| Father Ted | |
|---|---|
| Format | Comedy |
| Created by | Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews |
| Starring | Dermot Morgan Ardal O'Hanlon Frank Kelly Pauline McLynn |
| Opening theme | "Songs of Love" (instrumental), The Divine Comedy |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 25 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 24 minutes (varies between episodes) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Channel 4 |
| Original run | 21 April 1995[1] – 1 May 1998 |
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. It aired over three series and a special, from 21 April 1995 until 1 May 1998. It starred Dermot Morgan in the title role as the Irish Catholic priest Father Ted Crilly, and was set on the remote fictional Craggy Island parish off the west coast of Ireland. The show followed the lives of Ted 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. Doyle (Pauline McLynn).
The show ran for a total of 25 episodes. The first series comprised 6 episodes, with the second series running for 10 episodes. A Christmas special, A Christmassy Ted, then aired before a third series of 8 episodes. 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. No further shows in the franchise were ever commissioned, the writers having stated that the third series had been intended as the ultimate even prior to Morgan's death.
All of the interior scenes were shot at The London Studios. Exterior filming was shot at various locations on the Irish mainland in County Clare, with the Parochial house being at Glenquin, near Kilnaboy, County Clare. The aerial shot in the opening credits of Craggy Island and the wreck of the Plassey cargo ship depicts the isle of Inisheer, part of the Aran Islands, off the west coast of Ireland.
In 1998 the show won a BAFTA award for Best Comedy, while Morgan won a BAFTA for Best Actor, and McLynn the Best Actress award. Having achieved a cult following, since 2007 the Ted Fest, a Father Ted fan convention, has been held annually. 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". The series was responsible for propelling a number of actors and comedians into the limelight, including Ardal O'Hanlon, Pauline McLynn, Graham Norton, Tommy Tiernan, Patrick McDonnell, Don Wycherley, Joe Rooney, Jason Byrne, Pat Shortt, Jon Kenny, Ed Byrne, Brendan Grace and Gerard McSorley.
Contents |
The show follows the exploits of three Roman Catholic priests who preside over a parish on Craggy Island, located off the west coast of Ireland. Father Ted Crilly, Father Dougal McGuire and the Father Jack Hackett live together in Craggy Island's parochial house, along with their housekeeper Mrs Doyle, who is often wanting to serve them tea. The three priests answer to Bishop Len Brennan, who assigned them the Craggy Island parish due to different incidents in their past: Ted for alleged financial impropriety, Dougal for something only referred to as the "Blackrock Incident" (resulting in many "lives irreparably damaged"), and Jack for his alcoholism and womanising. 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 gainst his arch-nemesis, Father Dick Byrne of the nearby Rugged Island parish.
Six sequences were introduced as follows:
In the United States, all series have been released on DVD NTSC Region 1.
In Australia, all series have been released on DVD PAL Region 4.
Contrary to frequent rumours, Mathews and Linehan did not originally pitch the series to the Irish network RTÉ, but rather offered it directly to Hat Trick Productions and Channel 4 in the UK.
Writer Graham Linehan, on his DVD commentary on the first episode, says that Father Ted was a character that Arthur Mathews came up with and who was played by third member of the group Paul Woodfull when they did standup gigs in Ireland, playing as a band, The Joshua Trio. Dermot Morgan was picked for the role because he had previously played a priest in standup, as "Father Trendy". Linehan appeared in the first episode of Father Ted wearing a red jacket and a white "bobble" hat.
Three series and one Christmas special were completed. In addition Morgan and O'Hanlon in character hosted an hour of Comic Relief, during which Kelly and McLynn made brief appearances as Father Jack and Mrs Doyle in one of the routines. After the completion of filming for series three, Dermot Morgan died of a heart attack, aged 45. As a result, series three was first broadcast a week later than originally planned, out of respect for Morgan.
Just weeks before his death 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."
It is probable that the name of the seminary known as St. Comb's,[2] which Ted and a number of other priests in the show attended, was influenced by the name of St. Columb's College in Derry, Northern Ireland, of which Seamus Cassidy, a Channel 4 producer, was a past-pupil. In reality, the Republic of Ireland's only remaining seminary is St Patrick's College, Maynooth.
The theme tune for the series was written and performed by The Divine Comedy, and was later reworked into "Songs of Love", a track from the album Casanova. (The song "Woman of the World" from the same album was also offered as a potential theme tune, but rejected.[3])
The band also contributed most of the show's original music, including its most famous song, the ridiculous "My Lovely Horse" used in the episode "Song For Europe", with singer Neil Hannon providing Ted's vocal in the "enhanced" version (this later appeared as a B-side on the band's single Gin Soaked Boy). Hannon also composed "My Lovely Mayo Mammy" for the episode "Night of the Nearly Dead" with the character Eoin McLove, as well as various other musical items heard in the show.
Location shooting for Father Ted was done mostly in County Clare, including locations at Ennis, Kilfenora, Ennistymon, and Kilnaboy. The Parochial House is McCormack's at Glenquin, on the Boston road from Kilnaboy.[4][5] The cinema featured in "The Passion Of St Tibulus" was the Ormonde Cinema, Greystones, County Wicklow[6] and "The Field", the location for Funland in "Good Luck, Father Ted", is in Portrane, North County Dublin. The opening sequence (including shots of the Plassey ship wreck) were filmed over Inis Oírr - the smallest of the Aran Islands. The interior scenes were filmed at LWT's The London Studios.
In January 2007 a dispute arose between Inis Oírr (pop. 250) and Inis Mór (pop. 1,200) over which island can claim to be Craggy Island, and thereby host a three-day Friends of Ted Festival. It was decided that in appropriate Father Ted fashion the dispute would be settled by a five-a-side football match held on 25 February 2007. This was won by Inis Mór in a 2-0 match allowing them to use the title of Craggy Island until February 2008, whilst Inis Oírr was given the title of Rugged Island.
The show has developed an almost cult-like status in Ireland, where it is still regarded as one of the best television productions of Irish origin ever. The show is currently being repeated on More4 and RTÉ Two. All three series have been available through the OnDemand service of Virgin Media in the UK but now they have only one series at a time, switching between the three, however all three series and the Christmas Special are available on 4oD. In an unusual step for a Channel 4 programme, on November 8, 2008 BBC Two showed an episode as part of its tribute night to producer Geoffrey Perkins, who had died just over two months before.[7]
Pauline McLynn reprised her role as Mrs Doyle in 2001 for a small set of advertisements for Inland Revenue, reminding people to get their taxes in on time by uttering her catchphrase ('Go on, go, on') over and over again. Not surprisingly, it was voted the most irritating advertising campaign of 2001, beating competition from the now-infamous Ferrero Rocher advertisement. Coincidentally, Mrs Doyle was also involved in a spoof of this confectionery-related ad in the episode "Tentacles of Doom".
The series has been referred to in regard to lack of political policy. Speaking in Carlow in June 2010, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Green Party leader John Gormley said the Labour Party is coming very close to being the "Fr Ted of Irish politics" because, according to Gormley's opinion, they have no policies.[8]
British movie magazine "Empire" placed Father ted at number 36 in their "Top 50 greatest T.V shows of all time" feature.
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