Britcoms: Father Ted

Father Ted is a comedy show shown on channel 4. It is set on a Craggy Island and centres around the lives of 3 priests (banished to the island by Bishop Brennan) and their housekeeper:

FATHER TED CRILLY (Dermot Morgan)
Ted is the ‘leader of the gang’ so to speak and is the most sensible/sane of the three clergymen.

FATHER DOUGAL MAGUIRE (Ardal O’Hanlon)
Dougal is the ‘dippy’ one. If the guy had a brain he would be extremely dangerous! He comes out with the most hilarious one liners.

FATHER JACK HACKETT (Frank Kelly)
Jack is an old and scruffy, he could probably survive on the food stuck in his beard for well over a week! He is usually pissed and has a very restricted vocabulary, his main words being fek, drink and girls!

MRS DOYLE (Pauline McLynn)
Mrs Doyle is housekeeper of the parochial house and is definitley my favourite character. She is constantly trying to force tea down the neck of anyone within a 12 mile radius! Anyone daring to decline her offer of tea is told that they will, they will, they will, they will, they will, they will have a cup of tea!!

The story lines are very original and the show itself extremely funny. In my opinion, the following are some of the best episodes:

SONG FOR EUROPE
Father Ted wants to enter the "Eurosong Contest". He and Dougal write new words for a Norwegian song and try to pass it off as their own work. The song is entitled "My Lovely Horse" and the lyrics are hilarious.

CIGARETTES AND ALCOHOL AND ROLLERBLADING
Father Ted has decided to give up smoking for lent and Father Dougal has given up rollerblading. Father Jack has been forced to give up his beloved drink. These sacrifices prove to be difficult for them to cope with, so Ted calls in the services of Sister Assumpta to supervise their self-sacrifice. She proves to be extremely sadistic.

SPEED 3
Pat Mustard, the Craggy Island milkman, is sacked. Father Dougal decides to take over his milk round. To gain revenge Pat plants a bomb under the milk float which will explode unless Dougal can keep the float moving at speeds greater than 4 miles per hour.

I could go on forever here but have decided to limit myself to just a few episodes. I never thought I would enjoy this show until I caught the end of an episode, I was soon hooked! The characters are all great. It’s just a shame that there will be no more new episodes as Dermot Morgan died suddenly from a heart attack shortly after the third series was filmed. Still, the show is often repeated on Channel 4 and is also available on video.