This episode begins with a self-referential mock title sequence with the words "Father Ted" replaced by "Father Ben", which then cuts to Dougal sitting in front of the television shouting excitedly to Ted that the programme is starting. Each comments on the spoof character representing themselves, Dougal saying that Brendan is "such an eejit" and Ted making fun of Ben for being "a big thicko". The original Father Ted titles follow.
Dougal gets a pet rabbit which, after much deliberation, he calls Sampras. Meanwhile, Jack has acquired a habit of sleepwalking naked, and Bishop Brennan is set to visit after the nude, sleepwalking Jack frightens one of Brennan's friends and his family. Unfortunately, the Bishop has a fear of rabbits brought on by a bad experience he once had with some in a lift, and Ted and Dougal must get Sampras out of the way before he visits. They fail, and the situation is exacerbated as a whole army of rabbits appears in the parochial house, apparently from nowhere.
Ted and Dougal then resort to desperate measures to hide the army of rabbits, such as hiding them at the local greyhound track, giving them to their accident-prone friend Father Larry Duff (who's now bought some Rottweiler dogs) and giving them to Tom the psychopath, all to no avail. The Bishop soon arrives, when Mrs. Doyle ruins his car engine and Ted talks to him and shows him the security arrangements for Jack (which involve razor wire around his bed and a straitjacket suit). In the conversation, the Bishop notices a rabbit hutch on the floor, rabbit poo on the carpet and Mrs. Doyle walking in with some lettuce, all of which prompt the Bishop to go to bed.
Ted and Dougal soon realize the rabbit army is convening in the spare bedroom (where Brennan is sleeping), and have to tiptoe in to get the rabbits out and into Jack's room. The Bishop wakes up, to find himself surrounded by rabbits and Jack sleeping in his bed. Naked. Ted tells Bishop Brennan that he is only having a "bad dream", and the Bishop lays back down to sleep — only to wake up again seconds later loudly screaming.
Tropes featured in this episode:
- Absurd Phobia: Rabbits, to Brennan.
- Ambiguously Bi: Jack ends up in Brennan's bed after sleep-walking in the nip. He doesn't seem in any hurry to leave even after he wakes up and realises who he's in bed with.
- And I Must Scream: Bishop Brennan, on waking up to find that not only is his room full of rabbits, but Jack's in bed with him. And he's naked.
- Artistic License – Animal Care: Generally avoided (Dougal is even seen to be reading a book about how to care for rabbits, albeit a book that's clearly aimed at children), but it looks like the cage with the lettuce in it is too small for a rabbit.
- Bad "Bad Acting": Occurs at the end of the first phone call between Ted and Brennan in the beginning.Brennan: Crilly, it's me, Bishop Brennan.Ted: Oh, feck! [Realises what he just said]Brennan: WHAT?!Ted: [In a very French accent] 'Oo is dis? Zere is no Crilly 'ere.
- Bad Liar: Ted, when pretending to be a Frenchman.
- Beyond the Impossible: Rabbits, of all things, travel out of a room faster than anyone can react.
- Blatant Lies:
- Ted claims the rabbit poo on the carpet is caviar. Anyone who has ever served food to anyone would tell you that caviar should be served on a plate, not on the floor.
- Also Ted's attempt to cover his ass for saying "feck" to Bishop Brennan by saying it was a crossed line.
- Brief Accent Imitation: Dermot Morgan makes an attempt at a French accent in this episode.
- Celebrity Resemblance: Implied. Dougal claims one of the rabbits looks like Harvey Keitel. Ted is dismissive of this until he sees the rabbit for himself.Ted: [off-screen] God almighty! It's the spitting image of him!
- Comically Missing the Point:Dougal: Ted! Did Len find the rabbits?!Brennan: What did he just say?!Ted: Ah, I can explain...Brennan: Did he call me Len again!? [goes to the top of the stairs] You address me by my proper title, you little bollocks!
- Cringe Comedy
- Delayed Reaction: Brennan to the sight of the rabbits and to the fact that Jack is in bed with him.
- Didn't Think This Through: You'd think that when Ted and Dougal went into Jack's room at the end of the story, that one of them would stand at the door in the event of Jack getting up and starting to sleepwalk. Instead both of them walked beyond the door.
