The Passion of St Tibulus
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| “The Passion of St Tibulus” | |
|---|---|
| Father Ted episode | |
 Ted and Dougal protest |
|
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 1 |
| Guest stars | Jim Norton (Bishop Brennan), Jon Kenny (Michael) |
| Written by | Graham Linehan, Arthur Mathews |
| Directed by | Andy DeEmmony, Declan Lowney |
| Original airdate | 5 May 1995 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Entertaining Father Stone" | "Competition Time" |
| List of Father Ted episodes | |
"The Passion of St Tibulus" is the 3rd episode of Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted.
[edit] Synopsis
Father Hernandez, from Cuba, is staying on Craggy Island. While playing Cluedo, he, Ted and Dougal talk about many things. Father Hernandez, seeing Mrs Doyle, confesses that he sometimes finds the life of celibacy difficult, at which point Ted mentions Bishop Brennan, who is rumoured to have a son who lives in America. The following day, when Father Hernandez leaves, he gives Dougal and Ted a video recorder as a gift from Cuba, and, for Ted, a wooden statue of a man with an extremely oversized penis, a fertility symbol.
Bishop Brennan then arrives at the parochial house, on an official visit. Although Dougal has forgotten the previous night's conversation, Ted reminds Dougal not to talk about Brennan's secret son (which causes Dougal to almost mention it to the bishop). Father Ted asks "Len" if there is any chance of returning to his former parish. The bishop reveals that Ted took money and went to Las Vegas, while a young girl was supposed to be in Lourdes, and that he would not be allowed to leave Craggy Island for a long time. The same goes for Jack (following a disastrous wedding he performed in Athlone) and Dougal (who was involved in something known only as the "Blackrock incident", which irreparably damaged the lives of countless nuns.
The bishop then reveals his reason for visiting. The Passion of St Tibulus, a blasphemous film condemned by the Pope and banned everywhere, is being shown on Craggy Island because of an unknown loophole. The bishop says that the Church must be seen to make a stand against the film, and wants it sorted-out as quickly as possible, because he was recalled from his holiday in California to deal with it.
Ted and Dougal go to the local cinema; there are only two other people watching the film, one of whom leaves because the French film is subtitled and not dubbed. Originally, they plan to protest before the film begins, but after a polite request from Michael the manager, they agree to watch it peacefully and be thrown out afterwards (to be seen as "making a fuss").
Later, Ted and Dougal agree that the film was difficult to understand, and inaccurate; Ted says "I know for a fact that St Tibulus wore more clothes than that". Bishop Brennan orders them to protest early the next morning, so, even though there are seven hours before the cinema opens, Ted and Dougal stand outside with placards reading "Down with this sort of thing" and "Careful now". Dougal then goes to the O'Learys' shop to buy a pair of handcuffs, so they can chain themselves to the railing to gain more attention.
Back at the parochial house, Bishop Brennan is looking for his travelling bag, which contains his passport "and everything". Father Jack, sitting in his chair as always, plays dumb, but as soon as Bishop Brennan leaves, Jack takes the bag out from underneath him, opens it, and finds the passport, a video camera containing a video in it entitled "Holiday '95, California", and, to his delight, a bottle of bottle of Jack Daniel's.
Although Ted and Dougal continue protesting faithfully, they fail to stop people from viewing the film; in fact, a lot more people watch it because of the protest, and The Passion of St Tibulus becomes the cinema's most successful film since Jurassic Park. Ted angrily claims that no-one cares what the Church says anymore, and decides to leave. Dougal, however, doesn't have the keys for the handcuffs.
Back home, with the pair of them still handcuffed to the railing (which they had to take with them), they are scolded by Bishop Brennan for failing to stop the islanders from watching the blasphemous film ("they're coming from Gdańsk to see the film!"). The bishop announces that they are to be relocated them across the globe; Ted to an island off the coast of Surinam where two tribes have been at war since 1907, Dougal to a part of the Philippines that lacks proper sewerage, and Jack to somewhere even worse. Bishop Brennan leaves; Ted and Dougal are devastated, until Jack plays the bishop's holiday video. It shows the bishop with a woman and a young boy on a beach. He is then shown kissing the woman (his secret mistress), and Ted realises they can use this to blackmail the bishop into changing his mind - although, to cheer themselves up, they watch the video again a few times first.
[edit] Trivia
- Bishop Brennan's secret son and mistress are based on Eamon Casey, former Bishop of Galway.
- There is no such saint as St Tibulus.
- The strange "inverse negative publicity" phenomenon the protest gives the film mirrors that encountered by Monty Python upon the cinema release of Life of Brian.
