Beneath The Cassock: The Real-life Vicar of Dibley by Joy Carroll is published by HarperCollins priced £14.99 and is available now.

Sitcoms tend to be associated with contrived, far-fetched and unrealistic scenarios, but anyone who thought The Vicar of Dibley was a figment of the writer's imagination was wrong.

The hilarious clergywoman played by Dawn French was in fact inspired by a real-life woman priest who behaves, dresses and even laughs like the fictional Geraldine Granger.

The Rev Joy Carroll was drafted in as a consultant for the show after writer Richard Curtis spotted her delivering an impassioned speech attacking opponents of the ordination of women.

And in her autobiography Beneath The Cassock, Carroll tells the story of how she became the basis for one of Britain's best-loved television characters. With her refreshing views and highly individual style, it's easy to see why Curtis was so taken with the 42-year-old, who is originally from south London.

Back in the early '90s when The Vicar of Dibley was being created, Carroll, who was then a vicar in Streatham in south London, wore dangly crucifix earrings with baggy sweaters and waistcoats over her clerical shirt. "I did my best to not look too frumpy really," she explains.

At the age of 29, Joy became the youngest member of the House of Clergy in the General Synod when she was voted in to represent Southwark Diocese. Five years later she was one of the first women to be ordained to the priesthood after the General Synod voted in a new policy.

Carroll was regularly consulted by Curtis and French during writing and filming, and when the programme was first broadcast the similarities between her and Geraldine were striking.

Not only did the fictional vicar share her taste in clothes, she also mimicked her mannerisms.

"Geraldine actually turned out uncannily like me.

"Little things like the patronising way her voice goes up when she says 'Did you?' and 'Have you?'

During their meetings, Carroll formed a firm friendship with French, so that when she married Jim Wallis, a renowned American cleric and human rights advocate, the comedienne and her husband Lenny Henry were guests.

Although she has moved to Washington DC, where she is now a priest for the Episcopal Church, she remains in touch with French. "We just clicked as friends really when we first met, we got on very well and had some nice conversations.

"Although we are in different countries, we still write to each other, and if circumstances were different we would probably spend more time together."