Father Ted shows while at the same time writing for sketch shows such as "The All New Alexei Sayle Show" and "The Fast Show". One of these ideas was for a comedy mockumentary series called "Irish Lives", with six episodes, each focusing on a different character living somewhere in Ireland. They scripted an episode centring on a priest named Father Ted Crilly, who visits his friends in the seminary in Maynooth College. Producer Geoffrey Perkins suggested that the episode's concept be dramatised and rewritten as a sitcom. Mathews was originally intended to play Ted, but decided he lacked the acting ability the
Father Ted Crilly Craven), the novelist he becomes infatuated with in "And God Created Woman", and consider the impossibility of their relationship "terribly sad". Ted is a middle-aged man with a distinctive head of silver-grey hair (often imitated through wigs by cosplaying fans). He wears two badges: one is a pin signifying membership of the Pioneers, an Irish Catholic teetotalers organisation, and the other is a Fáinne, which indicates the wearer's fluency in the Irish language. In 1996, Morgan was named the Best TV Comedy Actor at the British Comedy Awards for his performance in the second series. He died in February 1998,