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"'Good Luck, Father Ted'"
Father Ted episode
Jack and Dougal ride the Whirly-go-round
Episode no.	Series 1 Episode 1
Directed by	Declan Lowney
Written by	Graham Linehan Arthur Mathews
Featured music	The Divine Comedy
Original air date	21 April 1995 (1995-04-21)
Guest appearances
Gerard Lee as Terry Macnamee Pat Shortt as Tom
Episode chronology
← Previous — Next → "Entertaining Father Stone"
List of Father Ted episodes

"'Good Luck, Father Ted'" is the first episode to be aired of the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted.

Synopsis

Ted is contacted by a producer from Tele Éireann television programme, Faith of our Fathers, requesting to interview Ted as a priest that works in a remote area. Ted is elated to be asked, but as he fears that his fellow priests Dougal and Jack would embarrass him, he tells the producer that he is the only priest on Craggy Island, and arranges to meet with the television reporter at "The Field", one of least-rocky areas on the island.

As the day of the interview arrives, Dougal is excited about attending "Fun Land", a funfair that has been set up on "The Field". Ted tells Dougal to take Jack via wheelchair to walk along the cliffs while he goes to meet the reporter at the fair; however, Dougal and Jack soon appear at the fair, Dougal claiming that the cliffs were "closed" and "gone" due to erosion as an excuse to attend the fair. Ted, who has yet to meet the reporter, unsuccessfully tries to usher Dougal and Jack away. Jack soon takes off on his own while 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 Dougal, Jack and Mrs Doyle at the parochial house. Ted cringes as, during the interview, Dougal goes on about his doubts of Christianity and organised religion, while the on-screen caption reads "Father Ted Crilly". Jack sees Dougal on the TV, and angrily hurls a wine bottle at the TV like he did earlier in the episode.

Production

While this was the first Father Ted episode broadcast, it was not always intended to be; the writers originally planned to air "The Passion of Saint Tibulus" first, but later decided that "'Good Luck, Father Ted'" would make a better introduction. Linehan makes a non-speaking cameo appearance, goading the "fierce man" on the stepladder at Funland. Mathews also makes a cameo as the voice on the Funland intercom; the voice Mathews adopts here is the one he used while playing "Father Ted" in a stand-up routine he performed prior to the series's creation.

References

1. Linehan, Graham; Mathews, Arthur. Father Ted DVD Commentaries (Podcast). United Kingdom: Channel 4. Retrieved 30 December 2013.

External links

• "Good Luck, Father Ted" at IMDb

wikiquote:en:Father Ted S01E01 Good Luck, Father Ted

• Father Ted episodes
• 1995 British television episodes
• Television episodes with live action and animation