I worked on Father Ted – these are 7 behind the scenes secrets you’d never know

It is 30 years since award-winning Irish comedy Father Ted first aired, winning an enormous and devoted fanbase with its irreverent, madcap portrayal of the Catholic priesthood, and it routinely features in polls ranking Britain’s best-ever sitcoms. But what was it like to work on the show?

Lissa Evans, producer of series two and three, has written a new book documenting the most comical, challenging and surreal moments of filming.

It was a privilege, she says, to work with the “very easy” cast. “None of them were anything like their characters. Dermot [Morgan, who played Father Ted] and Ardal [O’Hanlon as Father Dougal] were so brilliant. Ardal made it seem effortless but you never saw an expression on Dougal’s face that you saw on Ardal’s.”

And foul-mouthed Father Jack was played by Frank Kelly, “an absolute gentleman, a delightful, gracious man”.

Lissa says, “We were immensely proud of Father Ted and it was thrilling to work on something so popular. But it was also unspeakably hard work. I spent a lot of time worrying.

“By series three, my joy in reading each new Ted script was counterbalanced by the producer part of my brain which, page by page, compiled a list of things that were going to be difficult, complicated, staggeringly expensive, undoubtedly dangerous or potentially impossible to achieve.”

Here, Lissa takes us behind the scenes of the iconic series…

Magic roundabout

“The most difficult episode to film was Speed Three, a remake of the action film – but using milk floats.

“Dougal drives a milk float rigged with a bomb that will explode if it drops below four miles an hour so he has to endlessly circle a roundabout. But we couldn’t find a roundabout in rural County Clare. The art department had to build one out of plywood, truck it from the UK and stick it in the middle of a crossroads in the village of Kilfenora. It’s possible it’s still there.”

In the same episode, Lissa had conniptions when Dermot performed his own stunt of driving a car through a massive wall of cardboard boxes. “I overheard our precious lead actor being told, ‘Take it up to 50, keep the accelerator down the whole time, don’t touch the brake and you’ll be grand’. Dermot loved doing the stunt but I was sitting on my hands with my eyes shut praying something didn’t go horribly wrong.”

The Graham Norton show

“One of the most memorable auditions was when a nervous and likeable stand-up I’d never heard of – he was called Graham Norton – read for the part of Father Noel Furlong.

“Well, I say ‘read’ but that’s far too formal a description. He exploded. Bug-eyed, dementedly keen, joyously manic, screeching with terrible enthusiasm, Father Noel Furlong burst into being and, by the time he’d river-danced twice round the office, screaming at us to join in, we were all helpless with laughter and I was actually crying. He told me later that he was worried he’d gone ‘over the top’ which of course, he had. Marvellously.”

Toilet humour

“The art department was a sort of weekly magic show. They could create a convincing rockfall or a full-sized aircraft wheel in the studio, and suspend a stuffed sheep in an isolation tank.

“But if you’d asked Ardal and Dermot what their least favourite scene of all time was, it would almost certainly be when they were sprayed with ‘sewage’. A big tank had been kept outside overnight on a really cold night, containing water darkened with peat. They were sprayed with water that was almost frozen.

“They didn’t complain but they were so stunned by the cold that, when they stagger off at the end of the scene, those facial expressions are real. We all felt very, very guilty afterwards.”

Cup of tea, Father?

“When Pauline McLynn was due to perform a pratfall, members of the crew would gather round to watch. Delicately, she’d hitch her skirt just above the knee, take a hesitant step, wobble very slightly and then disappear out of shot with a beatific expression. It was like attending a masterclass in silent film acting.

“Pauline is nothing like Mrs Doyle, she’s cultured and sensible, but she’s also as good natured and kind as Mrs Doyle. We’re still friends.”

Wet and wild

The episode when Ted and Dougal have a leaky roof resulted in the only time Lissa saw mild-mannered Frank lose his temper.

The crew paused filming to discuss technical difficulties while water poured down upon Dermot, Ardal and Frank. Bowls were found and held above Dermot and Ardal, but cold water continued to cascade down upon Frank’s head and down the back of his neck for minute after minute. It was only after the scene was shot that Lissa realised Frank had been pushed to his limits.

“He hurled himself from the sofa with a gibbering roar of rage and thundered off set. I remember feeling intensely guilty. We’d all assumed that his stoicism had no limits.”

Each week, in the studio, “he sat patiently in a chair while scabs, crusts, scurf, filth and cascades of ear wax were added to his features. He looked so revolting that nobody wanted to sit near him at lunchtime”.

Dougal’s wig

“In the break between location filming for Series Two and the first day of studio rehearsals in London, Ardal got married. He arrived in the rehearsal room to congratulations from the cast and a strange croaking noise from me because he’d had a severe haircut. Now, every time Father Dougal left the house, his hair would appear to grow an inch and a half, only to magically disappear the instant he walked in through the door.

“I looked over at the make-up designer and she mouthed the word “wig”. Ardal wore a toupee for most of the series.”

Lapel pins

“The wonderfully hypocritical lapel pins that Ted proudly sports include the An Fáinne, worn only by Irish speakers when Ted speaks no Irish whatsoever; and – bearing in mind that Ted is an enthusiastic drinker – the Pioneer pin, signifying total abstinence. It shows the thought that went into every detail of the production.”

Picnic On Craggy Island: The Surreal Joys Of Producing Father Ted by Lissa Evans (Doubleday), £14.99, is out now