Harry Jasper Kennedy is a character in The Vicar of Dibley. He is played by Richard Armitage.
About Harry[]
He is the husband of Geraldine. Harry arrived in Dibley in December 2006 and met the vicar, apparently falling for her instantly. He is an accountant from London and had lived there for fifteen years before moving to the village. Despite being an attractive and friendly young man, Harry is considered boring by the rest of the villagers because of his job as an accountant, but to Geraldine, he is everything she could ever ask for.
Dating Geraldine[]
Harry is visited by Geraldine on his first night in Dibley in his new home of Sleepy Cottage. Geraldine is concerned about Londoners buying cottages in the village but only using them as weekend retreats and not integrating into the community, and plans to tell Harry that he can either 'get stuck in or sod off' but changes her tune when she sees how handsome he is. Geraldine notes during their conversation that he has a lot of books and Harry admits that his favourites are Birdsong and anything by John Le Carre. Although he claims to like Jill's Gymkhana, this was almost certainly an attempt to humour Alice, who stated it was her favourite book alongside The Mole Who Knew It Was None Of His Business (a children's book she claimed was 'like a modern mystery thriller' about a mole trying to find out who took a poo on his head; spoiler - the dog did it...) When Geraldine admits that she loves Jane Austen stories where the heroine is swooped off her feet by a handsome stranger, Harry asks whether that has ever happened to her and can't seem to keep his eyes off her. Unfortunately, the moment is ruined when Alice, with her usual lack of tact, reveals why they are there and calls Harry a 'townie bastard' to his face (and later admits to Geraldine that she stole some of his belongings). Harry bumps into Geraldine during a walk and tells her he has learned the village has a female vicar. Not realising it is her, he makes a flirtatious, sexually suggestive comment about vicars, which seems to delight her. They arrange a date for later that night at a restaurant to get to know each other better but when Harry admits he once tried to date someone who was training to be a vicar but 'couldn't get past the dog collar', Geraldine lies and tells him she is a teacher of special needs students instead. Her lie is unintentionally exposed almost immediately by David Horton but Harry is very understanding - and rather amused - about the whole thing. Geraldine flirts with Harry after he walks her home by telling him she will only allow kissing on their third date and he comes back to the door several times after he has left, seeming completely smitten.
They meet again shortly after and take a walk while holding hands, Geraldine counting it as a second date so they can get to the kissing quicker. That night, Harry visits Geraldine while she is watching Sense and Sensibility and they joke about the noise Emma Thompson makes when her character finds out her beloved isn't married after all. Harry explains he is there because he has been doing some calculations and he believes that Geraldine is on the brink of falling into debt. He has decided that his visit 'constitutes a third date' which means that she now owes him a kiss - with tongues - and says he would hate to see her get into arrears. Geraldine slips under and between his arms where he is leaning on her desk and keeps up the game for a while before asking when he wants 'the account to be settled', to which he replies, "Now. (...) This second." He is later seen leaving after a quick kiss (without tongues) at the door.
Misunderstanding[]
The day after their kiss, Geraldine sees Harry in the street and begins running up to him but he answers his phone before she can reach him and calls someone on the other end 'darling.' 'Darling' will be arriving at 03:00pm and Harry plans to take them on a 'most gorgeous long walk', ending the phone call by telling the unidentified caller that he loves them.
Geraldine suspects that Harry has a girlfriend and her suspicions appear to be confirmed when an attractive young woman arrives later that day. Geraldine follows them when they go for their walk but eventually gives up. When she notices them coming back over a field gate, she begins to hurry away but has nowhere to hide, so she ends up jumping into an extremely deep puddle with which she'd had an embarrassing moment in the past and stays underwater until they have passed by.
Later after she has bathed and changed clothes, Geraldine runs into Harry outside. He mentions he has not seen her for a few days and she claims to have been busy writing sermons about morals and fidelity, and attempts to let him know that she knows about 'darling'. Harry appears oblivious to her mood and introduces her to the woman - who he refers to only as Rosie. Rosie is extremely nice to Geraldine before reminding Harry that they need to get going, and the encounter leaves her puzzled and heartbroken.
Proposal[]
Harry visits Geraldine that night and asks her to marry him. However, Geraldine misunderstands and, because she is the vicar - which he actually calls her shortly before asking - she thinks that he means 'will you marry me (to Rosie)?' She agrees, sounding resigned and depressed, and blankly asks him whether he has thought of any dates, suggesting December 22 after checking the church calendar because Christmas is a romantic time of year. Harry is puzzled by her behaviour but is so nervous and overwhelmed that he lets her keep talking. Geraldine tells him they might as well fill out some of the paperwork while they are there and asks for his full name: Harry Jasper Kennedy, and the name of the bride. Harry admits that he doesn't know her middle name and Geraldine, still not understanding, says they can fill that bit out later then but she hopes it isn't as weird as 'Jasper' or the wedding will sound like a sitcom. When Harry still hesitates to give her the rest of the name, she fusses at him, nearly at her wits end, and doesn't even realise it is her name until she has already started writing it down. Geraldine yells "WHAT?!" and jumps up, frantically demanding 'What about Rosie?', only for Harry to explain that she is his sister, who only came down to Dibley to help him talk over his feelings for Geraldine. Upon hearing this, she descends into near hysterics, making the noise they had joked about earlier from Sense and Sensibility several times before excusing herself to run screaming from the vicarage.
Geraldine's first stop is Sleepy Cottage, where she kisses Rosie repeatedly before running, screaming all the way, to the church to rings the bells before rushing back to re-question Harry. He explains that he has loved her from the very beginning and is convinced they will be happy forever. She screams in his face twice, then rushes into his open arms and kisses him.
Marriage[]
Harry married Geraldine in a service organised by the village. He never said a bad word about any of the villagers, despite showing physical signs of annoyance. He was also annoyed by Geraldine's choice of vicar because he kept flirting with Geraldine. Nevertheless, they got married as planned and are now living together in Dibley.
Alice arranged the wedding, picking a beautiful white gown that looked like a monk's robe. Unfortunately, Owen accidentally splashed it with mud while driving past Geraldine in the white limo they were using for the ceremony. She changed into her best pajamas - white silk with a red floral design - and went to be married anyway. Alice dressed the bridesmaids in Doctor Who Dalek costumes and Owen wired small bombs down the aisle to shoot confetti when Geraldine passed by the pews. The Council act as Harry's groomsmen. Geraldine's middle names are revealed during the wedding practice.
Wife Swap[]
Being part of the non-entity couple side of the "Wife Swap", Harry is sent to be with Trudie Styler for the show. The couple comes back to the vicarage, where Trudie flirts a bit with Harry, saying how she loves him. Geraldine then promptly smashes cakes in Trudie and Sting's faces. Harry puts his hands up in surrender to Geraldine so she will not harm him, showing his omega status in the household.
Trivia[]
- Unlike many of the actors in this series, Richard Armitage comes from a background of the 'serious' genre of acting, weakening his resistance to laugh at jokes that aren't funny to the characters, but to the audience. The most obvious examples are when he has to lift a hand to cover his mouth during Dawn French's 'scream with joy-run Sketch' and can't help a grin and startled jump when she screams in his face later in the scene.
- He has a sister named Rosie Kennedy.
- Geraldine's friend and fellow vicar Jeremy is played by Hugh Bonneville, who also played Robert Crawley 8th Earl of Grantham in Downton Abbey.
Gallery[]
