Padre Ted

Never has there been a comedy series like this and never will there be one like this again. I've never been an avid fan of Father Ted (don't know why) but as a person who doesn't watch that much television anymore this certainly gives me an excuse to turn the tv on and be entertained. Has done for years. Extremely unique and funny i would gladly sit down and watch a Father Ted marathon and watch every episode back to back. What is rare for a tv programme/movie is that i actually havn't met a single person who dislikes Father Ted! My favourite episode is the one where the whistle gets stolen. Fantastic. Shame there will be no more series but thank ourselves lucky they made three fantastic series. An all time great.

The day I moved to Ireland, I didn't know I was about to discover one of the greatest comedy series of all times as "Father Ted" certainly is!

The basic plot in itself is amazingly simple, a stroke of genius: three "peculiar" priests and a housekeeper in an island off the Irish West coast. It's unbelievable how much fun, irony, satire, surreal humour and great characters can come out of so little. And if you are of Catholic extraction, the fun is even greater (we all have met a Dougal, a Ted or a Jack at some stage...)

It's even too hard for me to pick a favourite episode: Ted and Dougal entering the "EuroVision Song Contest" with the excellent pop hit (and video clip) "My lovely horse"? Ted is believed a racist by the islanders and organises a great multi-cultural event? Dougal becomes a milkman only to discover that his life is in danger at Speed 3? Father Stone comes for a visit and for playing a bit of mini-golf? "The Passion of St. Tibulus" is being shown at the local cinema? Cigarettes, drink and rollerblades are given up for Lent? Bishop Len Brennan is kicked up the arse? Impossible to decide.

I would recommend to anyone buying the complete series 1, 2 and 3 as they come out in DVD. You can watch "Father Ted" over and over and still laugh your head off.

One of my favourite quotes:

Dougal: "Ted, was Jack really dead? How could he come back to life?"

Ted: "I don't know, Dougal. I'd say he's resurrected from the grave...Like that fella...what's he called...E.T.!"

This is one of the best things to come out of Ireland since U2. Dermot Morgan plays Fr. Ted Crilly, a priest on Craggy Island which is supposedly off the west coast of Ireland somewhere. However, Ardal O'Hanlon who plays Fr. Dougal Mc Guire and Frank Kelly who plays Fr. Jack Hackett, steal all the shows as far as I'm concerned.

Graham Norton appears frequently throughout the series as Fr. Noel Furlong. He is very funny and my favourite episode of the series is Hell. This is where we meet Fr. Furlong for the first time. Ted goes on holidays to a caravan and he is already there with some youngsters from a youth club.

Some great one liners that will remain in the Irish psyche for a long time to come. "Drink, girls, arse, feck", the immortal words of Fr. Jack for example. You are missing out if you haven't seen this series. Rent it out today or buy it. It is definitely worth buying the series on tape. Feckin brilliant.

Father Ted still ranks as one of the best sitcoms ever made, it is three series of the most glorious, zany, scream out loud comedy ever made.

Whenever I think of Morgan's tragic death I always get so incredibly sad, it's one of those shows that needed to go on, go on, go on, go on......

What can I say that hasn't been said before? I'll try something a bit different, whenever I feel sad or down I reach for this show, and within minutes I'm back to myself, such is the power of comedy here.

I love each of the characters, but there was just something about Father Jack Hackett, he didn't need to speak, he just had an air of comedy about him.

Speed three, Are you right there Father Ted and Hell are three favourites, but genuinely they're all classics.

Will there ever be a show that's so funny?

Thanks for the laughter Father Ted, 10/10.

Where to begin in praise of Father Ted? This hilarious Irish comedy about three dysfunctional priests and their crazy tea-obsessed housekeeper came from nowhere to light up the Channel 4 schedules in 1995. Then it was critically slammed but gained a viewer following right from episode one, where Dougal thought a spider baby was real.

Episodes to come featured boring Father Paul, mad Father Noel, gloating Father Dick Byrne, accident-prone Father Larry, and the permanently bewildered Bishop Brennan. But it was the core quartet of characters that kept you watching - Father Ted himself, the much missed Dermot Morgan; drunken and obscene Father Jack, Frank Kelly; vacant Father Dougal, Ardal O'Hanlon (who hasn't done much of interest since - 'My Hero' was awful); and Mrs Doyle, Pauline McLynn.

Too many happy moments to list here but if you haven't seen this, prepare for a laugh. Life is never without incident on Craggy Island!