FROM Geraldine Grainger in The Vicar of Dibley, to Agatha Christie characters and the inhabitants of Craggy Island in Father Ted – clergy have always held a fascination for writers.

Now, North-East vicar Lissa Gibbons has completed six months of research of the way men and women of the cloth are portrayed and perceived in fiction.

Reverend Gibbons is vicar of St Matthew and St Luke's Church, in Darlington, St Michael's Church, in Heighington and St Andrew's, in Bolam, County Durham.

Her work is based on analysis of 75 books, published over the past 260 years, as well as a large number of popular television programmes.

Rev Gibbons, who lives in Heighington, said: "The vicar remains a popular figure in fiction – both novels and television – even though we increasingly describe ourselves as a secular society.

"Broadchurch is a particularly poignant example of this, but it is also true of popular soaps and even graphic novels.

“There has been an interesting and significant movement away from the traditional stereotype of the vicar in fiction in recent years.

“If we are going to be effective vicars, we need to know about and respond to people’s perceptions of us, regardless of their accuracy.

“To some extent the vicar represents the church: there are implications in the changing views on the vicar for members of the congregation too.

Rev Gibbons says the portrayals show that:

* Vicars are there to listen, to affirm people as valuable, and to speak for the marginalised and vulnerable;

* The are expected to be available at all hours and keeping open house.

She added: "We are allowed to make mistakes, even serious ones, provided we admit them, learn and grow.

“Above all, despite talk of a secular society, we are increasingly needed as a spiritual presence, able to deal with death and evil, whether human or supernatural, and bring healing and integration.”

Her conclusions for her ministry and that of colleagues are:

“Despite the pressures to be a business woman, good with fabric, finances, strategies and business planning, that is not what it’s all about.

"I must never lose sight of the need to listen to and respect people – to love them.

“Vicars still have an important role within the community, even for non-churchgoers.

"The vicar’s role is actually portrayed as more powerful and meaningful in the past 25 years than in previous generations.

“People often talk of the church being increasingly irrelevant in a secular society, but this doesn’t seem to be reflected in contemporary fiction, which is quite encouraging.”