Father Ted : Complete Box Set [DVD] [1995]

Father Ted is one of those rare sitcoms that defies categorisation--it owes as much to Flann O'Brien and Samuel Beckett as it does to Monty Python--and its blend of satire, character comedy and anarchic surrealism has made it a cult favourite around the world. Exiled to remote Craggy Island, Father Ted shares a house with the breathtakingly stupid Father Dougal Maguire and the constantly inebriated Father Jack, who has a small vocabulary and a taste for furniture polish. Their housekeeper, Mrs Doyle, takes care of them with a never-ending supply of tea and sandwiches: "Go on now, Father, won't you try one? They're diagonal." Together they fight boredom by dressing up as Elvis, startling ducks at the fair and provoking nuns. This set compiles the entire three-year series. --Simon Leake

The entire 3 series of the cult favourite Channel 4 sitcom which centres on a house of three Catholic priests (Fathers Ted, Dougal and Jack), situated on a remote Irish island. In 'Good Luck, Father Ted', Ted has a chance of appearing on television but is thwarted by Dougal, Jack and the arrival of the worst fair in the world. In 'Entertaining Father Stone', Ted decides that he has had enough of Father Stone's visits to Craggy Island, but a bolt of lightning changes his mind. Whilst in 'The Passion of St Tibulus', Ted and Dougal demonstrate outside the local cinema that is showing a film banned by the Pope, but the film becomes more successful despite their protestations. The priests do their 'Three Stages of Elvis' act in the All Priests Look-a-Like Competition in 'Competition Time', while in 'And God Created Woman', Ted finds his vows of celibacy tested by the arrival on Craggy Island of a steamy authoress. Whilst in 'Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest', Jack consumes too much floor polish and leaves Ted and Dougal half a million pounds in his will, but he may not stay dead long enough for them to collect. In 'Hell', the Fathers' annual holiday looks to be heading for disaster with the arrival of a suspicious couple, an over-excitable youth group and plenty of rain. In 'Think Fast Father Ted', Ted damages the first prize (a new car) in the church raffle and must come up with a plan. In 'Tentacles of Doom', Ted is desperate to keep Dougal and Jack under control when the Bishop comes to Craggy Island to upgrade the Holy Stone of Clonrichert to a class II relic. You will enjoy it. Oh, you will, you will, you will... In 'The Old Grey Whistle Theft', a rebellious young priest arrives on the island and threatens to bring about the breakdown of law and order. In 'A Song For Europe', Ted decides to enter the Song For Europe 'borrowing' an old unknown song for his entry. In 'The Plague', the Bishop (who has an intense phobia of rabbits) comes to visit just as Dougal gets a new pet. In the grand old sitcom tradition, the pet just happens to be a rabbit. In 'Are You Right There, Father Ted' Ted's transfer from Craggy Island does not last as long as he'd hoped for, and upon his return he finds that a few changes have taken place. 'Chirpy Burpy Cheap Sheep' sees Ted uncovering a foul conspiracy at the Annual Sheep Competition. 'Speed 3' has Dougal's life placed at risk by vengeful playboy milkman Pat Mustard. In 'The Mainland' Mrs Doyle and Father Jack show Ted up on a trip to the mainland. 'Escape from Victory' sees the old rivalry between Ted and Father Dick Byrne revived when Craggy Island take on Rugged Island in the All-Priests Over-75's Five-a-Side Football Challenge Match. 'Kicking Bishop Brennan Up the Arse' has Ted try to gather the courage to carry out a terrifying dare. 'Night of the Nearly Dead' finds the parochial house under seige by zombified housekeepers when woolly-jumpered television heart-throb Eoin McLove comes to tea with Mrs Doyle. Finally, in 'Going to America', Ted sees a chance of escape from Craggy Island when he is offered a job in America. Sadly, star Dermot Morgan died shortly after filming of the series was completed, but the decision had already been made to end the show while it was at its peak.