12 British Comedy Shows You Absolutely Had To Watch In The '90s

10. Father Ted

Father Ted took the traditional sitcom blueprint and doused it in Absinthe. It also brought the word "feck" into mainstream use in England. Endearingly silly, it was a surprise hit for a very good reason: the novelty of the characters. Father Jack was a rancid, foul-mouthed, raging alcoholic who lusted after women like a crazed Jack Nicholson. Man-child Father Dougal's one adult trait was an unfortunate doubt about the whole religion thing. Father Ted, the priest who kept them all together, was a sticky-fingered, chain-smoking personification of bad luck. The absence of the standard sitcom foil, a man or woman to keep them all within the realms of sanity, was another reason to watch. You knew when catastrophe occurred it was not going to be survived by common sense; salvation would come from the likes of a celestial sticky tape dispenser. There would be a resolution of sorts, but it was always far from dignified. Classic moment: Ted and Dougal share a caravan with an unhinged priest (Graham Norton) and his youth group.