Father Ted Crilly death in February 1998, he was awarded a posthumous BAFTA for his work in the third series. Arthur Mathews had a lifelong fascination with priests, and developed the character of Father Ted while working at "Hot Press" with Graham Linehan and Paul Woodfull in 1987–89. After considering several surnames, Linehan suggested Crilly, which stuck. Mathews has described his version of Ted as a generic priest, but Woodfull saw the character as more camp, and later said that he felt Mathews had preempted the camp/gay priest stereotype in Irish comedy. During production weekends, Mathews and Woodfull had the idea for The
Father Ted Father Ted Father Ted is a British sitcom that was produced by Hat Trick Productions for Channel 4. Written by Irish writers Arthur Mathews & Graham Linehan and starring a predominantly Irish cast, it originally aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until 1 May 1998, including a Christmas special, for a total of 25 episodes. The show aired on RTÉ Two in Ireland, and in Australia on Nine Network (series 1) and ABC Television (series 2 and 3). Set on the fictional Craggy Island, a remote location off Ireland's west coast, the show starred Dermot Morgan as the