Father Ted is a sitcom created by Irish writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews and produced by British production company Hat Trick Productions for British television channel Channel 4. It aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until 1 May 1998, including a Christmas special, for a total of 25 episodes. It aired on Nine Network (series 1) and ABC Television (series 2 and 3) in Australia, and on TV2 in New Zealand. It is regarded as one of the greatest sitcoms of all time.
Set on the fictional Craggy Island, a remote location off Ireland's west coast, Father Ted stars Dermot Morgan as Father Ted Crilly, alongside fellow priests Father Dougal McGuire (Ardal O'Hanlon) and Father Jack Hackett (Frank Kelly). Dishonourably exiled on the island by Bishop Leonard Brennan (Jim Norton) for various reasons, the priests live together in the parochial house with their housekeeper Mrs Doyle (Pauline McLynn). The show's combination of low-brow humour with portrayals of loneliness and existentialism experienced by its title character has been much acclaimed.
Father Ted won several British Academy Television Awards—including twice for Best Comedy Series, and remains a popular sitcom in Ireland and the UK. In a 2001 Channel 4 poll, Dougal was ranked fifth on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters. In 2019, Father Ted was named the second-greatest British sitcom (after Fawlty Towers) by a panel of comedy experts for Radio Times.“Fawlty Towers and Father Ted top list of Britain's favourite sitcoms”. ITV. Retrieved 24 May 2019
Concept and creation Arthur Mathews created the character of Father Ted while working at Hot Press in 1987–89. During production weekends, he and Paul Woodfull had the idea for The Joshua Trio, a comedic U2 tribute band. The band performed various warm-up sketches written by Mathews, Woodfull, and Graham Linehan, who joined in a non-musical capacity. These sketches included stand-up performed by Mathews in-character as Father Ted Crilly. As Ted, Mathews sometimes read from a book, Notes from Africa, purportedly written by Father Dougal McGuire, a missionary friend who described his experiences of being attacked and chased by natives. In one sketch, Ted discussed his concern for Dougal, who had been voted Most Unpopular Priest in Africa for two years running and was spending Christmas up a tree in the grounds of The Bob Geldof Centre.
In 1990, Linehan and Mathews began writing Irish Lives, a six-part comedy television series. The show would have taken the form of a mockumentary, with each episode focusing on interviewing a different character, one of whom was Father Ted Crilly. The story involved Ted returning to his seminary to catch up with old friends. When producer Geoffrey Perkins asked Linehan and Mathews to discard the mockumentary format and expand the Father Ted episode to a traditional sitcom, Father Dougal became one of the main characters. When writing Dougal, Linehan and Mathews drew on Stan Laurel, incorporating some of Linehan's own behaviour during moments of confusion.
Synopsis The show follows the misadventures of three Irish Roman Catholic priests who live in a parish on the fictional Craggy Island, located off the west coast of Ireland. Father Ted Crilly, Father Dougal McGuire and Father Jack Hackett live chaotically together in Craggy Island's parochial house, along with their housekeeper Mrs Doyle, who always wants to serve them tea.
The three priests answer to Bishop Len Brennan, who has banished them to Craggy Island as punishment for different incidents in their past: Ted for alleged financial impropriety (apparently involving some money "resting" in his account and a child being deprived of a visit to Lourdes so that Ted could go to Las Vegas), Dougal for an event only referred to as the "Blackrock Incident" (resulting in "many nuns' lives [being] irreparably damaged"), and Jack for his alcoholism and womanising, particularly for an unspecified incident at a wedding in Athlone.
The show revolves around the priests' lives on Craggy Island, sometimes dealing with matters of the church but more often dealing with Father Ted's schemes to either resolve a situation with the parish or other Craggy Island residents, or to win games of one-upmanship against his enemy, Father Dick Byrne of the nearby Rugged Island parish.
Casting Actor Maurice O'Donoghue auditioned for the role of Ted, and Linehan felt that he was the right appearance, age and "lightness" for the character. Mathews wanted to cast comedian Dermot Morgan from an early stage, but Linehan was reluctant; he worried that audiences would confuse Ted with Father Trendy, a character Morgan had previously created for The Live Mike. Trendy parodied a class of priests including Brian D'Arcy, perceived in the 1970s as wanting to be considered liberal and "cool", whereas Ted was written as a more conservative, traditional priest. Morgan lobbied hard for the role, eventually persuading Linehan. The writers considered O'Donoghue a back-up to use should Morgan become unavailable, and later created Father Dick Byrne, Ted's recurring rival, specifically for O'Donoghue to play.
Aspects such as Ted's obsession with money and fantasy of going to Las Vegas emerged while writing for Morgan, and the writers began to feel for Ted in a way they did not for the other characters.
After the second series aired, Linehan said he still believed that Mathews could easily have played Ted in the show.
There have been several attempts to remake the show for American audiences. In 2004, Steve Martin was reported to have signed on to play Ted in a new version. In 2007, John Michael Higgins was cast in the part.
