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 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