Father Ted Crilly one day after the third series of "Father Ted" completed recording, and was posthumously given the Award for Best Comedy Performance at the British Academy Television Awards 1999. In November 2014, the "Irish Examiner" named Ted the greatest Irish TV character, calling him "a rare example of a straight man providing almost as many chuckles as his compatriots" and praising his characterisation as an "upstanding-yet-oh-so-faintly-slippery man of the cloth" as true to life for many rural Irish viewers. Father Ted Crilly Father Ted Crilly is the title character of the Channel 4 sitcom "Father Ted". Created by Graham Linehan and
Father Ted Crilly of the writers' key influences was Charles Grodin's character in the 1972 film "The Heartbreak Kid". Actor Maurice O'Donoghue auditioned for the role, and Linehan felt that he was the right appearance, age and "lightness" for the character. Mathews wanted to cast comedian Dermot Morgan from an early stage, but Linehan was reluctant; he worried that audiences would confuse Ted with Father Trendy, a character Morgan had previously created for "The Live Mike". Trendy parodied a class of priests including Brian D'Arcy, perceived in the 1970s as wanting to be considered liberal and "cool", whereas Ted was written as a