Customer Reviews

Father Ted - Heaven and Hell (Vol. 1) [VHS]

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4 star:		(1)
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"Father Ted" is brilliantly written, wonderfully acted, and definitely one of the funniest sitcoms of all time. Father Ted, Father Dougal and Father Jack are assigned to a distant parish on an island off the coast of Ireland. The trio get into one adventure after another, with lots of irony and hilarity with each episode. Probably the saddest and most unfortunate irony of the series is that "Father Ted" lead actor Dermot Morgan died one day after filming the final episode of the series in 1998. If you have had the opportunity to catch the series on BBC America, then you already know what everyone else should know -- buy this video!

First of all, this is NOT Britush comedy, like some other reviewers have written, this is Irish, it was only shown by channel 4 (an English channel) because Irish channels would not show it because of the references to the catholic church.

Father Ted was the basis for my generations sense of humour, it is that kind of show you can watch repeatedly without growing bored of it. It is (was, god rest his soul) always hilarious, and never grew old. The only problem is that some people find it offensive. True, it does have some grey areas, for example one episode is called "Kicking Bishop Brennan up the arse!" and is all about, well, you can guess.

I think the best way to get into Father Ted is to watch from the beginning, but it is also very easy to understand by watching one of the later episodes first. Either way you are sure to love Father Ted.

Father Ted is probably one of the greatest sitcoms ever made. It was created by an Irish man Dermot Morgan, who plays Father Ted Crilly a priest who was banished from mainland Ireland for corruption. He lives with a dumb and innocent young priest called Dougal Maguire and a drunken old priest called Father Jack. Ted is probably the only one on the island with an IQ over 70. Ted's fellow priests and almost everyone on the island has a major but hilarious flaw, for example the house keeper Mrs. Doyle is scarily religious (much more so than any of the priests) and has an obssesive need to please . This show is a must see wonder for anyone who has any doubts about the Catholic church .

Imagine if Monty Python had taken up holy orders and become Irish Catholic priests and you get the flavor of this excruciatingly funny show. And yet there's a basic benignness about it, even an innocence, that's beguiling. Father Ted has been exiled for shady business practices to Craggy Island, a forsaken little place off the west coast of Ireland. He's a long-suffering hustler/everyman whose favorite song is "Theme from Shaft". His young colleague, Father Dougal, is staggeringly dense. And Father Jack is an old sinner whose vocabulary has been reduced by alcohol to expletives like "Feck!" (This is the all-purpose swear word on the show, cousin to the more infamous "f" word, and is used to uproarious effect by the show's writers.) Mrs. Doyle is their sexually frustrated housekeeper. Add to this some lunatic characters like Pat Mustard, the horny, hairy milkman, and you get genuine world-class silliness. The episodes usually start with an everyday premise (like the priests holding a raffle) that soon escalate into a surreal, berserk series of events. The episode when Father Ted is forced to settle a wager by kicking Bishop Len "up the arse" I watched through tears of laughter and with ribs sore from 30 minutes of continuous glee. Don't miss this amazing show.

This wacky show deals with the shenanigans of Father Ted, a priest on isolated Craggy Island in Ireland. He is helped by his assistant, Dougal, whose maturity level hovers somewhere around age 10. Into the mix is also the drunken, woman-crazy Father Jack, a daffy housekeeper and a nutty assortment of visitors. Nothing baring much resemblance to anything religious ever happens, but what DOES happen is hysterically funny. This is a vidoe well-worth buying.

The proposal for this excellent series was indeed rejected by the national broadcasting service in Ireland, RTE. But I'd like to point out that while made by Hat Trick, a British company, the series, Father Ted, was:

Conceived, written, directed and performed by Irish artists.
Filmed in all of its outdoor locations in the Irish Republic.
Its humour is distinctly and absurdly Irish.
It is not then, strictly speaking, a Britcom -
though anyone associated with it or who enjoys it thanks the great good sense of Hat Trick and Channel 4 for seeing to it that it was made!

Father Ted truly gives us some of the best of Irish talent in the 1990's!

That's me laughing my head off. This is soooooo funny. Why and how the British can get away with poking such unrelenting fun at the Catholic Church, I'll never know. I think it must be because the church is so interwoven with British life and people aren't so touchy about religious intstitutions.
Anyway, while my daughter is off at Catholic school, I bust a gut laughing at the antics of Father Ted and his less than bright sidekick.
Because they were "bad" priests, they get sent to this desolate, cold, rocky (Craggy) island for punishment. Basically they are two guys, who happen to be priests getting into all kinds of hilarious situations.
This is more edgy and and a bit vile at times (but in a good comedic way) than the sweet Vicar of Dibley. But it is still side-splitingly funny for those with who can handle Catholics being made fun of, particularly the clergy. This is, perhaps, in the same vein as Bitish Men Behaving Badly. Funny, funny stuff, but not for the meek.

If you're Irish, or of Irish extraction you're bound to recognize some of the characters in these three episodes. There are four main characters. Father Jack Hackett (Frank Kelly) will drink engine lubricant when alcohol is unavailable. Father Dougal MacGuire (Ardal O'Hanlon) must study a chart to remember the difference between reality and dreams. Father Ted Crilly (Dermot Morgan) tries to keep these two from embarassing the parish while dreaming of glamour and fortune in Las Vegas. Finally, there is the housekeeper, Mrs. Doyle (Pauline McLynne), who won't take no for an answer when she brews a pot of tea. Consummate acting, particularly by Kelly and O'Hanlon makes this a hilarious video, though in my opinion the third season is the best. If you are Catholic, don't buy it unless you have a sense of humor about your religion.

I am Irish, living in England, and for all of you eejits who think that "Father Ted" is a comedy don't be such thick arses.

Every Irishman with half a brain knows that "Father Ted" is a documentary. Nothing at all "funny" about it, the poor bastards.

Father Ted is a very well written and remarkably executed ensemble comedy. It manages to make fun of Catholic and Irish stereotypes in a funny, nonthreatening way. It is very charming too. I think that each of the episodes on this tape are solid. they are all funny in completely different ways. Father Ted manages to be relevent and funny at the same time. Very great!