- Double Take: Done for laughs in the second of the rabbits-in-the-living-room scenes.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: When Ted offers Tom the chance to "take care" of the rabbits, he was using the term for showing love and affection, not the Deadly Euphemism that Tom thought he was using.
- Epic Fail: Keeping all evidence of the rabbits out of the sight of a leporiphobic bishop should be simple, but with this lot, all bets are off.
- Failed a Spot Check: It takes Ted a few minutes before he realises the living room is full of rabbits.
- "Fawlty Towers" Plot: Ted tries not to let Brennan see the rabbits, but the other inhabitants of the house come close to ruining it on him, mostly accidentally and/or unwittingly. The one who ends up doing so is Jack.
- God Is Displeased: Invoked, as Ted is wondering if he has annoyed the Almighty.Ted: D'you know what this is like, Dougal? It's like some sort of plague. A big rabbit plague. I wonder if God is punishing us, or something. Maybe because I said "feck" to Bishop Brennan.Dougal: God, if He'd send a plague of rabbits just because you said "feck" to Bishop Brennan, imagine what He'll do when He finds out about all the money you stole from that charity!
- I Will Rip Off Your Arms: At the end of their phone conversation, Brennan threatens this to Ted if Ted ever tries to tell him such blatant lies again.
- Implausible Deniability: When Brennan wakes up to find Jack in bed with him and the room full of rabbits, Ted is on hand to tell him it's "a bad dream". While standing next to Dougal — who, like Ted, is holding a rabbit.
- Insane Troll Logic: How Dougal justifies naming his pet rabbit after tennis player Pete Sampras.Dougal: Rabbits, tennis. You get the connection?
- Missed Him by That Much: Assuming the moment Ted opened the door of Bishop Brennan's bedroom was the moment the rabbits left it, how could the priest or the bishop not have seen them leaving?
- Naked People Are Funny: Father Jack seems to find great joy in his somnabulant exhibitionism.Jack: Nudie Father Jack!
- Noodle Incident: The incident in the elevator that gave Brennan his fear of rabbits. It is a little more detailed than others; we're told they chewed on his cape, and apparently everything else on him.
- "Now this is the third time in the last six months!"
- Offscreen Teleportation: "The rabbits are all gone!"
- Oh, Crap!:
- Ted does this twice within the space of a few seconds, first when he answers the phone and discovers it to be Bishop Brennan on the line, and immediately after when he realises he just said it aloud.
- Ted again, when he finds that Jack has escaped from his fortified bed.
- Brennan, when he wakes up and discovers that not only is his room full of rabbits (his greatest fear) but that Jack is lying naked in bed with him.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: Ted says "Oh no!" when he finds out that Jack has been seen sleepwalking in the nip. This, combined with Bishop Brennan's next line, suggests that this has happened twice before in the last six months.
- Pet the Dog: Despite his contempt for Ted, Brennan shows genuine concern when the latter falls down the stairs - which was staged, of course.
- Shout-Out:
- Tom's choices of weapons are a hammer, a baseball bat, a chainsaw and a katana.
- "Once again I am forced from my comfy fireside to deal with the cast of Police Academy".
- Show Within a Show: Father Ben, which Ted and Dougal are seen to be watching at the start of the episode, is a very self-deprecatory example.Dougal: That Brendan, he's such an eejit!
- Sleepwalking: Jack doing this naked is the reason Brennan is coming over.
- Staircase Tumble: Invoked by Ted when he is trying to stop Brennan from entering a room (the room they assigned for Brennan to sleep) that he thinks is infested with rabbits.
- Stock Animal Diet: Lettuce for the rabbits.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: "You may have had the wrong number there".
- Mrs Doyle and putting petrol in Bishop Brennan's car.
- Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: "They nibbled me cape and everything!"
- We Named the Monkey "Jack": Zigzagged. Dougal wants to name the rabbit after one of the other parochial house inhabitants, but repeatedly gets shot down. After the name "Flipper" is suggested, he ends up calling him "Sampras".
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Sampras is never seen again after this episode, although he does get referred to in "A Christmassy Ted".
- With Catlike Tread: While Ted is trying not to mention rabbits to the Bishop in the living room, Mrs. Doyle comes in holding lettuce and calling for the rabbits. On top of that, Dougal hides the rabbits in the Bishop's bedroom thinking it was the last place he'd find them, even though it was really one of the more obvious places to spot them.
