User Reviews

Father Stone arrives for his annual visit to Craggy Island, a quiet chap, who's just content to be in the company of others, he proves to be hard work.

I think this one works so well, because many of us know someone like Paul, who doesn't exactly give much to a conversation, but is instead just happy to sit back and listen. The frustrations of all is The Presbytery are so funny, even the thick skinned Mrs Doyle.

Funniest scene comes where he's struck by lightning.

It's hugely memorable, a definite classic. 8/10

Father's Ted and Dougal are not happy to find it's that time of year when the most taciturn priest in Ireland, Father Stone, arrives for his annual visit. Ted's efforts to get rid of him eventually backfires and leave him regretting his selfish motivations.

Quite a brave episode to use as the second in a completely new series that is yet to gain an established audience. Surely the idea of basing a whole episode around a priest who only utters the occasional word is akin to signing your own comedy death warrant but not here. Of course there are scenes with plenty of dialogue too, but strong performances from Dermot Morgan as Ted, and the hitherto unknown Michael Redmond as the titular Father Stone, make the quiet scenes almost as good as the more garrulous ones (not quite as good though). The acting is superb because you can feel Ted's frustration whilst you can't help but like the rather inoffensive Father Stone.

Throughout the three series, and I'm assuming this is done deliberately, Ted is portrayed as someone with no spirituality whatsoever, yet here we see him appealing to the heavens for help on two occasions. Ted's acknowledgement of an omnipotent being crops up throughout the show's run and confuses me. He obviously does have a sense of spirituality and, the thing here is, that Ted's prayers ARE answered ... on both occasions. Divine intervention or coincidence? I suppose we all take our own answer from that.

As I've said in previous reviews of the show, a major strength of the writing of Father Ted is the ability to take a simple subject, in this case an overly reserved priest, and milk it for a whole episode of comedy. Within the episode, the scene where Ted wants privacy in the bath is a classic and, for me, it's the first of many classics of the series.

It's good to see John and Mary are back, quite obviously having been through self-inflicted wars, with Ted and Dougal are fooled by their phoney intimacy, a gag that runs through the whole three series yet still remains funny. The injuries look to be the result of quite vicious actions, something more akin to a horror film, so again the writers are not afraid to head down a darker path. That said, it is a comedy and a jolly good at that.