The Passion of St Tibulus

Infobox Television episode
Title =The Passion of St Tibulus
Series =Father Ted


Caption =Ted and Dougal protest
Season =1
Episode =3
Airdate =5 May 1995
Production =
Writer =Graham Linehan
Arthur Mathews
Director =Declan Lowney
Guests =Jim Norton (Bishop Brennan)
Jon Kenny (Michael)
Episode list =List of Father Ted episodes
Season list = Father Ted Season 1
Prev =Entertaining Father Stone
Next =Competition Time

"The Passion of St Tibulus" is the 3rd episode of Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted.

ynopsis

Father Hernandez, from Cuba, is staying on Craggy Island. While playing Cluedo, he, Ted and Dougal talk about many things. Father Hernandez, seeing Mrs Doyle, confesses that he sometimes finds the life of celibacy difficult, at which point Ted mentions Bishop Brennan, who is rumoured to have a son who lives in America.

Bishop Brennan then arrives at the parochial house, on an official visit. Although Dougal has forgotten the previous night's conversation, Ted reminds Dougal not to talk about Brennan's secret son (which causes Dougal to almost mention it to the bishop). Father Ted asks "Len" if there is any chance of returning to his former parish. The bishop reveals that Ted took money and went to Las Vegas, while a young boy was supposed to be in Lourdes, and that he would not be allowed to leave Craggy Island for a long time. The same goes for Jack (following a disastrous wedding he performed in Athlone) and Dougal (who was involved in something known as the "Blackrock incident" (also known as the "Sealink Incident") on a Sealink Ferry, which irreparably damaged the lives of countless nuns.

The bishop then reveals his reason for visiting. "The Passion of St Tibulus", a blasphemous film condemned by the Pope and banned everywhere, is being shown on Craggy Island because of an unknown loophole. The bishop says that the Church must be seen to make a stand against the film, and wants it sorted-out as quickly as possible, because he was recalled from his holiday in California to deal with it.

Ted and Dougal go to the local cinema; there are only two other people watching the film, one of whom leaves because the French film is subtitled and not dubbed. Originally, they plan to protest before the film begins, but after a polite request from Michael the manager, they agree to watch it peacefully and be thrown out afterwards (to be seen as "making a fuss").

Later, Ted and Dougal engage not in an ethical or theological assessment of the film but start a discussion typical of film critics and agree that the film was difficult to understand and inaccurate. Bishop Brennan returns and orders them to protest early the next morning. So, even though there are seven hours before the cinema opens, Ted and Dougal stand outside with placards reading "Down with this sort of thing" and "Careful now". Dougal then goes to the O'Learys' shop to buy a pair of handcuffs, so they can chain themselves to the railing to gain more attention.

Back at the parochial house, Bishop Brennan is looking for his travelling bag, which contains his passport "and everything". Father Jack, sitting in his chair as always, plays dumb, but as soon as Bishop Brennan leaves, Jack takes the bag out from underneath him, opens it, and finds the passport, a video camera with a video cassette in it labelled "Holiday '95 California", and to his delight, a bottle of Jack Daniel's.

Although Ted and Dougal continue protesting faithfully, they fail to stop people from viewing the film; in fact, a lot more people watch it because of the attention drawn by the protest, and "The Passion of St Tibulus" becomes the cinema's most successful film since "Jurassic Park". Ted angrily judges, or realises, that no-one cares what the Church says anymore, and decides to leave. Dougal, however, doesn't have the keys for the handcuffs.

Back home, with the pair of them still handcuffed to the railing (which they had to take with them), they are scolded by Bishop Brennan for failing to stop the islanders from watching the blasphemous film. The bishop announces that they are to be relocated them across the globe to the least desirous locales the Catholic Church has to offer: Ted is being sent to an island off Surinam where two tribes have been waging war since 1907, Dougal is being sent to a place in the Philippines devoid of a sewerage system, and Jack to somewhere much worse. Bishop Brennan leaves; Ted and Dougal are devastated, until Jack plays the bishop's holiday video. It shows the bishop with a woman and a young boy on a beach. He is then shown kissing the woman (his secret mistress), and Ted realises they can use this to blackmail the bishop into changing his mind - although, to cheer themselves up, they watch the video again a few times first.

Miscellanea

*Bishop Brennan's secret son and mistress are based on Eamon Casey, former Bishop of Galway.
*There is no such saint as St Tibulus.
*The strange "inverse negative publicity" phenomenon the protest gives the film mirrors that encountered by Monty Python upon the cinema release of Life of Brian. It was also rather prophetic of the reaction to the Mel Gibson film, The Passion of the Christ, released nearly ten years later.
*The cinema used was the Cinema by the Sea in Greystones, Co.Wicklow. It continued to operate until July 2007, when it closed due to commercial difficulties. [ [http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0727/morningireland_av.html?2273792,242,209 RTÉ.ie Media Player: Morning Ireland 27 July 2007 ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0578522/ "The Passion of St Tibulus" on iMdb]