Father Ted Crilly

Father Ted Crilly (played by Dermot Morgan) is the extravagant main character of Father Ted.
He is an Irish Catholic priest on Craggy Island who constantly feels burdened by the idiocy and insanity of those around him. According to several sources, Ted's birthday is November 15. He was sent to the failing parish as penance for a misdemeanor known only as 'that Lourdes thing', whereby he allegedly stole charitable donations intended to fund a poor child's pilgrimage and then absconded to Las Vegas with it (he always claimed that the money was just 'resting in his account'). He claims to miss the thrill and the buzz of working in "the big city" although it was later suggested that his previous parish was actually in the small town of Wexford. Despite being one of the series' few sympathetic characters, Ted is a greedy and vainglorious man; he dreams of abandoning his fellow clergy and ministering a parish far away in America. However, he finds his ambitions constantly quashed by the demands of his much feared, narcissistic superior, Bishop Len Brennan, and the two priests he was charged with caring for: the violent alcoholic Father Jack Hackett and the profoundly unintelligent Father Dougal McGuire, as well as their manic housekeeper Mrs Doyle. Ted likes to give the image of a charitable humanitarian but dreams of a more glamorous calling than the priesthood. He serves as a straightman compared to his rather odd counterparts.

Despite his past wrongdoings, various character flaws and general distaste for life as a priest, Ted often displays a real religious conviction and appears genuinely disturbed or offended whenever Dougal says anything that questions the Catholic faith. However, Ted often tries to exploit his beliefs for his own ends, such as praying for God to get rid of his unwanted house guest, Father Stone. He is quick to twist or reinterpret the teachings of the church in order to justify his more outlandish schemes. On one such occasion he persuaded Dougal to help him rig a church raffle by explaining that doing so would save Bishop Brennan's soul because Brennan would most likely want to commit the even greater sin of murder should he find out that Ted accidentally destroyed the original raffle prize. He does sometimes slip up on religious topics, however, such as suggesting artificial contraception (which the Catholic Church disagrees with) to oversexed milkman, Pat Mustard or getting into an awkward discussion with a gay man about the Pope's stance on homosexuality, leading him to deny Papal infallibility.

Ted has a long-standing rivalry and game of one-upmanship with Father Dick Byrne, parish priest of Rugged Island, and is frequently seen displaying his childish side through the various petty tricks he plays on him. Father Byrne often is as bad as Ted by giving him dares or mocking him (This is seen in the episodes 'A Song for Europe' and Kicking Bishop Brennan up the Arse'). Ted's only known family is a brother who is a Doctor; he is mentioned briefly in "Entertaining Father Stone". Ted dreads visits from Bishop Brennan, as the latter despises him and usually punishes him.