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Movies & TV

06th Jan 2015

Is there anything to be said for Father Ted: The Musical? Graham Linehan suggests there is

Go on Graham. Go on, go on, go on...

Conor Heneghan

Oh feck, please let this happen.

It’s been over 15 years since Father Ted finished up for good but it is arguably still as if not even more popular than it was when it brought laughter to millions in Ireland and beyond in the late 90s.

Episodes of the show are still aired regularly on a number of stations, famous quotes from the show are cited regularly in everyday conversations and it has easily stood the test of time, attracting new fans from a generation who were too young to appreciate it back in the day.

While ruling out the prospect of the show ever returning as a sitcom, one of its creators, Graham Linehan, has hinted that it might come back in musical form.

Speaking to the Radio Times, Linehan said: “I would never bring back the TV show, because of the risk you poison people’s memories of the original.

“But if you were to come up with a completely new format, I think it would be worth doing. I have this vision of a dance number, with spinning cardinals.”

Linehan said that if the musical idea did come to pass that it would have to reference the various scandals involving the Catholic Church, saying: “The jokes would have to have a little bit more edge, because you just can’t ignore this stuff.”

He also said that while the show’s other co-creator, Arthur Matthews is “not as convinced” of the musical idea, Linehan is of the belief that “it could work”.

If the idea does go ahead, it is still probably a long way off, but like Linehan, we think it could definitely be a goer.

After all, given the show’s success when tackling musical content to date, whether through ‘My Lovely Horse’ Eoin McLove’s ‘My Lovely Mayo Mammy’ or ‘You Dirty English Bastards’ by The Hairy Bowsies, why wouldn’t it be a success?

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