Father Dougal McGuire to television, casting O'Hanlon as the on-screen Dougal. Arthur Mathews created the character of Father Ted while working at "Hot Press" in 1987–89. During production weekends, he and Paul Woodfull had the idea for The Joshua Trio, a comedic U2 tribute band. The band performed various warm-up sketches written by Mathews, Woodfull, and Graham Linehan, who joined in a non-musical capacity. These sketches included stand-up performed by Mathews in-character as Father Ted Crilly. As Ted, Mathews sometimes read from a book, "Notes from Africa", purportedly written by Father Dougal McGuire, a missionary friend who described his experiences of being attacked
Father Ted In January 2007, a dispute arose between Inisheer and Inishmore over which island can claim to be Craggy Island, and thereby host a three-day Friends of Ted Festival. The dispute was settled by a five-a-side football match that February. Inishmore won 2–0 allowing them to use the title of Craggy Island until February 2008, while Inisheer was given the title of Rugged Island. The Friends of Ted Festival, better known as Ted Fest, has been held annually as a "Father Ted" fan convention since 2007. On 1 January 2011, Channel 4 dedicated a night of programming to celebrate the show's