The Britcompilation: Day 20- Father Ted

I spent some time deciding on if this was a Britcom or not. I mean, with an Irish setting and an Irish cast, the only British thing about it is the network, Channel 4. In the end, I decided to count it, because I do think it's a key sitcom. Essentially it's about the hapless priests of Craggy Island. It was made by Graham Linehan, who I just love. This guy is one of the sharpest, funniest writers in television, and while I actually think that Father Ted isn't quite as good as some of his other shows, I do think that it's a really good watch.

So the plot follows the mishaps of three priests, Ted, Dougal and Jack. Each of them was sent to Craggy Island for a specific incident in their past. And the show just follows them from there, along with the housekeeper Mrs Doyle. The series really gets a lot out of these characters, and the situations that they're in are often fuelled by their ineptitudes and quirks, and like the best of Linehan's stuff, the situations get needlessly complicated, which of course makes everything so much funnier. 

Linehan excels at painfully awkward comic setpieces, and there's a fair few of those in Father Ted. Like that incredible racism episode. The show as a whole massively benefits from the simple likeability of it's cast and the strange genius of it's setups. The show has that Linehan magic, where basic problems become huge and impossibly awkward. I don't think it has the acid of Black Books, or the quirkiness of The I.T. Crowd, but there is a simple charm to Father Ted that allows it to hold up nicely. I can see why it's held in such high regard by so many people. Because like all of his series, the simple situations often generate the strangest and most awkward moments of genius. And I think that the stuff in Father Ted is perhaps the simplest of his stuff, but also mines some really good stuff from it's setups. It's one that I can really see why it's beloved by many, and I think it was the first indication that Graham Linehan is a true genius, and trust me, we haven't seen the last of Mr. Linehan....