Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest his body works differently from other people". The executives were bemused by an incomplete story where one of the main characters was dead, but commissioned the series soon after receiving the full script. In retrospect, Linehan and Mathews noticed that the plot was very similar to that of the "Fawlty Towers" episode "The Kipper and the Corpse". Despite being fans of the show, they only noticed the parallels afterwards, and would likely have abandoned the episode if they had seen them earlier. Kevin Sharkey, who plays the black Donegal priest, was a friend of the writers', and was brought in
Kipper tie with 1950s inspired bolo ties. In the mid-1990s, kipper ties made a comeback due to a resurgence of interest in 1970s fashion. These were typically darker and less kitsch than those from its hey-day. By the 2000s, however, wide ties had become associated with older men, and fell out of favour as skinny ties influenced by indie pop and Mod subculture became fashionable. It has alternately been proposed that the name "kipper tie" is a reference to the extreme breadth of the tie resembling a kipper, or a sly reference to the designer, whose last name, Fish, was evocative of