Bless Me, Father

Bless Me, Father
Title screen of Series 1
Genre	Comedy
Written by	Peter de Rosa
Directed by	David Askey
Starring	Arthur Lowe Daniel Abineri Gabrielle Daye Patrick McAlinney
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	21
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	London Weekend Television
Release
Original network	ITV
Picture format	4:3 (576i)
Original release	24 September 1978 (1978-09-24) – 16 August 1981 (1981-08-16)

Bless Me, Father is a British sitcom starring Arthur Lowe, Daniel Abineri, Gabrielle Daye, Patrick McAlinney, David Ryall, and Sheila Keith. It was aired on ITV from 1978 until 1981 and described the adventures of an Irish Catholic priest, Father Charles Duddleswell (Lowe) and his young curate (Abineri) in the fictional parish of St. Jude's in suburban London. Twenty-one episodes, written by Peter De Rosa (who had previously been a novice curate), were aired. De Rosa wrote the books on which the series was based using the pseudonym of Neil Boyd which was also the name of the young curate character; Boyd also served as the narrator in the series of novels upon which the series was based. It was made for the ITV network by London Weekend Television.

The series was set in 1950 and 1951 and marked a departure from the middle class "bank manager" roles associated with Lowe such as that in Dad's Army. The other regular characters included Mrs Pring (Daye), the housekeeper, the hard-drinking Dr Daley (McAlinney), the non-religious neighbour Billy Buzzle (Ryall), and abbess Reverend Mother Stephen (Keith).

Guest appearances on the series include Derek Francis, Phoebe Nicholls, Daniel Gerroll, Peter Bowles, Clive Swift, Rynagh O'Grady, Michael Troughton, Geoffrey Palmer and Peter Copley.