Father Ted

Also appearing regularly in the series are various parishioners, including shop-owners Mary and John who, whilst striving to appear sweetness and light to the clergy, are in reality at each other's throats.

Another is Tom, a homicidal maniac with a polite tone to friends. He also wears a T-shirt on which he claims 'I shot JR' (a reference to Dallas, an American soap opera).

Other characters to appear frequently include the extremely enthusiastic Father Noel Furlong (Graham Norton) and his reluctant St Luke's Youth Group, who turn up in uncompromising places such as a tiny caravan and a dark cave. Father Noel occasionally turns up on his own, for example on a plane with a lack of fuel. Also recurring is Father Larry Duff, an unlucky priest whom Ted claims is 'tremendous fun' around others, though whenever Ted calls him on his mobile phone, he suffers some horrible accident yet always reappears unharmed in a subsequent episode (much like Kenny McCormick in the animated series South Park). These events include car and skiing accidents, a disastrous donkey derby, a very painful mishap with a stapler, an unlucky incident with a Knife throwing, and being savaged by a dozen Rottweiler dogs.

Although superficially about Catholic priests, the show actually deals with many different situations, often using the church as a microcosm of the whole of society, so including dishonest, corrupt and insane priests and nuns. This last detail has led to the show being criticised as anti-Catholic, though most Catholics do not take such accusations seriously and many count themselves fans of the programme.

The show also invented many catchphrases, most notably Mrs Doyle's "Go on, go on" and Father Jack's cursing, with short words including, and usually limited to, "Drink!" "Feck!" "Arse!" and "Girls!" Dougal could also be heard saying 'Ah right, yeah...' when agreeing with a statement, although this was not seen as such a popular catchphrase as the other two. The word 'feck' is assumed in the UK simply to be an inoffensive, made-up substitute for a taboo word for intercourse. Such a cagey neologism would seem to be part of a long line of made-up profanities in British sitcoms, like 'naff' in Porridge and 'smeg' in Red Dwarf. However, as in the examples given, 'feck' was not invented by the creators and has in fact long been used widely in vernacular speech in Ireland. Its use in Ireland is offensive; but while it seems to be just a corruption of the 'f-word', it is not a precise synonym, and none of its common usages in Ireland includes intercourse. The word's strength is debatable.

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. Nevertheless, it is a rich irony that what went on to be one of the most popular TV shows in Ireland, performed by a largely Irish cast, and containing so many accurate (albeit comically exaggerated) depictions of national eccentricities, was paid for and shot by a British broadcaster. Somewhat controversially, RTÉ initially did not buy the rights to broadcast the show in Ireland, perhaps for fear of offending more conservative viewers. However, Channel 4 is available on cable in very many Irish homes and the show became a hit in Ireland without any help from RTÉ, who eventually responded to the obvious demand and broadcast the show themselves.

The theme tune for the series was the song "Songs of Love", written and performed by The Divine Comedy. The band also contributed the ridiculous "My Lovely Horse" song used in the episode "Song for Europe".

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. Just after the completion of Series 3, Dermot Morgan died of a heart attack, aged 45. As a result, series 3 was first broadcast a week later than originally planned, out of respect for Morgan. Both the writers and co-stars agree that the third series was always intended to be the last, despite Morgan's sudden death.

List of episodes

Series 1

1. "Good Luck, Father Ted" - A film crew offers to interview Ted. He wants to make sure they don't meet the other two.
2. "Entertaining Father Stone" - The most boring priest in the world, Father Stone, pays his annual visit to Craggy Island. The title is a pun on Entertaining Mr Sloane.
3. "The Passion Of St Tibulus" - Bishop Brennan orders the priests to ensure a blasphemous sexually explicit film being shown on the island is a failure.
4. "Competition Time" - Ted, Dougal and Jack all plan to appear in the All-priests Stars in Their Eyes lookalike contest. Ted is particularly keen to beat his arch-enemy, Father Dick Byrne of Rugged Island.
5. "And God Created Woman" - Ted finds himself falling for a steamy novelist. The title is taken from And God Created Woman.
6. "Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest" - Father Jack dies after consuming a bottle of floor cleaner.
   

   Series 2

7. "Hell" - Ted, Dougal and Jack take their annual holiday and encounter Father Noel (played by Graham Norton).
8. "Think Fast, Father Ted" - When Ted holds a raffle, he destroys the prize - a new car.
9. "Tentacles Of Doom" - Three Bishops visit the island. A worried Ted gives Jack elocution lessons beforehand.
10. "The Old Grey Whistle Theft" - Dougal starts hanging around with a rebelious priest, Father Damo Lennon. Meanwhile a valuable whistle is stolen. The title is a pun on the BBC music show The Old Grey Whistle Test.
11. "Song For Europe" - Ted is goaded by Father Dick Byrne into attempting to write a song for the Eurovision Song Contest.
12. "The Plague" - The parochial house is infested by rabbits, just as the very rabbit-phobic Bishop Brennan plans a visit.
13. "Rock-a-Hula Ted" - A feminist singer visits the island just when Ted is judging the annual lovely girls competition.
14. "Cigarettes And Alcohol And Rollerblading" - In a game of one-upmanship with Dick Byrne, Ted decides the three priests must give something up for Lent. The title is taken from that of an Oasis song, 'Cigarettes and Alcohol'.
15. "New Jack City" - Jack's hairy hands get him sent to an old priests' home. Unfortunately his replacement is even worse. The title is taken from the movie New Jack City.
16. "Flight Into Terror" - A flight back from a pilgrimage runs out of fuel and there are only two parachutes.
    

    Christmas special

• "A Christmassy Ted" - Ted's quick thinking whilst lost in a department store's lingerie department earns him the coveted Golden Cleric award. So why doesn't he feel happy? At the time this hour-long episode was first shown, it attracted the then highest audience viewing figures for Channel 4.
  

  Series 3