The Mainland (Father Ted) The Mainland (Father Ted) "The Mainland" is the fourth episode of the third series of the Channel 4 sitcom "Father Ted" and the 21st episode overall. It was first broadcast on 3 April 1998. Ted, Dougal, Jack, and Mrs. Doyle depart Craggy Island for the mainland for various reasons; Ted plans to collect £200 he won in a bet, and then visit the Very Dark Caves with Dougal, Mrs. Doyle plans to meet with her friend Mrs. Dineen to have tea, and Jack needs a new set of glasses as his last pair were taken by a bird. After dropping
Father Ted Crilly Geoffrey Perkins asked Linehan and Mathews to discard the mockumentary format and expand the Father Ted episode to a traditional sitcom. Linehan found the character of Ted easier to write if he imagined Mathews's version delivering the lines. "Every time I wrote Ted in the early days, I'd hear Arthur's voice... Ted was this very bland character who'd never curse except for saying a very quiet 'feck' to himself. That panic and turmoil under the surface defined Ted before we even started writing him. Years later, when we did, it was just like pressing 'play' on a tape recorder." One