Talk:Dermot Morgan

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The section on Father Ted claims that this show originated with Dermot Morgan, and that RTÉ refused to produce it. As far as I'm aware, this is all urban myth. The show was originated by Matthews and Linehan, and was never offered to RTÉ. They may have been inspired by Morgan's Father Trendy character, and this certainly inspired their casting, but as far as I'm aware Morgan was not involved in the origination of the concept. Any thoughts? --Ryano 16:16, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I'm going to remove the following from the article and rework the section on the origin of Father Ted a little. Currently it gives the misleading impression that the series originated with Morgan and was turned down by RTÉ. However, some of the following stuff might be salvagable in a section on Morgan's relationship with RTÉ:

Morgan's strained relationship with RTÉ reached breaking point when a proposed comedy series he had been working on, and which was to be set around the relationship between three odd Roman Catholic priests sent as a form of exile to a mythical island off the Irish coast, failed to receive RTÉ backing. The reasons were complicated; the view in RTÉ was Morgan, though a brilliant talent, was unfocused and difficult, RTÉ's own poor record in producing comedy (RTÉ itself was shocked that it managed to produce something as genuinely funny as Scrap Saturday, albeit on radio), the fact that RTÉ's own recent attempt at priestly comedy, Leave it to Mrs. O'Brien (about an Irish priest's housekeeper, who was played by acclaimed stage actress Anna Manahan), had bombed disastrously and embarrassingly. In addition, the early 1990s had seen RTÉ facing the financial drain on its meagre resources thanks to having to host three expensive Eurovision Song Contests in a row. In the circumstances, a station with most of its light-entertainment budget swallowed up three years in a row by Eurovision Song Contests, and with a poor record on comedy viewed the prospect of another priestly comedy show, starring a comedian who had never acted before, and who was viewed as difficult to manage, as unappealing.

--Ryano 14:52, 15 Apr 2005 (UTC)

It's all urban myth, albeit one which has long festered into truth among journalists in Ireland, even ones in RTE. The character of Ted Crilly was performed first by Aurthur Matthews during shows by Dublin comedy act, the U2 "Tribute" band, The Joshua Trio (led by long-time Matthews cohort, Paul Wonderful). Linehan and Matthews had been in London for some time, having written the sitcom "Paris" for Alexei Sayle (as well as contibuting to Brass Eye and The Day today, among others), when they pitched the idea of three priests on an island to Channel 4 commissioning editor Seamus Cassidy, who suggested expanding it to a sitcom. It was never pitched to RTE but RTE later purchased the series and it has hardly been off the screens in Ireland since.

- Comedyfan, 22/6/05

[edit] Statue

Isn't there a statue in Morgan's memory (of a big chair?) in a park in Dublin? It would be nice to have a photo of this. Seabhcán 14:56, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tenuous Relevance

A lot of the Father Ted stuff has nothing to do with Morgan himself - we don't need a description of characters he didn't play, for example.

[edit] Major cleanup

• I've removed the following section from the article:

A persistent urban myth suggests that RTÉ, initially offered Father Ted, turned it down either because of timidity in dealing with religious themes in a comedy series, or because of an ongoing feud with Morgan. In fact, the independent production company Hat Trick always intended the show for Channel 4. Apart from the fact that they never pitched the show to RTÉ, no evidence suggests that the religious theme would have scared the broadcaster off. It had already produced Leave it to Mrs. O'Brien, a similarly-themed sitcom which hardly rivalled Father Ted in quality (it has never repeated the series on television, given its perceived poor quality) but the fact that it made it at all showed that RTÉ did not regard religion as a 'comedic no go area' as some have claimed. RTÉ had launched Dermot Morgan's Father Trendy and had kept him on the air for four years; and on the Late Late Show had constantly enraged the Catholic Church with discussions on lesbian nuns, contraception, homosexuality and abortion. The station had a general reputation as liberal and left-of-centre, with conservative Catholics accusing it of long anti-Catholic bias. According to its critics, RTÉ's problem wasn't that it was afraid of the Catholic Church, but that it was afraid of offending anyone, its fear of offending politicians being the reason for the axing of Scrap Saturday. (No evidence has ever been produced that it had been complained to over Scrap Saturday; most politicians were as flabbergasted as the rest of the listening public when it was axed, many missing the way in which their opponents would be slagged off, in particularly its "wickedly funny" treatment of Haughey, in the words of one of Haughey's own ministers.)

I think that, aside from it being hugely biased in favour of RTÉ and reading like a defence more than an NPOV section, it has no place in this article as it deals with the television show more than it does with Morgan himself.

• I have also removed:

Though the actress was only in her mid 30s, she was deliberately made to look like a fifty-five year old widow who had devoted her life to being a housekeeper and whose role was to be tea-maker in chief, produce sandwiches by the ton, and do such 'unimportant' tasks as repair the roof, clean the chimney and be at the beck and call of her clerical bosses at all times of the day and night. Her method of encouraging a reluctant person to take a cup of tea whether they wanted to or not, "you will, you will, you will, you will, go on, you will, you will . . . ", or alternatively "Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on . . . " became another of the show's most famous catchphrases.

from the section on Father Ted, as it has nothing to do with Morgan, as well as bits and pieces on Jack and Dougal.

• Could we get some references for some of the views apparently held by RTÉ and Morgan towards one another, and as the user above said, perhaps a section on his relationship with RTÉ could be possible if this were achieved. I've marked a few places where citations are needed; anyone with anything helpful is encouraged to contribute.

• The second-last line read:

Dermot Morgan was cremated in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin and buried in Deansgrange Cemetery.

Well, which was it? Could we get some clarification on this, please, as it's quite confusing.