Beneath the cassock - Joy Carroll

Dawn French's Vicar of Dibley is one of Britain's best-loved sitcom characters. This is the story of the woman who inspired her.

Written by Richard Curtis, the comic genius behind Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill, there has always been great speculation about the real-life vicar who inspired The Vicar of Dibley.

From wild youth, to unexpected calling to the ministry, prominent involvement in the struggle for the ordination of women as well as a 'tabloid' wedding, it is perhaps unsurprising that Joy Carroll was chosen as the inspiration for The Vicar of Dibley.

She charts how the series was intended to help the acceptance of women priests in the church and society, and how Dawn French worked with her to realise that intention.

Moving to the States, getting married and having a baby have all added to her multi-faceted role as a woman priest, and this book gives us a true insight into what that means for her and 'spiritual' women like her.