Dishonourably exiled on the island by Bishop Leonard Brennan (Jim Norton) for various reasons, the priests live together in the parochial house with their housekeeper Mrs Doyle (Pauline McLynn).

[1][2][3] Father Ted won several British Academy Television Awards—including twice for Best Comedy Series, and remains a popular sitcom in Ireland and the UK.

[4] In 2019, Father Ted was named the second-greatest British sitcom (after Fawlty Towers) by a panel of comedy experts for Radio Times.

[5] The show follows the misadventures of three Irish Roman Catholic priests who live in a parish on the fictional Craggy Island, located off the west coast of Ireland.

They scripted an episode centring on a priest named Father Ted Crilly, who visits his friends in the seminary in Maynooth College.

[8][10] We wanted to make an Irish sitcom with all the insanity of The Young Ones, and the cleverness of Blackadder, and the farce elements of Fawlty Towers.

Mathews was originally intended to play Ted, but decided he lacked the acting ability the role required.

Maurice O'Donoghue, who plays Father Dick in the series, was their second choice for the role of Ted, being the right age and having a similar look and lightness.

The show was pitched directly to the UK's Hat Trick Productions and Channel 4 by the duo, contrary to rumours that RTÉ (the Irish national broadcaster) were originally offered the series but rejected it.

In addition, Morgan and O'Hanlon hosted an hour of Comic Relief in character, during which Kelly and McLynn also made brief guest appearances.

"[14] Following Morgan's death, the production company received calls from numerous agents and casting directors suggesting either new actors for the role of Ted or spin-offs without the character; Linehan and Mathews declined all offers.

When Pulp said no, they contacted Neil Hannon, frontman of Northern Irish chamber pop band The Divine Comedy.

This theme was recorded by Hannon and co-producer Darren Allison at The Jesus and Mary Chain's private studio.

Some exterior shots for the episode "And God Created Woman" were filmed in Dún Laoghaire, South County Dublin.

The opening sequence (including shots of the Plassy shipwreck) were filmed over Inisheer — the smallest of the Aran Islands.

The series is set in a humorously surreal world in which Ted is the only fully rounded normal character among "caricatures", according to Graham Linehan: "exaggerated-over-friendly, over-quiet, over-stupid, over-dull [...] they really only got one thing, they've got one job.

[24] Arthur Mathews has described Seinfeld as a major influence on the comedy of Father Ted, with himself and Linehan being "big fans" of the show.

[35] Notable fans of the show include director Steven Spielberg, musicians Liam Gallagher, Madonna, Cher and Moby, actors Jim Carrey and Steve Martin, comedian Ricky Gervais, and wrestler Sheamus.

In August 2020 An Post released a set of commemorative postage stamps, each with a catchphrase from the series on a background of the parochial house's lurid wallpaper, in a booklet listing Mrs Doyle's guesses for the name of Father Todd Unctious.

[49][50] In 2001, Pauline McLynn reprised her role as Mrs Doyle in a run of advertisements for the UK's Inland Revenue, reminding people to get their taxes in on time with her catchphrase from the programme ("Go on, go on, go on...").

[54] In 2014, guest star Ben Keaton returned to the role of Father Austin Purcell, performing a stand-up routine and hosting the pub quiz "Arse Biscuits" in-character.

[57] In February 2016, Over The Top Wrestling marked the anniversary of Morgan's death with "Ah Ted", an event held in Dublin's Tivoli Variety Theatre.

[58] In 2017, Rooney appeared as Father Damo in the video for Brave Giant's "The Time I Met the Devil", which follows him on the way to give Mass after a night of alcohol and sex.

Norton was cast based on his popularity with American audiences, and in reference to his appearance as Father Noel Furlong in the original series.

American actor John Michael Higgins was cast as Ted, but expressed concerns about the show's religious themes: "The English have a very robust history of being unkind about religion.

[63] In an interview with Radio Times in January 2015, Linehan said that he wanted to revive Father Ted as a musical stage production.

He stated that he would never revive the television series, "because of the risk you poison people's memories of the original", but that the completely new format would make the project worthwhile.

He said that the musical would have to reference the Catholic child abuse scandals, saying, "The jokes would have to have a little bit more edge, because you just can't ignore this stuff."

[65] In April 2017, Linehan said that the musical would draw inspiration from The Book of Mormon, and would "go for the jugular ... You get all the things people loved about it, all the innocence and all the sweetness, but introduce a harder edge."

Linehan also said that, being a special event, the musical would need to focus on a "world-shaking" story, possibly with Ted becoming Pope due to "some weird succession thing".