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Father Ted - The Complete 1st Series [1995]
![Father Ted - The Complete 1st Series [1995]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51E5CVMWE3L._SL160_.jpg)
The first series opens with "Good Luck, Father Ted" as we learn just how dreary life on Craggy Island really is when Funland arrives (which boasts such attractions as Freak Pointing and the Spinning Cat!). Everyone's patience is tested further when "Entertaining Father Stone"--quite possibly the most boring man on Earth--in the second episode. Proving bad publicity can be good publicity, Ted and Dougal then accidentally manage to attract audiences to the blasphemous film "The Passion of St Tibulus". Their ingenuity is tested to the limit in "Competition Time" as they become "The Three Ages of Elvis". Dermot Morgan's Ted is at his most sympathetic in "And God Created Women" when he gets the wrong end of the stick about the intentions of romantic novelist Polly Clarke. Then, lastly, in " Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest", everyone rallies round at Father Jack's "funeral" to reminisce about what a fine priest and good-natured fellow he was! These six episodes made for a wonderful series debut; catchphrases were born ("Drink!"), as were regular characters (Jim Norton's sinister Bishop Brennan); and like Mrs Doyle's ever-wandering facial mole, audiences wanted it to "go on go on go on". On the DVD: the only extra is an exceedingly self-deprecatory commentary from co-writer Graham Linehan, who explains the origins of the characters and how he wrote in collaboration with Arthur Matthews. He frequently and hilariously compares himself with others (chiefly Mel Brooks on Young Frankensteinand The Producers). Fans will be delighted to hear many jokes that nearly made it into the show, but will undoubtedly end up somewhere else! --Paul Tonks
RRP: £19.99
Our Price: £6.97 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
From its very beginning in 1995, Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews' affable sitcom Father Ted occupied a previously undiscovered niche in TV comedy: by turns endearing and surreal, it was always effortlessly hilarious. Ted's the almost normal one, fighting the good fight to keep his sanity amid the chaos of his own household, where he lives with "poor idiot boy" Father Dougal, psychotically devoted housekeeper Mrs Doyle and foul-mouthed Father Jack, who doesn't need an excuse to hit the bottle (or smash one over someone's head) in any episode and whose vocabulary consists of just three immortal words: "Drink, Feck, Girls!"
Always a good laugh.
Review date: 2007-10-28 Rating: 10 out of 10
I'd never seen this when it was on tv, but it was given as a present to me. Didn't look like my kind of thing but then I finally got round to watching it and it really tickled me. It's not just the scripts or ridiculous situations, it's the small mannerisms and quick looks which give the characters such depth. I've watched it a few times over this year and have all the other series as well. If you haven't seen it, or find the prospect of a group of priests in the back of beyond to seem dull, please give it a chance. It's worth it!!!
Similar Products
- Father Ted - Series 2 - Part 1 [1995]
- Father Ted - Series 2 - Part 2 [1995]
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- Father Ted : The Very Best Of Father Ted [1995]
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Reviews
Laughed till my a@$* fell off!
Review date: 2007-09-19 Rating: 10 out of 10
How many sitcoms make you laugh out loud constantly? Not many I'd wager but this one does and every episode does.
If you don't laugh at this consult an undertaker as there's a good chance you're dead!
FANTASTIC
Review date: 2006-01-12 Rating: 10 out of 10
This entire series is absolutely fantastic, pure classic comedy. I first watched it when I was at University which was about 10 years ago, but I still love every single episode. It's just funny. Funny. You should also check out other work by the same writers "Black Books" which is also very good although perhaps not as excellent as Father Ted.
Wretched
Review date: 2005-12-30 Rating: 2 out of 10
I must admit first off that I only watched the beginning episode on this DVD before cutting my losses and packing it in. My wife viewed perhaps the first ten minutes before deciding that washing the dishes was a better time investment.
The Irish isle of Craggy Island is home to three priests in this BBC comedy mini-series. I use the term "comedy" loosely. There's Father Ted (Dermot Morgan) and his young assistant, Father Dougal Maguire (Ardal O'Hanlon), whose chief duty appears to be caring for the previous parish pastor, the aged Father Jack Hackett (Frank Kelly). In the first episode, at least, Fr. Jack's role is limited to sitting drunk, insensate, or simply in the throes of senile dementia in his favorite chair, aroused only long enough to throw empty booze bottles at the television, drool uncontrollably at the memory of young, Catholic-school girls long past, or shout incoherent deprecations at Father Dougal. Dougal, on the other hand, has the mind and mannerisms of a silly adolescent. Compared to these two, Father Ted is so normal as to be boring. The plot of this first episode also involves the host of a national television broadcast coming to the island to interview Father Ted on the topic of priests in isolated places. (In the only marginally good line whatsoever, Ted tells the visitor over the phone that he'll know he's reached the island when he sees the boats painted with radiation symbols dumping nuclear waste into the sea.)
True, I probably didn't give the series a fair shake. But what I saw was so boring, so tasteless, and so stupid that it doesn't even rise to the abysmal level of current American sitcoms. There are several off-beat British telly comedies available on video to U.S. audiences that are infinitely better, including THE VICAR OF DIBLEY, THE DARLING BUDS OF MAY, and BALLYKISSANGEL.
The jacket containing the FATHER TED DVD claims that it's the "best comedy about three priests on an island". Good heavens, how many can there be? And imagining the plots and quality of the others simply boggles the mind.
Father Ted? IT ROCKS!
Review date: 2005-07-30 Rating: 10 out of 10
Is it a horror movie? Is it a romance movie? No! It's Father Ted, one of the best comedies of all time. It is very, very funny comparing it to Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson who are also comedians. But anyway.
It is one of those DVDs that you will want to watch again and again, and it is hilarious, no matter how many times you watch it. It's one of those DVDs where you love to remind people about it.
Father Ted Crilly is the normal priest. He secretly longs for a parish in LA, and a life free from embarassment. But on Craggy Island, a minute free of embarassment is good enough for him.
Father Dougal McGuire lives simply. The sun is always shining in his world. Always accidentally calling Bishop Brennan "Len", he is the idiot of the four.
Father Jack Hackett is the most drunken, fowl and abusive priest you've ever seen. He is either sleeping, drinking, screaming for drink or just screaming.
Mrs Doyle is THE housekeeper from hell. Constantly afloat ona sea of tea, if you could read her brain it would be just TEA. Always offering cups, and if you refuse, she'll keep pestering you for ages.
Want to see Dougal annoying the priestly feeling out of Ted? Want to see Mrs Doyle annoy Bishop Brennan? Then buy this DVD, and enjoy the show.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Frank Kelly
Dermot Morgan
Pauline McLynn
Ardal O'Hanlon
Director(s):
Recording label: 2 Entertain Video
Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video
EAN: 5014138068622
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2001-08-20
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 147 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1995-04-21
Language: English (Original Language)