Cast and characters
Main Dermot Morgan as Father Ted Crilly Ardal O'Hanlon as Father Dougal McGuire Frank Kelly as Father Jack Hackett Pauline McLynn as Mrs. Doyle
Recurring Patrick Drury as John O'Leary Rynagh O'Grady as Mary O'Leary Pat Shortt as Tom Jim Norton as Bishop Leonard Brennan Maurice O'Donoghue as Father Dick Byrne Don Wycherley as Father Cyril McDuff Graham Norton as Father Noel Furlong Tony Guilfoyle as Father Larry Duff Rosemary Henderson as Sister Assumpta
Episodes
Production Writing
Linehan and Mathews first met while working at Hot Press. In the late 1980s, Mathews, Paul Woodfull and Kieran Woodfull formed The Joshua Trio, a U2 tribute band. The trio began writing comedy sketches to accompany their act. Mathews created the Father Ted character for his short-lived stand-up routine. Before The Joshua Trio played at gigs, Mathews would occasionally come on-stage as Father Ted and tell jokes involving his great friend, Father Dougal McGuire.
In 1991, Mathews left his job at Hot Press and moved into Linehan's London home. Over the next three to four years, they worked on rough ideas for shows while at the same time writing for sketch shows such as The All New Alexei Sayle Show and The Fast Show. One of these ideas was for a comedy mockumentary series called Irish Lives, with six episodes, each focusing on a different character living somewhere in Ireland. They scripted an episode centring on a priest named Father Ted Crilly, who visits his friends in the seminary in Maynooth College. Producer Geoffrey Perkins suggested that the episode's concept be dramatised and rewritten as a sitcom.
In the January 1994 issue of In Dublin (Vol 19, No2), Mathews and Linehan told Damian Corless, who had initially introduced the pair to each other, of their work in progress, describing Ted as "basically a nice man", Dougal as "nice but really stupid" and Jack as "a hideous creature". Linehan revealed: "They've all been sent to this isolated place called Craggy Island because they're crap priests." Mathews elaborated: "They've each a terrible secret which is why they've been banished to this place, and the terrible thing is that they can't get away from each other. Obviously it's not entirely reality-based." Mathews was originally intended to play Ted, but decided he lacked the acting ability the role required. Maurice O'Donoghue, who plays Father Dick in the series, was their second choice for the role of Ted, being the right age and having a similar look and lightness. Mathews always preferred Dermot Morgan; Linehan was initially reluctant, worrying that some viewers would be confused because they already knew him as "Father Trendy", another priest character that he had played many years before on the RTÉ television show The Live Mike. Morgan was very excited about the Father Ted role, and he repeatedly phoned the series creators and let them know how much he wanted it, which eventually won Linehan over because he figured that if Dermot wanted the role so badly then he would end up putting a lot of passion into doing a great job with it.Father Ted DVD commentary, season 1 episode 4
The show was pitched directly to the UK's Hat Trick Productions and Channel 4 by the duo, contrary to rumours that RTÉ (the Irish national broadcaster) were originally offered the series but rejected it.
Recording Three series and one Christmas special were aired. Declan Lowney directed the first two series and the Christmas special, while the third series was directed by Linehan (location scenes) and Andy De Emmony (studio scenes). In addition, Morgan and O'Hanlon hosted an hour of Comic Relief in character, during which Kelly and McLynn also made brief guest appearances. One day after the shooting of series three wrapped, Dermot Morgan died of a heart attack, aged 45. As a mark of respect, the third series was first broadcast a week later than originally planned.
The show was already scheduled to conclude with the third series prior to Morgan's death, as Morgan said that he did not want to continue playing the role of Father Ted for fear of being typecast: "I don't want to be the next Clive Dunn and end up playing the same character for years."
Following Morgan's death, the production company received calls from numerous agents and casting directors suggesting either new actors for the role of Ted or spin-offs without the character; Linehan and Mathews declined all offers.
Music In 1994, the writers asked alternative rock band Pulp to compose the theme music for Father Ted, requesting a parody of a typical sitcom theme. When Pulp said no, they contacted Neil Hannon, frontman of Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy. Hannon's first effort, a jaunty composition, was rejected on Geoffrey Perkins's advice. Hannon composed a second theme, which the team found acceptable. This theme was recorded by Hannon and co-producer Darren Allison at The Jesus and Mary Chain's private studio. One of William Reid's guitars was selected by Allison and Hannon to carry the main tune, which was played by Hannon. Both themes were also reworked, with new lyrics, for inclusion on The Divine Comedy's 1996 album Casanova: the final Father Ted theme became "Songs of Love", while Hannon's rejected theme became "A Woman of the World".As stated by Neil Hannon in the documentary Half Minute Melodies, BBC Radio 4, 3 February 2000. Hannon offered a choice of tunes to the producers; his personal preference was for "Woman of the World".
In 2010, Linehan discussed the dramatic effect this choice had on the tone of the series: "'Woman of the World' was kind of like a jaunty, plinky-plonky song, and we wanted that song. He [Hannon] gave us two choices: he gave us that, and 'Songs of Love', and we wanted the plinky-plonky song because our idea was we were making fun of sitcoms. We were saying, you know, we don't like sitcoms. This is a parody of sitcoms. This is a kind of satire on sitcoms. And I remember Geoffrey [Perkins] looking really glum and sad about this, you know? And then he said, 'Why do you want to make fun of your characters?' He said, 'People will love these characters.' And that was just a real revelation for me, and after that, whatever he said went, as far as I was concerned."