Father Ted Crilly Father Ted Crilly Father Ted Crilly is the title character of the Channel 4 sitcom "Father Ted". Created by Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews, Ted was portrayed by comedian Dermot Morgan for the programme's three series. The character is a morally dubious Roman Catholic priest exiled to Craggy Island, a small island off the coast of Galway. The character was originally created by Mathews for a short-lived stand-up routine in the late 1980s. In 1994, Linehan and Mathews cast Morgan in the role for the television series, developing the character to match his abilities. Morgan's performance was acclaimed; after his
Father Dougal McGuire and very, very strange. I saw Dougal as very doglike, very puppyish and lovable, and really loyal to Ted." After the first episode aired, Ben Thompson of "The Independent" singled out O'Hanlon as "the real star of the show", and said that Dougal's "holy-fool innocence" as "worthy of James Stewart". Writing for the "Irish Examiner", Ed Power said that while the "meme-worthy" Dougal and Jack received the most attention at the time of broadcast, Morgan's straight-man performance was the highlight in retrospect. Morgan attributed the show's success to the appealing double-act formed by Dougal, "an idiot who knows nothing", and