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MOTH -> RE: Father Ted (21/7/2006 8:07:20 PM)
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punchdrunk - Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews are big film fans (Linehan used to have a column in Neon magazine), so some of the film influences in the series are obvious (e.g. Night of the Living Dead, Speed), some not so (The Conversation where Ted has wrecked the house looking for bugs at the start of the indoor soccer episode).
One good example was The Passion of St Tibulus episode which was inspired by the storm caused in Ireland by the film Je Vous Salue, Marie, Godard's updating of the Virgin Mary story. Like in the episode, the controversy about it made it more successful than it ever would have normally. Another is Chris the sheep lipreading in one episode, inspired by HAL from 2001.
There's good examples like that throughout the book, showing where real-life events in Ireland and/or Irish stereotypes inspired plots/characters. They're surprisingly critical of themselves too. E.g they don't think much of the Christmas episode, believing it to be essentially two episodes, weakly linked together. Likewise they explain how hard it was to keep Fr. Jack involved in stories as he had quickly become a 'catchphrase' character who lent little to the plots. All in all, nice insights into the process of sitcom writing.
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