Good Luck, Father Ted

Infobox Television episode
Title = Good Luck, Father Ted
Series = Father Ted


Caption = Jack and Dougal ride the Whirly-go-round
Season = 1
Episode = 1
Airdate = 21 April 1995
Production =
Writer = Graham Linehan, Arthur Mathews
Director = Declan Lowney
Guests = Gerard Lee (Terry Macnamee), Pat Shortt (Tom)
Episode list = List of Father Ted episodes
Season list = Father Ted Season 1
Prev =
Next = Entertaining Father Stone

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

ynopsis

A producer from an RTÉ television programme, "Faith of our Fathers", phones the parochial house offering to interview Ted for an episode about priests who work in remote areas. Ted is only too happy to be interviewed, but doesn't want either of the other priests to also have the privilege, and tells the producer that he is the only priest living on Craggy Island.

Dougal is going to 'Fun Land,' a funfair taking place in 'The Field' - which isn't actually a field, but merely a place containing fewer rocks than any other place on the island. However as Ted is trying desperately to get to 'The Field' where he is about to be interviewed, he forgets that 'Fun Land' is also there.

When they arrive at 'Fun Land' it is shown in reality to be an extremely boring place with less-than-interesting attractions, e.g. "Pond of Terror" (a paddling pool with a toy crocodile in it) and "Climbing the Ladder" (in which you must keep your hands on the side at all times). Shortly after arriving, Ted is spotted by Dougal, who calls him over. Ted at first asks why Dougal is here instead of taking Jack for his walk to the cliffs; Dougal initially replies "they were closed", and then upon hearing Ted's scepticism changes to "they were gone" due to erosion. Ted tries his best to the pair away, so that he can be interviewed in peace.

Whilst Ted takes Dougal away to tell him how seriously Catholicism should be taken, Father Jack runs off. They split up to try and find him; Ted sees Jack sitting on a bench, asleep, and sits down with him for a moment. The bench, however, is actually the "Crane of Death" (so called because a young man was killed on it the year before), which is lifted high off the ground by a crane. Ted stands up to take Father Jack back to his wheelchair, but suddenly realises he is in the air, and sits back down.

As all of this has been taking place, Dougal has met the television crew, and no-one realises that there is a mistake. On seeing this, Ted, still sitting on the bench in mid-air, decides he has to do something, so throws himself to the ground, severely injuring himself.

The episode ends with Ted, Jack, Dougal and Mrs Doyle watching Dougal's interview, in which he expresses his doubts about Christianity and says that he does not know whether he believes in organised religion. As he is seen on the TV, the on-screen caption reads "Father Ted Crilly". However, Jack takes offence at Dougal on the telly, yelling 'That gobshite again?! Is he never off the air!?' as he (yet again) hurls a bottle at the TV.

Cultural References

*When pointing out why Craggy Island is not on any maps, Ted tells Terry Macnamee that they are hard to find because they're "not exactly New York". The state/city with this name is later mentioned in The Plague and in Song for Europe.

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0578510/ "Good Luck, Father Ted" at the IMDB]