The Vicar of Dibley has topped a poll of television clergy who would be most trusted to lead the country through a crisis.
To prompt people to think about the role of real-life clergy, Christian Aid asked people in a survey how important they think faith leaders are in providing moral guidance and spiritual leadership.
The poll was taken by Christian Aid ahead of their annual fundraising week (10-16th May) which this year will "raise money for poor and marginalised communities who will be significantly impacted by the spread of coronavirus."
Those asked were given an option of ten characters and 37 per cent said they would most trust Geraldine Granger (played by Dawn French) from The Vicar of Dibley.
Sister Evangelina (Pam Ferris) from Call the Midwife came second (15%), followed closely by Father Ted Crilly (Dermot Morgan), then Rev Sidney Chambers (James Norton) from Grantchester and Rev Francis Seaton (Paul Chahidi) from This Country in fifth.
Less trusted were: the priest in Fleabag played by Andrew Scott, Tom Hollander's 'Rev' and Rowan Atkinson's vicar in Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Christian Aid commissioned the poll to demonstrate the value in working with faith leaders in tragedies, as evidenced in the Ebola epidemic where involving religious leaders led to an acceptance of the issue and awareness about slowing the spread.
Three in five British adults agree that faith leaders have a role to play in providing moral guidance and spiritual leadership during times of national crisis such as the Coronavirus pandemic, including one in five who say they strongly agree, whilst a quarter said they disagreed.
Amanda Khozi Mukwashi, CEO of Christian Aid, said: "With 84 per cent of the world's population associating with a faith, religious communities all over the world hold significant power and trust. Religious actors can play a key role in providing accurate public health information to people, and faith communities have a strong base from which to promote physical distancing to reduce the transmission of Covid-19 while keeping a sense of solidarity."
