Why Does Father Ted Hold Such a Timeless Appeal?

Writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews were looking to create a sitcom which combined the chaos of The Young Ones with the hilarity of Fawlty Towers. They succeeded.

Both men had been raised against a background of Irish Catholicism. Arthur's uncle was a priest, who frequently invited other priests into the family circle. The writer watched scenes like those depicted in his sitcom unfold every day.

For all of that, Father Ted wasn't really about Catholicism. Nor about the priesthood. It could have been any three men living together, surrounded by a bizarre community. They could have been police officers, farmers, accountants (with money just resting in at least one account) or students. Though the latter would have been too much like The Young Ones.

Irish Catholicism and the fact that they were priests was merely a framework. Never once, in the whole series, did you actually have to know a thing about either in order to enjoy the jokes. I watched it as a British Pagan and laughed along with the rest.

In short, the appeal was universal, even as the setting was unequivocally Irish. That's a huge part of why Father Ted was - and remains - successful. But the number one reason is that it is simply a very, very funny show.

_{Image: Father Ted Mural in Dublin's Temple Bar snapped by William Murphy.}

In the best tradition of The Young Ones, Linehan and Mathews opted for characters that were often quite two-dimensional. Yet hilarious in whatever aspect drove them to the fore.

This was quite deliberate. We saw the world of Craggy Island largely through the eyes of Father Ted Crilly (an extremely rounded character), and it's a foible of human nature to concentrate solely on the most overt characteristics of the individuals around us.

Therefore Father Jack Hackett was reduced to being a vile, sadistic, drunken old school priest ('of the sort that our fathers knew...' according to Graham Linehan) capable only of seeking alcohol, and uttering his catchphrase words, 'Feck! Girls! Drink!'  Father Dougal was stupid. Mrs Doyle pressed tea upon everyone constantly with all the determination of a heroin pusher. Bishop Brennan was terrifying. Father Noel was hyperactive. Father Jessup was 'the most sarcastic priest in Ireland'.

As much of the humor that came in exploiting those single characteristics, there was even more to be had in the hints of a fuller personality in the background. All the things that Father Ted didn't see, or else willfully ignored, had great capacity for hilarity behind his back.

For example, John and Mary O'Leary were there to poke fun at people who always pretended everything was alright in front of priests. It was the hypocrisy that made them amusing - especially since we all do something similar, if not with priests then with the neighbors, or our boss, or family members. But most of all, it was the fact that Ted genuinely appeared to not notice the things that were patently there for all to notice. It would have been too awkward to do so. And that's all part of the etiquette of polite society too.

In this way, Father Ted held a dark mirror up to 'civilized' behavior and showed us all something unsavory about our blinkered world. That's the job of great comedy, with the laughter often landing in the slight sense of unease thus engendered. We might not even realize precisely why we're laughing, but we do so anyway.

Linehan and Mathews did that in Father Ted with aplomb, and by focusing on human interactions - rather than political satire etc. - they ensured that the gags are as relevant twenty years on, as they were at the time.

_{Image: Father Jack Hackett screenshot by Insomnia Cured Here.}

Linehan and Mathews plundered dozens of cliches, codes and Things We Just Do, then turned them on their heads for laughs. Once you see them played out - despite the reality probably being standard in every household watching - they all become utterly audacious.

The old joke about every baby being fathered by the milkman is quite literally restaged, when every baby on Craggy Island IS sired by Pat Mustard. The lecherous nature of beauty contests is awkwardly enacted in the Lovely Girls Competition.

Social scares are held up in all their hyperbole, when the theft of a whistle swiftly escalates into everyone buying guns and fearing the breakdown of society. Blindly following the pronouncements of authority figures is shown in all its unthinking stupidity, when Farmer Colm asks if they all have to be racist, now that Father Ted is assumed to be so (only he doesn't know how he'll fit the racism in between the farm work and chilling out in the evenings, but he will try...).

Nor are those seeking to save the world exempt from caricature. Niamh Connolly (obviously based on Sinead O'Connor) is portrayed as a rather short-sighted and shallow celebrity, despite her scathing Feminist pronouncements. While Ted and Dougal's attempt at a protest has become one of THE epic moments in the show, reproduced endlessly in real world protests, even decades later.

On the whole subject of parents worrying about their kids showing them up in public, I heard a cute anecdote about the making of Father Ted.

Graham Linehan's mother heard that her boy was making a sitcom poking fun at the Irish clergy. It worried her. She read the script, then turned up on set to watch some of the filming. Then she spoke with every one of the actors individually.

'Is it funny?' Mrs Linehan mithered, becoming more and more reassured as the likes of Dermot Morgan and Ardal O'Hanlon assured her that it was most definitely funny. After all, they were stand up comedians, on the television, they'd know.

Only then did she get off Graham's back and switch to proudly supporting his show. I could so imagine that being my mother, or indeed any Irish or British mother in the history of the Isles. Careful Now is practically etched into all that we say and do!  (And if Mrs Linehan should be reading, let me add my voice to the rest - 'Your Graham's doing great! Father Ted and The IT Crowd were both very funny. It's all good.')

However, not everyone was as easily appeased. During the run of the first season of Father Ted, Graham Linehan found himself on the current events talk show Right to Reply having to defend his sitcom.

A second generation Irish lady from Manchester, England, wasn't impressed. She thought that Father Ted didn't so much tap into cultural norms as propagate negative stereotypes as if they were truths. The racist image of a drunken, stupid Irishman found cheap expression in Father Jack and Father Dougal. The thieving Gael was right there in Father Ted himself.

How could she raise her child to be proud of her Irish heritage, when the Irish were being portrayed in this manner?

Born and bred in Dublin, Graham Linehan was contemptuous. He asked her whether the Irish had to be denied the opportunity to laugh at themselves? And whether their culture, history and traditions were so fragile, that they couldn't stand the comedic self-analysis? In short, the very notion of trying to sanctify a white-washed national identity was itself the quickest way to erode all that it was to be Irish.

On the whole, it seemed that the public agreed with him.

However, Linehan has recently admitted that Father Ted couldn't have been made today, or at least not in the same fashion. The specter of abuse in the Catholic church couldn't be ignored in such a sitcom, but its inclusion would have darkened things way past the point of humor.

The debate raged long and hard. Was this bureaucracy gone mad? Was this the planning department justifying its existence by being awkward? Or were they heroes for championing the rights of the Irish people inconvenienced by such stagings?  What about the rights of concert-goers, who purchased their tickets in good faith?  Is Dublin over-governed? Should we always capitulate, when an international celebrity wants to do something?  Will Ireland get in trouble for causing a fuss?

In the midst of the long and intense debate, someone had simply posted, 'Is there anything to be said for saying another mass?'

It was a Father Ted quotation, as applicable in matters of high government as another was to react to the rain falling on the Glastonbury Festival. My quotation was an expression meaning, 'I respectfully disagree with the turn of events'. They had chosen one which translated, in Ted parlance, to 'are we absolutely certain we've explored every avenue of possible solution here?'

Father Ted is eminently quotable. There are whole lists devoted to the fact that there's at least one line from the show, which can be employed in any given scenario that you care to mention.

I think this accounts, in very large part, to why Father Ted has enjoyed such an enduing appeal. If we're all still quoting it, on a daily basis, then we're also reminding our peers of the show's existence. I returned from Glastonbury to watch all three seasons, one after another, then I wrote this Wizzle, all because a quotation put Ted firmly back onto my radar.

Now, will anyone be wanting another cup of tea? Ah! Go on! Go on! Go on! Go on!