feckin' marvelous (Father Ted)

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Product:	Father Ted
Date:	16/04/01 (9 review reads)
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Advantages: characters

Disadvantages: channel 4 picture quality

I personally do love this programme. It is an all time favourite of mine. The whole cast consists of four characters, Father Ted Crilly (Dermot Morgan) who is the sensible one out of the lot of them, Father Dougal McGuire (Ardal O’ Hanlon) who is the complete opposite, he is the more immature one and usually doesn’t have a clue what is going on around him, he kind of has his own little world. Then there is Father Jack Hackett (Frank Kelly) who is the alcoholic priest on the island who isn’t interested in God at all he prefers girls and drink. Then last of all there is Mrs. Doyle (Pauline McLynn) who is the crazy housekeeper who just serves tea all day long and cleans the house. The whole cast live in a Parochial House on an island called Craggy Island just off the West Coast of Mainland island.

I have various episodes that feature on different videos as different chapters. The first I have is called SERIES ONE – THE OPENING CHAPTERS consisting of “Good Luck Father Ted” In which Ted gets the chance to appear on ‘Faith of our Fathers’ the prestigious Eirean television show. Could this be opportunity for him to find television stardom and escape from Craggy Island? Sadly no. Father Dougal and Father Jack and the arrival of Funland – The world’s worst funfair, frustrate his best efforts, and some of his worst.

Entertaining Father Stone is all about a priest who has been coming to stay with Ted for the summer for the last six years, which is at least seven years too long for Ted. He tries everything to get rid of him but when a bolt of lightning strikes Father Stone, he becomes equally desperate to get him back.

The Passion of St. Tibulus is a bit of a bore I think. It is about a controversial movie “The Passion of St, Tibulus” that has been banned by the Pope but through some loophole, is being shown on Craggy Island. So Bishop Brennan pleads Ted and Dougal to get the fi
lm withdrawn from the cinema. As a result of their protest, it becomes the most successful film in the cinema’s history.

SERIES ONE – THE CLOSING CHAPTERS

This video consists of three great episodes, the first is called ‘Competition Time’, in this one it is the All Priests Look-a-like Competition and Henry Sellers is coming to stay with Ted as he is the judge for the competition. Ted is determined to defeat Father Dick Burn of Rugged Island for the first time. So out goes Mother Theresa for one year and in comes Elvis, the only trouble is that Dougal and Jack have both got their heart set on going as Elvis. Ted has a plan and Henry Sellers has an unfortunate sip of sherry.

The second episode is called ‘And God Created Woman’ in which author of the steamy ‘Bejeweled with Kisses’ (Polly Clarke) comes to stay on the island and Ted mistakenly believes she is attracted to him. Will it be glamour, bright lights and excitement for Ted, or does Polly have other plans.

‘Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest’ is a great episode in which Jack consumes more floor polish than his body can handle and sadly passes away, but leaves Ted and Dougal half a million pounds. But will he stay dead long enough for them to get it.

THE SECOND SERMON – CHAPTER ONE

This video has three episodes again, the first one called ‘Hell’ and in this one it is time for the Fathers’ annual holiday. But plans for a fun packed fortnight go away when a suspicious couple, an over-excitable youth group and a lot of rain conspire to turn the trip into a Dante-esque experience.

In ‘Think Fast Father Ted’, Ted himself prangs the car given to them by Bishop Brennan as a raffle prize to get money to fix their roof. When some amateur bodywork goes horribly wrong, Ted, Dougal and Jack are forced to borrow an exact look-a-like of the car from the dancing priest Father Li
am Finneghan. But how are they going to get it back when someone wins the raffle? Once again Ted has a plan, but will it work.

In this episode ‘Tentacles of Doom’ Ted receives word that the Holy Stone of Clonrichert, Craggy Islands most popular religious knick-knack, is being upgraded to a class II relic. When three Bishops arrive to perform the solemn ceremony, Ted is determined that Dougal and Jack be on their best behavior. However, a crisis of faith, a faulty toilet and an over bending Bishop result in death, destruction and horror.

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