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
Are You Right There Father Ted? award he won in the previous episode – relaxes in a luxurious Dublin parish mansion, with a respected clergyman after an "exhausting" holiday to Paris, politely bartering over which masses the pair will tend to that day. Ted awaits his favourite dinner of pheasant and optimistically muses over his immediate future, whilst recalling his days on Craggy Island with pure hatred. All of a sudden, a church accountant asks Ted about a discrepancy with church expenses... and Ted is promptly sent back to cold, rainy Craggy Island, to Dougal's delight. As the episode proper begins, Ted – after settling in