Antiques Roadshow star Fiona Bruce had hilarious cameo in two famous UK sitcoms - do YOU remember her role?
- Have YOU got a story? Email tips@dailymail.com
Fiona Bruce has been one of the most familiar faces on television for decades.
The TV star, 60, has been a journalist at the BBC, is the face of Antiques Roadshow and chairs the political debate programme Question Time.
But away from the serious world of journalism and politics, Fiona has appeared on two of the most popular British sitcoms ever.
In 2009, she starred in Only Fools and Horses spin-off The Green Green Grass when, in the episode, she arrived with her appraisal show crew.
And more than half a decade later, she appeared in a Comic Relief special of The Vicar of Dibley opposite Dawn French.
Fiona Bruce has been one of the most familiar faces on television for decades but she is mostly known for her presenting appearances
She hosts the BBC political programme Question Time, and has to chair fiery debates between politicans and members of the public
The ecclesiastical sitcom initially aired sporadically from 2004 until 2007 and followed the lives of the whimsical residents of the small Oxfordshire village.
It made a comeback in 2015 when the title character of Geraldine Granger is being interviewed for the position of Bishop, but she is faced with some stiff competition.
Other guest stars who appeared as candidates included the likes of One Foot In the Grave star Annette Crosbie, Gavin and Stacey actress Ruth Jones and Dawn's writing partner Jennifer Saunders.
Harry Potter star Emma Watson is also in the running, but the residents of Dibley wrongly assumed Geraldine had got the job and recruited Fiona Bruce to become their new vicar.
When Geraldine returns to the village, she is introduced to Fiona and promptly punches her in the face after realising that she is now unemployed.
Fiona admitted shortly after it aired that the punch up was not initially in the script, but was an idea that Dawn had just before cameras started rolling.
She told the Radio Times: 'The punch wasn't in the script, but when we rehearsed it, Dawn said, 'Surely at this point I'd be so cross I would punch her.'
'Richard Curtis [who created the show] told her to go for it. But every time she did, it made me laugh. I couldn't keep a straight face.'
Fiona is also the face of Antiques Roadshow for the BBC, but has not done much acting in her career on screen
Dawn French starred as Geraldine Granger in the BBC's Vicar Of Dibley from 1994 until 2007 and the show made a comeback in 2015 for Comic Relief
A mix up at the village prompts the residents to recruit Fiona Bruce to take Geraldine's job as vicar
When Geraldine returns to the village, she is introduced to Fiona and promptly punches her in the face after realising that she is now unemployed
The Vicar of Dibley cast, pictured from left to right: John Bluthal, James Fleet, Dawn French, Emma Chambers, Gary Waldhorn, Roger Lloyd Pack and Trevor Peacock
Following that special, The Vicar Of Dibley returned once more for a series of specials in lockdown.
But by that time, Emma Chambers - who played the dim-witted Alice Tinker - had passed away, as had Roger Lloyd Pack, who starred as farmer Owen Newitt.
John Bluthal, who played parish council minutes-taker Frank Pickle, passed away in 2018 at the age of 89 and Jim Trott actor Trevor Peacock died in 2021.
After the death of Gary Waldhorn - who played Cllr David Horton - in 2022, James Fleet (Hugo Horton) and Dawn became the only surviving main cast members from the show.
