Father Ted Crilly death in February 1998, he was awarded a posthumous BAFTA for his work in the third series. Arthur Mathews had a lifelong fascination with priests, and developed the character of Father Ted while working at "Hot Press" with Graham Linehan and Paul Woodfull in 1987–89. After considering several surnames, Linehan suggested Crilly, which stuck. Mathews has described his version of Ted as a generic priest, but Woodfull saw the character as more camp, and later said that he felt Mathews had preempted the camp/gay priest stereotype in Irish comedy. During production weekends, Mathews and Woodfull had the idea for The
Father Ted Crilly leader, albeit within the context of the priesthood. In a 1997 interview, Morgan attributed the show's success to the appealing double-act formed by Dougal, "an idiot who knows nothing", and Ted, "an idiot who thinks he knows something but actually knows nothing." The actor identified Ted as "an Everyman guy, bumbling through life with a half-wit." Linehan and Mathews have described Ted as a decent man, albeit one with "cheap" and "earthly" ambitions; they note that he would hate to become a bishop or cardinal. Ted does not want to be seen as a priest, but is still willing to