Competition Time

'Competition Time', also known (by me) as the Elvis Episode. It's the annual all priests look-a-like competition, loosely based upon Stars in Their Eyes, and Ted is going as Elvis. Trouble is, so too are Dougal and Jack! Ted was resigned to having to go as Mother Teresa yet again, when he came up with the idea for the three ages of Elvis, with Dougal as the young Elvis, himself as the Elvis of the 1968 Comeback Special and Jack as Elvis in his white jumpsuits and burgers phase.

The episode also features the first appearance of Ted's would-be-nemesis, Fr Dick Byrne and his Rugged Island cronies, Fr Cyril (MacDuff) and Fr Jim Johnson. The interaction between Ted and Dick is all the more delicious for the fact that whilst we get the impression that Dick is superior, it is usually Ted who comes out on top. This is the case in this episode, as the Craggy Island Elvis impersonators beat the Rugged Island Supremes (with the boys marvelously politically incorrectly 'blacked-up' with oxo or boot polish and also in drag).

There is another storyline running in the episode, that of the adventures of Henry Sellers, the former BBC TV host who was sacked for his drunken excesses. We see him falling off the wagon after a small sherry given to him by Mrs Doyle; followed by his escape and capture with a drugged dart by Sgt Deegan; to his judging of the priests' competition (complete with ridiculously ill fitting hair piece); and finally going completely potty with yet another alcoholic lapse as Ted and Dougal attempt to celebrate their victory over the gang from Ragged Island.