This is a great house. I really love the crude religious imagery. Yes, I like it.
Whilst Ted is judging the local Lovely Girls beauty contest, Niamh Connolly (a feminist singer and strong critic of the Catholic church), turns up at the parochial house — which a confused Dougal signs over to her. An appalled Ted tries to get in with Niamh by claiming to be a fan and she eventually gives him back his house — at a cost. Rather than dine at a restaurant with the Lovely Girls winner Imelda at her expense, Ted must do the housework with Dougal whilst Niamh takes Imelda and the over-worked Mrs Doyle out for dinner instead.
Tropes in the episode
- Bestiality Is Depraved: Implied; a previous winner of the Lovely Girls Competition lost her title after it was found that she was in a movie called Stallion Farm.
- Brick Joke: People constantly mistaking Father Jack (due to his longer than usual hair this episode and his profanity) for Bob Geldof.
- Call-Back: To Father Bigley who was first mentioned in Hell for having puffy lips the size of his face. Now it seems he also wears perfume.
- Cannot Talk to Women: Dougal is so hopeless he asks Niamh about her bra.
- Comically Missing the Point:Ted: Doesn't Mary have a lovely bottom?Liam: Careful there, Ted. You might offend the girls.Ted: Right, Liam. Of course, they've all got lovely bottoms.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Niamh Connolly claims that the Catholic Church secretly had lots of potatoes during the famine, and that they secretly sold them at potato fairs abroad, in addition to while they turned the potato factories into prisons for children. That said, Ted seems to take this allegation at face value, his contention being that there was nothing wrong with the Church doing this.
- Even the Subtitler Is Stumped: When Niamh is show signing one of her feminist songs on TV, she is accompanied by a woman who is rendering the lyrics into sign language. It's not long before Niamh gets particularly intelligible, at which point the signing woman shrugs and gives up.
- Happiness in Slavery: Mrs Doyle does lots of heavy manual work while commenting that the Church has always treated her well.
- Kavorka Man: The Lovely Girls seem to be very impressed by Jack, although they are under the impression that he's Bob Geldof.
- Literal-Minded: Ted's advice to Dougal to "always give women what they want" backfires when Dougal gives Niamh the parochial house.
- Men Can't Keep House: Ted and Dougal set the kitchen on fire while trying to make tea after Niamh takes Mrs. Doyle out for dinner.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Niamh Connolly was clearly based on Sinéad O'Connor.
- Noodle Incident: Jack once knocked Michael Hutchence unconscious.
- Not That There's Anything Wrong with That: Ted’s attempt to save face after the "lovely bottom" line.
- Straw Feminist: Niamh Connolly.
- Straw Misogynist: Ted and Dougal, who usually are pretty considerate towards Mrs. Doyle and have even accused her of working too hard on occasion, suddenly spend the entire episode treating her like garbage just so that Niamh can educate them on their sexism at the end.
- Take That!: Niamh recording a duet with Peter Gabriel is something of a take that on Gabriel's collaborations with World Musicians in the preceding years, which were intended to popularise international musicians he liked but came across just as much as an attempt at furthering his own career. It is implied that, for all her feminist posturing, Niamh is motivated by becoming popular off the association with Gabriel.
- Truth in Television: The Lovely Girls Competition was based on an identical event held in Butlins holiday resort in Mosney in the 1950s as well as parodying the annual Rose Of Tralee competition.
