Father Ted - The Definitive Collection [1995] [DVD] List Price: £49.99 Sale Price: £13.94 You save: £36.05 (72%)   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days

Written by Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews, who incidentally also wrote for Harry Enfield, Father Ted is the best example of British / Irish absurdity in a very long time. From the basic premise of three misfit priests, thrown together on a windswept isle off the coast of Ireland, looked after by a batty housekeeper, and interacting with all manner of freakish locals, Father Ted is beautifully written and wonderfully acted. That the words "arse", "feck", "drink" and "girls" are part of my vocab is down to this programme rather than any linguistic failing on my part.

Where to start eh? Starring the late great Dermot Morgan, Father Ted was centred on three recalcitrant priests and their quite frankly, bonkers housekeeper, Mrs Doyle (Pauline McLynn). All three have murky pasts. Ted had misappropriated funds collected in order to take a sick boy to Lourdes, although he claims that '...the money was only resting' in his account. Father Jack, played by Frank Kelly is there because of his disastrous performance in a wedding in Athlone. Father Dougal, played of course by Ardal O'Hanlon, was the perpetrator of the mysterious Blackrock incident.

Channel 4 made a total of 25 episode of Father Ted, with the first one being broadcast on 21 April 1995 and the last one on 1 May 1998. Despite John Cleese's very laudable attitude to Fawlty Towers (only 12 episodes), Matthews and Linehan produced an incredibly consistent body of work over those 25 episodes.

I found Father Ted whilst scrolling through the available TV channels one Friday night. I think that it was the fifth episode, 'And God Created Woman'. Within seconds, I was hooked. And I wasn't watching it alone. My best mate, and Irishman (relevant or not? Mmm, probably not!) had picked it up too. And one night after an FA Cup Final, we were sat in a pub called the Victoria in Richmond (Surrey), spouting our favourite Ted quotes, when the table next door joined in with us. Priceless!