Father Noel Furlong
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Father Noel Furlong is a recurring character in the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted. He is portrayed by Graham Norton. He appears in three episodes of the show. In series two he appears in the episodes Hell and Flight into Terror, while in series three he appears in The Mainland .
Father Noel is a very annoying and slightly hyperactive priest who Ted and Dougal hate spending time with. He runs the St. Luke's Youth Group and is first encountered during Ted's abortive caravaning holiday to Hell. Here he invades the peaceful surroundings of the priests' rented caravan and keeps them awake at night, singing songs ("The Whole of the Moon" and "Dirty Aul Town") and expressing his desire to tell ghost stories at five o' clock in the morning. He regales the helpless Ted and Dougal (who he takes an instant dislike to when, after much forceful prompting from Noel, the hapless priest guesses his age to be forty) with tales how members of the youth group have a habit of turning in late (ten past ten) and succeeds in driving them out of their holiday home. Father Furlong seems to only see the worst in his youth group; despite their apparent innocence, he scolds them for being ten minutes late and even accuses one member who attempts to escape of going off to get heroin.
His boundless energy results in him getting his group lost in the "Very Dark Caves" on The Mainland and a "screeching competition" causes him to be crushed by falling rocks. (His group then abandon him and head to Paraguay on Aer Lingus flights).
Father Noel is also known for his rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and turns up again on the Flight into Terror leading Father Fay and Dougal into the cockpit of a plane. While there he inadvertently causes disaster when he allows Father Fay, who doesn't know he's a priest, to see his reflection. Father Fay goes crazy and jumps on the pilot sending the plane out of its path. The pilot screams at the watching Dougal to press the emergency button. The bumbling priest then presses the wrong button. This grave error results in one of the fuel tanks being emptied.
