Father Ted: 12 Funniest Episodes

2. A Christmassy Ted

It may be Christmas, but thankfully, the inhabitants of Craggy Island remained on their worst behaviour. The early parts of the episode reads like a knock-knock joke - how many priests does it take to sneak out of Ireland's biggest lingerie section un-noticed? We read that €“ somewhere. It genuinely resembles troops trying to get through a war-torn flash-point, but fortunately between Ted and Father Fitzgerald they manage to divert all the women shoppers away €“ "not that way for feck sake, the other way!" This joyous escape leads Ted to winning the Golden Cleric award, which of course only leads to more idiocy from the hapless priest. Father Ted as a show makes great use of dream sequences throughout its three series, and this stopgap between Series 2 and Series 3 is no different. Ted's rather lewd Ballykissangel dream is interrupted by Dougal waking his pal to offer him a peanut. As you do. Ted manages to return to his dream, only to find that he is now being chased by giant peanuts. Such a moment is so simple yet so surreal, showing Father Ted can be quite psychedelic as a televisual experience. A big part of the plot is the mysterious priest who has appeared as if from nowhere to congratulate Ted on his award €“ Father Todd Unctious. The sketch where Mrs Doyle tries to guess his name is pure comedy gold. It takes her almost an hour to wade through a ridiculously over-the-top names such as Father Peewee Stairmaster, and Father Raboola Conundrum, but her face of pure pride and delight when she eventually correctly guesses is great fun. Typically, Ted is not the most gracious of winners of this award, and his speech, which takes advantage of the opportunity to bad-mouth everyone who has 'fecked him over' through the ages, is not one that goes down well. He actually has his list divided into 'liars' and 'twats.' Surely none of us would have left early, as vindictive Ted in full flow is brilliant to watch. Despite being nearly an hour long, this episode is one of the absolute classics, with surprisingly little bloat, although co-writer Graham Linehan did not agree, claiming it suffered from its length in the DVD episode commentary.