Father Ted

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.!"

How anyone can fault this remarkably funny sitcom is utterly beyond me. The comedy ranges from the most crude to the superiorly intelligent. I particularly like Dougal's (Ardal O'Hannon) take on the death of Kurt Cobain, offensive as it was.

There is nothing to dislike about this; the characters are lovable (especially Dougal), they're hilarious and it is the most Irish humour possible. It's a big pity this show was not as renowned around the globe as it was in Ireland.

Eleven out of ten, just for showing us how unsophisticated comedy can win over every time.

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.

'Father Ted' came out during a period when I seldom watched TV, so it was purely by accident that I happened to catch an episode whilst at my parent's place. At first I thought it was going to be a fairly typical middle-of-the-road British sitcom, but it soon became evident that this veneer of normalcy was a Trojan horse, allowing in the show's pointed satire of The Catholic Church, and its wonderful, off-the-wall surrealism, mostly supplied by the young Father Dougal, some of whose utterances had me almost literally in tears.

Take this dialog, when the islanders are convinced that some kind of monster is prowling 'the moors', taking sheep.

"They say it's as big as four cats, and it's got a retractable leg so as it can leap up at you better and you know what Ted, it lights up at night, and it's got four ears. Two of them are for listening and the other two are kind of back-up ears, and it's claws are as big as cups and for some reason it's got a tremendous fear of stamps and Mrs. Doyle was tellin' me that it's got magnets on it's tail so as if you're made out of metal it can attach itself to you, and instead of a mouth it's got four arses. "

Needless to say, after that, as a fan of the British surrealist tradition, I was hooked, and soon learned to love the other characters and the show as a whole.

Perhaps what makes it so great is that it managed to combine satire and surrealism with other more conventional comic styles which appealed to my parent's generation (my mother is 71 and loved the show).

If there was a finer sitcom to come out of the UK in the 90's, I don't know what it is. But then, I probably wouldn't.

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.