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Father Larry Duff


Father Ted is a sitcom produced by independent production company Hat Trick Productions for British broadcaster Channel 4, running for three series and a special from 21 April 1995 until 1 May 1998 over 25 episodes. The main characters comprised Father Ted Crilly (Dermot Morgan) and his fellow priests Father Dougal McGuire (Ardal O'Hanlon) and Father Jack Hackett (Frank Kelly), all exiled on Craggy Island living together with the fourth main character, housekeeper Mrs Doyle (Pauline McLynn). All four actors appeared from the first to the last episodes, from "Good Luck, Father Ted" to "Going to America". Pauline McLynn also played a nun in "Flight Into Terror", in which Mrs Doyle appears only briefly.

Father Ted Crilly, played by Dermot Morgan is a morally dubious Roman Catholic priest exiled to Craggy Island, due to suspicion of Ted stealing a child's Lourdes money to fund his own trip to Las Vegas.

Father Dougal McGuire, played by Ardal O'Hanlon, is a childlike, simple-minded Catholic priest exiled to Craggy Island as punishment for unknown misdeeds. It is unclear how Dougal entered the priesthood, with Ted wondering, "Dougal, how did you get into the Church? Was it, like, collect twelve crisp packets and become a priest?"

Father Jack Hackett, played by Frank Kelly, is an elderly, senile, decrepit, foul-mouthed, insane, ill-tempered, lecherous alcoholic priest who frequently lapses into violent behaviour, particularly when his fellow clergy deny him drink or try to remove him from his armchair, where he is usually found asleep. Left irrevocably damaged by his life of sloth, lechery and alcohol abuse, he rarely speaks in a coherent manner, instead expressing himself through a series of random shouted words (i.e., "FECK!", "ARSE!", "WHAT", "DRINK!" and "GIRLS!"). He regards Father Ted Crilly, Father Dougal McGuire and Bishop Brennan with undisguised contempt, although he seems to be more tolerant of Mrs Doyle; possibly because she has a fond maternal affection for him and frequently lavishes him with drink. However, when she once offered him a cup of tea, he was outraged and hurled the cup at her head. He is hinted as being mentally defective as shown when Ted calms him by showing him the colour blue or puts him to sleep by placing a box on his head. Despite this, he has been said to have executed careful plans such as hitting Ted with a car or placing a spider in his mouth (and in the episode "Flight Into Terror", where he had the intelligence to escape a bad situation while the other priests were debating about it). Ted often treats him with an over-generous level of respect, possibly because of his length of service (or out of fear of his wrath).


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