Each week, we will be taking an in depth look at some of the best sitcoms and comedy shows from both the UK and the USA.

Today we will be looking at a comedy that introduced a word to the English Language, introduced the World to Graham Norton and also became really successful in the nineties – Father Ted 

Opening title Sequence / Theme Tune

About the Show

Summary of Plot

 Crazy sitcom about 3 priests and their housekeeper who live on Craggy Island, not the peaceful and quiet part of Ireland it seems! – IMDb

Number of Seasons / Episodes

3 Seasons

Characters:

Dermot Morgan – Father Ted Crilly

Ardal O’Hanlon – Father Dougal McGuire

Frank Kelly – Father Jack Hackett

Pauline McLynn – Mrs. Doyle

Trivia

+ After the broadcast of the first episode, the network received just two complaints: one criticizing it for being too anti-Catholic Church, and the other criticizing it for being too pro-Catholic Church.

+ Introduced the word “feck” to the English language. It was already common in Irish English. Vernacular usage of feck in the expletive sense is syntactically interchangeable with fuck, though it has no sexual connotations.

+ In the DVD commentary, Graham Linehan said that he considered Bishop Brennan to be the arch-enemy of Father Jack Hackett, because Jack had the potential to become a bishop, but failed where Brennan had succeeded.

+ Father Dougal sleeps in a Republic of Ireland football shirt and “He-Man” bedsheets.

+ Originally Mrs Doyle was going to be a love interest for Father Ted but this was ultimately scrapped, however most of the dialogue is still the same.

+ Graham Norton (Father Noel Furlong) later went on to become a successful television presenter.

+ Dougal has a T-shirt that says “It’s a Priest thing, you wouldn’t understand”.

Classic Clips

Dougal Insulting Ted

On Holiday

Father Furlongs best bits

The Wrong Department