Agents rushed to fill a dead man's shoes

Agents were lining up to pitch their clients as the new Father Ted just days after Dermot Morgan died, his co-star Ardal O’Hanlon has revealed.

The stand-up said that producers were deluged with calls after 45-year-old Morgan died of a heart attack in 1999, just 24 hours after finishing filming the sitcom’s final episode episode.

But there was no way the series would have continued without its star, O’Hanlon said in a new radio interview.

‘In the days and weeks that followed Dermot's death, casting agents and agents were ringing up the production company offering the services of various actors, some esteemed, some not so-esteemed,’ he said.

‘We just wouldn't have done it. There were other suggestions there would be spin-offs without Father Ted, which wouldn't work either. With the best will in the world Mrs Doyle, Father Jack and Father Dougal were foils for Father Ted. Father Ted was the only three-dimensional character.’

He added that writers Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan had already decided there would be no more episodes, even if Morgan hadn’t died, as they feared they couldn’t sustain the quality of the show any longer.

Published: 24 May 2010