the 30th Anniversary of the BBC TV comedy The Vicar of Dibley, issued 14 January 2025. |
From the top left, Alice and Hugo, Geraldine (Granger, the vicar) and David, Alice and Geraldine, Geraldine, Frank and Owen, Jim, Letitia and Geraldine, Geraldine and Dame Darcey Bussell.
Miniature sheet
The miniature sheet of 4 x 1st class stamps shows a photograph of a Dibley Parish Council meeting, with from the left, Owen and Geraldine, Hugo and David, Frank, and Letitia and Jim.
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| Miniature sheet of 4 stamps marking the 30th Anniversary of the BBC TV comedy The Vicar of Dibley, issued 14 January 2025. |
Technical details and acknowledgements
All the 41 x 30 mm stamps are printed in litho by Cartor Security Printers in sheets of 30/60 in se-tenant pairs. Perforations are 14.5 x 14. The sheet stamps are gummed and the miniature sheet self-adhesive. The miniature sheet is 192 x 74 mm.
Our information is that the Design is © Royal Mail Group Ltd 2024. No details of copyright ownership (presumably the BBC?) which is unusual. The Collector Sheet (see below) does have this caption, however:
Products available
Set of 8, miniature sheet of 4, presentation pack, first day covers (2), stamp cards (13), collector sheet, press sheet of 8 miniature sheets, framed products.
Collector sheet
This contains a complete set of 8 sheets stamps plus two additional 1st class with labels attached depicting other scenes from the series. The Collector Sheet is printed on self-adhesive paper, whilst the set of sheets stamps has PVA gum, therefore these stamps are a print variety. (Of course they are, that is the only justification for producing the sheet.)
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| Collector sheet of 10 stamps marking the 30th Anniversary of the BBC TV comedy The Vicar of Dibley, issued, but not widely available, on 14 January 2025. |
Readers will be pleased to know that this does not represent the peak in terms of sensible stamp issuing in 2025, though arguably it is not the trough either.
The labels on the collector sheet would have been far better as stamps than the images chosen.
ReplyDeleteAt last, a £2.80 stamp included.
ReplyDelete