Father Ted/Trivia

• Actor Existence Failure: As stated in the main section, Morgan's death was not the reason for the show ending, but the popular conception that it was the cause is a difficult one to refute. It did also have an effect on the last show, which was re-edited to be a farewell to the fans (and to remove a scene where Ted contemplates suicide). Had he not died there probably would have been a lot of pressure to continue.
• Creator Backlash: Despite being two of the more popular episodes among fans, Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews admit in the series scriptbook to not being entirely happy with how "New Jack City" and "Night of the Nearly Dead" turned out; the former because they felt far too much of the episode was taken up with Father Stack just being a jerk, and the latter because they were running out of ideas and had to resort to several comedic devices they wouldn't normally use.
• Dawson Casting:
  • Reversed with Pauline McLynn, who was 33 when the show started. She almost didn't get the part, because she was too pretty for Mrs. Doyle.
  • Also inverted with Frank Kelly, who was 58 when the show started; Father Jack is supposed to be fifteen to twenty years older.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Practically every major figure in Irish comedy appears somewhere.
  • Graham Norton had a recurring role before he got his own talk show.
  • The Christmas special briefly featured Kevin McKidd, the actor from Trainspotting and Rome.
  • Irish comedian Ed Byrne plays one of the teenagers who call Priest Chatback, and Tommy Tiernan is a suicidal priest.
  • Kristine Kochanski^[1] also pops up as a pro-feminist singer in one episode.
  • Pat Mustard is George Burgess.

1. ↑ that's the pre-series 7 Kochanski