![]() When they were encouraged to adapt the episode as a full sitcom instead, they kept the same focus on what Mathews called “the strangeness and madness of Irish things”. The show was initially conceived as an episode of a series called Irish Lives, which would have focused on a different Irish character in every episode, and would have had an episode centring on Mathews’ sketch comedy character Father Ted. Doyle (Pauline McLynn), and their misadventures are surprisingly wide-ranging. But they’re all lumped in together in the pariah’s parish of Craggy Island, with their tea-obsessed housekeeper Mrs. It’s simply a tale of eejit Catholic priests on an island where all the crap priests get sent.Ĭonsidering they’re priests, Fathers Ted Crilly (Dermot Morgan), Dougal Maguire (Ardal O’Hanlon), and Jack Hackett (Frank Kelly) rarely if ever seem bothered about religion in the show. Across 25 episodes, it turns the sitcom formula on its head with its wickedly bizarre sense of humour, but has also come to epitomise the genre, as a comedy where its characters are trapped in a situation. ![]() These are the factors that make us both excited and cautious about the recently announced Pope Ted: A Father Ted Musical.īut more than that, Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews’ show truly feels like a landmark. There’s more than enough polling of comedy fans to back up that assertion, but the thing that makes it so significant is its timeless weirdness, that it is just as funny now as it was back when it first aired, from 1995 to 1998. ![]() Fans can also find Ted Tours on Facebook.Father Ted is Channel 4’s greatest ever sitcom. Groups of fans can sign up with Ted Tours to get a taste of comic history and possibly visit the house where the television programme was filmed. See the Father Ted Festival page for more information. The festival is again being held in May 2013. ![]() Scripwriters Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews gave a talk during the festival and explained that, in their view, “Kilfenora and Ennistymon are the real Craggy Island”.Ī further celebratory festival took place in May 20. In 2008, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of lead actor Dermot Morgan’s untimely death, a festival was held in Kilfenora, as is commemorated by a plaque at the Kilfenora Community Hall. Richard Wilson of ‘Victor Meldrew’ fame also made an appearance. The series was responsible for propelling a number of other actors and comedians into the limelight, including Graham Norton, Pat Shortt, Jon Kenny, Tommy Tiernan, Patrick McDonnell, Don Wycherley, Joe Rooney, Jason Byrne, Ed Byrne, Brendan Grace and Gerard McSorley. The theme tune for the series was written and performed by The Divine Comedy, who also released a B-side of “My Lovely Horse”, a song written during the episode “Song for Europe”. Having achieved a cult following, since 2007 the Ted Fest, a Father Ted fan convention, has been held annually. In 19 the show won the BAFTA award for Best Comedy, while Morgan won a BAFTA in 1998 for Best Comedy Performance, and McLynn the Top TV Comedy Actress award at the British Comedy Awards in 1996. The aerial shot of ‘Craggy Island’ in the opening credits shows the wreck of the Plassey cargo ship on Inisheer, the nearest of the Aran Islands to the Clare coast. See for example the scenes with the ‘Chinese pub’, the ‘Lovely Girls competition’, the bomb-laden milkfloat, the song sequence about ‘My Lovely Horse’, the caravan park at Fanore – and of course the ‘Parochial House’ itself (at Glenquin, near Kilnaboy). Many episodes were filmed in and around Kilfenora and nearby Ennistymon. No further shows in the franchise were ever commissioned, the writers having stated that the third series had already been planned to be the last.Īll the interior scenes were shot at The London Studios, while exterior filming was at various locations in Ireland. Dermot Morgan died unexpectedly on 28 February 1998 age 45, a day after filming the last episode, leaving the entire final series to be broadcast posthumously. A Christmas special, A Christmassy Ted, then aired before a third series of 8 episodes. The first series comprised 6 episodes, with the second series running for 10 episodes. The show followed the lives of Father Ted Crilly (the late Dermot Morgan) and his fellow priests, Father Dougal McGuire (Ardal O’Hanlon) and Father Jack Hackett (Frank Kelly), who are exiled on the island, living together in the parochial house with the fourth main character, housekeeper Mrs. It was set in the remote fictional Craggy Island parish off the west coast of Ireland, near Kilfenora. It was initially aired from 21 April 1995 until, but has been broadcast continually ever since, winning new generations of fans. Father Ted is a situation comedy produced by Hat Trick Productions for the UK’s Channel 4 and written by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan.
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