History Trivia / FatherTed

** The "All Priests Over-75 Indoor Football Challenge Match" is played each year between inhabitants of two islands which lay claim to being the real-world inspiration for Craggy Island. (Although the participants are neither priests nor over 75, and the match is not played indoors.)

* AccidentallyAccurate: “A Song for Europe” revolves around the “Eurosong” contest, which is a thinly-veiled {{Expy}} of the Series/EurovisionSongContest (as well as what the contest is colloquially known as in a few countries, including Ireland and the UK). Coincidentally, in 1996, the year the episode aired, the actual contest was temporarily rebranded as Eurosong (although Ireland’s fortunes at the [[TheAce actual contest]] were quite different from Ted and Dougal’s [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating in the episode]].

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
** In addition to technology (like a party line in "A Christmassy Ted") and references to then-current Series/EurovisionSongContest and Catholic Church scandals, it'd be basically impossible to make a sitcom about corrupt and dysfunctional priests which portrayed them mostly as harmless grotesques rather than outright sinister after the news of the Church suppressing child abuse broke in the 00s. Graham Linehan has gone on record as saying the series' innocence is disturbing from a modern perspective.
** When the show was made Ireland was still using the Irish pound, hence why prices in the show are stated in pounds. Ireland has used the Euro since 2002.
** The show mined some black comedy out of UsefulNotes/TheTroubles and the tensions that existed at the time of the show's production. Since then, a peace agreement was achieved and most overt violence disappeared from the region.

** "The Mainland" had a deleted subplot involving Ted being falsely accused of stealing a briefcase. Near the end of the story, he only needed to use half of his betting money to pay the bail for Father Jack, Mrs. Doyle and Mrs. Dineen... and then had to use the other half to bail himself out when he was arrested for his "theft."

** Maurice O'Donoghue, who played Father Dick Byrne, was also considered for Ted.

* WordOfGod: In the DVDCommentary, Graham Linehan said that he considered Bishop Brennan to be the arch-enemy of Father Jack Hackett, because Jack had the potential to become a bishop, but failed where Brennan had succeeded.

* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews named "Entertaining Father Stone" as their favourite episode.

** "Think Fast, Father Ted" was filmed during series 1 but aired as part of series 2. You can see that the decor matches the other episodes in the first series rather than the second (e.g. - living room door is white as in series 1, instead of brown as in series 2 and 3). This creates a rather significant plot hole, as "Think Fast" is the episode where Ted receives his car, even though it appears in several prior episodes that were originally intended for airing after it (especially in the preceding "Hell").

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Lead actor Dermot Morgan's death was not the reason for the show ending, but the popular conception that it was the cause is a difficult one to refute. [[DistancedFRomCurrentEvents It did have an effect]] on the final episode "Going to America", in which the original ending had [[spoiler:[[DrivenToSuicide Father Ted committing suicide]]]], which was then instead changed to a [[ReallyDeadMontage montage of clips from all the previous episodes as a farewell to the fans]]. Had Dermot not died there probably would have been [[ExecutiveMeddling a lot of pressure]] to continue.

* {{Defictionalization}}: Signs with "Down With This Sort Of Thing!" and "Careful Now!" have become staples of just about any protesting crowd in Ireland and the UK.

* ScreenToStageAdaptation: A stage musical has been announced where Ted will become pope.

* DistancedFromCurrentEvents: The original script for the final episode, "Going to America", ended with Father Ted contemplating suicide. However, when Dermot Morgan died the day after filming was completed, that ending was quickly replaced with a montage of scenes from previous episodes.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Lead actor Dermot Morgan's death was not the reason for the show ending, but the popular conception that it was the cause is a difficult one to refute. [[TooSoon It did have an effect]] on the final episode "Going to America", in which the original ending had [[spoiler:[[DrivenToSuicide Father Ted committing suicide]]]], which was then instead changed to a [[ReallyDeadMontage montage of clips from all the previous episodes as a farewell to the fans]]. Had Dermot not died there probably would have been [[ExecutiveMeddling a lot of pressure]] to continue.

* TooSoon:
** The original script for the final episode, "Going to America", ended with Father Ted contemplating suicide. However, when Dermot Morgan died the day after filming was completed, that ending was quickly replaced with a montage of scenes from previous episodes.
** In a more personal version of TooSoon, actor Jim Norton, who played Bishop Brennan, revealed in the documentary ''Small, Far Away: The World of Father Ted'' that, as much fun as he had filming it, he has never watched "Kicking Bishop Brennan Up the Arse" from start to finish, as it was the only Bishop Brennan episode to premiere after Dermot Morgan's death, and he believes watching it would bring back too many bittersweet memories.

* OutOfOrder: The season one finale, ''Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest'' was the first episode written.
** The second episode of Series 2, "Think Fast, Father Ted", was originally written to appear midway through Series 1 and nudged out when it was decided to include the pilot "Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest" at the end. This creates a rather significant plot hole, as "Think Fast" is the episode where Ted receives his car, even though it appears in several prior episodes that were originally intended for airing after it (especially in the preceding "Hell").

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: In addition to technology (like a party line in "A Christmassy Ted") and references to then-current Series/EurovisionSongContest and Catholic Church scandals, it'd be basically impossible to make a sitcom about corrupt and dysfunctional priests which portrayed them mostly as harmless grotesques rather than outright sinister after the news of the Church suppressing child abuse broke in the 00s. Graham Linehan has gone on record as saying the series' innocence is disturbing from a modern perspective.

** "'Ride me sideways' was another one!" was an AdLib by Pauline [=McLynn=] -- you can see Dermot Morgan trying not to laugh.

** The group are always seen listening to music on a record player, which in the mid to late 90s, was considered antiquated as the success of CDs and Cassettes meant most new music had ceased to be released on vinyl. This is even used as a gag when Dougal excitedly purchases BBC Sound Effects records he believes to be new (they are actually several decades old). Since the late 2000s, however, vinyl has experienced a revival and new vinyl is regularly released. As a consequence, it doesn't look so out of place for them.

* IAmNotSpock: Severely affects the entire cast. If you were an extra in this show that's all you're ever going to be. [[Series/TheGrahamNortonShow Graham Norton]] averts it by simply carrying his persona to the talk-show circuit. Some of the cast who are in stand-up avert it (such as Creator/EdByrne), although Ardal O'Hanlon may not be so lucky. (That said, there are far worse shows to be forever tied to.)

* ReferencedBy: ''One Piece Abridged'' (not the one we have a page for, a different one) has Zorro voiced by Father Jack. Usually his CatchPhrase, demands for "DRINK!," or insisting that something he has little interest in is "an ecumenical matter." He also responds to the nonsense around him by declaring it to be "arse biscuits" and Luffy to be "that gobshite."

* ReferencedBy: ''One Piece Abridged'' (not the one we have a page for, a different one) has Zorro voiced by Father Jack. Usually his CatchPhrase, demands for "DRINK!," or insisting that something he has little interest in is "an ecumenical matter."