Father Dougal McGuire Linehan and Mathews to discard the mockumentary format and expand the Father Ted episode to a traditional sitcom, Father Dougal became one of the main characters. When writing Dougal, Linehan and Mathews drew on Stan Laurel, incorporating some of Linehan's own behaviour during moments of confusion. Linehan and Mathews saw O'Hanlon in a modernised Shakespeare play broadcast by RTÉ, and were impressed by the "weird, gormless" face he could pull. Linehan later said, "That was Dougal right there. He was just spot-on and he became our secret weapon. The show took off so quickly because Ardal was so instantly funny."
"Good Luck, Father Ted" Dougal is distracted, and Ted is forced to chase him down, finding him asleep on a park bench. Ted sits down with him, but too late discovers the bench is part of the "Crane of Death" ride, and the bench is lifted high into the air. From his vantage, Ted sees that Dougal has been found by the television reporter, and since Ted said he was the only priest on the island, the reporter assumes Dougal is Ted. In his lament, Ted falls off the bench to the ground. Later, a heavily bandaged Ted watches the television interview along with