EXCLUSIVE: Dawn French reveals how recreating her famous Vicar of Dibley puddle plunge left her in agony for years

It’s one of the most beloved moments from sitcom slapstick: Dawn French as Reverend Geraldine Granger jumping feet first into a hilariously deep puddle.

However, an attempt to recreate the classic scene from the Vicar of Dibley led to more than a decade of crippling pain and surgery, the actress has revealed.

During a one-woman show last week, Ms French, 65, told the audience: ‘One of the best moments of my working life was being asked to jump in that puddle. It seemed to tickle a few funny bones. So much so that it was repeated in another episode.

“Honestly, to this day, people still send me videos of themselves jumping into puddles.”

In 2009, the producers of Paul O’Grady’s chat show asked her to fill in for him and create the moment to end the program.

Describing the idea as ‘catastrophically misguided’, she added: ‘They built a 3 meter high hill out of scaffolding covered in AstroTurf. The idea was that there was a long enough decline to disappear into.

‘Then a bright spark had the idea of ​​having a shallow silicon membrane with two inches of water on top, so that as I jumped through it the water would splash up and look like a deep puddle.

‘But what did I notice? The answer is absolutely nothing. At a depth of 3 meters, there were two very thin crash mats in a film studio with a flat concrete floor. Any fool would know this was a disaster in the making. Every fool but me.

“The producers took me along to show it to me and see if I was okay. And I replied, ‘Of course I’m fine with that, I’m British.’

She showed the crowd in Exeter on Thursday a photo of her about to jump and said: ‘This is actually quite an emotional photo. This is the last time my body is actually intact. This is the last time I had two functioning legs.

‘I went down 3 meters and flopped on the two crash mats. One leg twisted very awkwardly under me and I landed very heavily. I heard the worst thumping noise you could imagine.

“I knew I was in trouble, but I completed the draft. I clearly felt that I would rather die than admit my weakness.

“The producers asked if I was okay, but I said I was fine. I drove five hours home to Cornwall, trying to convince myself everything was fine, but it wasn’t.’

For the next few years she walked with a cane and was in pain, but in 2017 this became unbearable and she went to a surgeon.

‘I saw a great guy who works with sports people. He told me to leave it alone for eight weeks. He suspected that I would tell him that I was going on stage that night, so he said he would give me a workaround.

“He said I would need a knee replacement in the future. He said he would inject me with a steroid in the knee and that I could only have three of these injections.

‘The first one was like a miracle, but it disappeared. I spent the next 18 months writing a book at home just to deal with the pain. The next job was panto at the Palladium, lots of dancing and jumping.

“So I got the second shot. That worked like a dream, but it disappeared and I was left to hobble for another year and a while.

‘Then came the comedy The Trouble with Maggie Cole (2020). I used that last precious injection. Then it came to the Death on the Nile track (a film due out in 2022), a period piece that would mean I was on my heels. I was in pain and had to give in.

‘I called the surgeon for the (knee replacement) surgery. Then he told me that I could not have three injections in total, but three per year. I could have had many injections over all those painful years.’ Miss French was seen walking with a decorated cane to match her floral coat in 2009, a few months after the accident.

In 2020, she told Radio Times: ‘It’s a privilege to become a parent. It’s not for the faint of heart. Things are going a bit wrong. Your rheumatoid arthritis knee means you can’t walk your dog far, you know you’ll have to have minor surgery at some point.”