"Old Grey Whistle Theft" is the fourth episode of the second series of the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

Father Ted ''Father Ted'' is a sitcom created by Irish writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews (writer), Arthur Mathews and produced by British production company Hat Trick Productions for British television channel Channel 4. It aired over three seri ...

''. The title is a pun on the

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios ...

music show ''

The Old Grey Whistle Test ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''Whistle Test'' or ''OGWT'') is a British television music series broadcast by the BBC. It was devised by producer Rowan Ayers, commissioned by David Attenborough, and aired on BBC2 from ...

''.

Synopsis

Ted prepares for a picnic outing with other priests, but find they have been waylaid, while Dougal makes an excuse not to go so he can spend more time with a rebellious new priest, Father Damien "Damo" Lennon, who behaves like an insolent teenager. Ted expresses his concerns about Damien to Dougal, but Dougal continues to hang out with him. Ted decides to go to the desolate picnic area by himself. However, he is forced to take

Jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, incl ...

with him, after Jack recognised a bottle of Jacob's Creek Chardonnay from 1991 that Ted was taking, just by hearing the bottle clinking (despite Ted trying to convince him that it is just fizzy water), and demanded a drink; Jack very quickly drinks the whole bottle when Ted's back is turned. Despite no one else being there, a couple of aggressive regulars accost Ted, demanding they move, and the overzealous groundskeeper Benson intercedes, blowing his whistle frequently. Ted, disgusted, leaves with Jack. That night, an unknown person steals Benson's whistle, and the next day the whole of Craggy Island is in arms about the theft; Benson is so traumatised about the theft that he has lost the use of his leg and is forced to use a wheelchair. Ted discovers the whistle in a pack of cigarettes in Dougal's coat, and starts to get Dougal to confess. Just then, Benson and Sergeant Hodgkins arrive at the parochial house, with news that a witness to the crime said it was done by a priest. Dougal, having misinterpreted what Ted was telling him, states Ted stole the whistle. Shocked, Ted leaves to come up with an explanation. While he is out of the room, Father Frost arrives, dragging Damien with him, having discovered he was the actual thief and that he tried to frame Dougal. Ted returns, and starts a long fabrication of the reasons for stealing the whistle until he realises the case has been solved. After the others leave, Ted gives Dougal a lecture about trusting those who are "cool". He explains that there is no place in the Roman Catholic Church for

bad apples The bad apples metaphor originated as a warning of the corrupting influence of one corrupt or sinful person on a group: that "one bad apple can spoil the barrel". Over time the concept has been used to describe the opposite situation, where "a ...

such as Father Damien, the Bishop of Galway (a priest who lived with his housekeeper), and a priest who was running guns into Iraq – "the list goes on and on". He then asks Dougal if he has learned anything from this, to which Dougal replies, "No".

Production

Arthur Mathews plays the irate man who – strictly observing the picnic area's no-swearing rule – tells Ted to, "Fup off, you grasshole!"

Legacy

In 2015, Joe Rooney said that he would be interested in making a Father Damo spin-off, and suggested that Damo would probably be working in

The Projects In the United States, subsidized housing is administered by federal, state and local agencies to provide subsidized rental assistance for low-income households. Public housing is priced much below the market rate, allowing people to live in ...

in New York City, living with "a girl and a gay fella" and rapping

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

. In 2016, Rooney reprised the role of Damo for an Over The Top wrestling match alongside

Patrick McDonnell Patrick McDonnell (born March 17, 1956) is a cartoonist, author, and playwright. He is the creator of the daily comic strip '' Mutts'', which follows the adventures of a dog and a cat, that has been syndicated since 1994. Prior to creating ''Mut ...

and Michael Redmond as Eoin McLove and Father Stone.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Old Grey Whistle Theft Father Ted episodes 1996 British television episodes