Careful now! The return of TedFest is March 3 - here's what to expect
Joe Rooney AKA Fr Damo pictured with Sr Kate Finnegan, Michael Morrin as Pat Mustard, Suzie Queripel as Mrs Doyle and Sr Eimear O Dea at TedFest 2020.
For lovers of all-things Craggy Island, perhaps the biggest indicator that we will come out of Covid onto the other side is the return of the beloved TedFest.
A celebration of the now-cult series (which is as popular as ever), yes, but also, a celebration of community, of people coming together to celebrate its unique quirks – dressed to the nines as nuns, priests and, quite memorably, rabbits, as was the case one particular year.
It’s back, in-person from Thursday March 3 to Sunday March 6, 2022, when Inis Mór in the Aran Islands (where the opening credits of the series was filmed) becomes the legendary ‘Craggy Island’ once more for a weekend of high-jinx.
With copious cups of tea and sandwiches, a lot of red tank-tops, nuns on the run, priests on the pull, mad-cap costumes and, of course, a bishop (or two, probably) getting a kick up the arse – what more could you want?
“The idea for TedFest was actually conceived on a tropical beach in the middle of a civil war in Sri Lanka, the year after the tsunami over there,” explains TedFest founder Peter Phillips, a native of Cardiff. “It was myself and Fergal McGrath who put the event together back in 2007.
After the tsunami, we set up a small charity over here in Wales that we were trying to fund which is where I met Fergal. To keep us sane during all this, we started talking about Father Ted. And Fergal said, ‘Why don’t we do a festival for Father Ted?’
"And that's how it came about. We didn't think it would be anything more than a bit of self-indulgence and give us a chance to meet some fellow Father Ted fans over a few days. And it sort of took off and it kept going.” Fergal, a native of Galway, stepped back from TedFest after a couple of years and Peter and a team, many who have been involved from the very start, have kept the show on the Island, so to speak.
“It was Fergal who was the bigger fan of the series,” Peter continued. “I liked the programme but I'd no idea that the people involved from Fr Damo (played by Joe Rooney) and Eoin McLove (played by Patrick McDonell) – also in this year’s TedFest – were also standup comedians in Ireland so that intrigued me. I still enjoy the programme, but I would say it's got a residency in Ireland that goes way beyond any television programme. And I can say that from the observational position of being Welsh, it goes much deeper into the DNA of its people. The Irish are so passionate about the show – it goes way beyond the television show. I think it's and that's why TedFest works.”
As to the enduring appeal of the series and, as a result, TedFest, Peter says it comes down to different elements that all worked as they should.
"I think the reason for its continuing appeal is twofold. Firstly, because it was a fantastic television programme, you know, the writing was genius, the casting was genius. I've got to know writers Graham and Arthur over the years – the way it was developed as a show, it wasn't overdone. A lot of people think the show stopped because Dermot Morgan passed away. But they had already decided they had taken it as far as it could. So as a TV show, it's par excellence. The series didn't go for the jugular, it wasn’t hard-hitting satire, it was gentle fun-poking that sort of turned the mirror on some of the absurdities of the church, basically. And Ireland came of age very quickly in the 90s and it’s a time people look back on with great affection.”
The show has passed through generations, he agrees. “I would say the average age at TedFest is probably late 20s. We get people that just started in university, we've got people in their 60s, but the average age is 28 years to 30. Those people wouldn't have grown up watching Father Ted when it came out. So the programme has gone down a full generation, and they all know every nuance of every line from the programme. But it's that affection that is still there.”
“I also think what we got right sitting on that beach drinking beer in the middle of a civil war was that we wanted to make TedFest, the opposite of a TV convention. We didn't want to run something in City West that had people watching reruns of the programmes and paying five quid for a selfie with somebody who had a walk-on part in episode 14. We wanted to recreate Craggy Island. And it's that parallel universe that works so well.”
And what can we expect at TedFest 2022? To answer that, I’d have to know what to expect at TedFest and I never know what to expect,” laughs Peter.
“But it's the people that go to TedFest who make TedFest. And it is a particular type of person who makes it – they make it entertaining.”
And there’ll be plenty of entertainment to be had in the form of a Lovely Girls Competition, Ted's Got Talent, Craggy Island’s fittest family, Matchmaking with Nellie, Priests Dance Off, The Pan Asian Zen-Off, the Father Ted Prizeless Quiz, the Craggy Cup, and a new edition, Blind Date, but without that sense of community going 15 years strong, Peter says TedFest wouldn’t be what it is today. “It’s a community where everything is inclusive.”
“There are photos of this one event and they're just people dressed as sheep, and being judged by people sitting, judging the people dressed as sheep. That to me was the best event we ever did.” Ted, who?
“Occasionally, there are random people that want to see Inishmore who have no idea what TedFest is. And they turn up and it's just mayhem going on with priests and nuns playing Five-Aside Football on the beach. And one year we did a Pirate Cruise. And I looked over, and there was an elderly couple with a suitcase just sitting there looking at what's going on. It was hilarious.”
“I still remember it was the first year and we did that bizarre football match between the islands And it was one guy that I remember and he was wandering around and all he had was a Spider-Man costume like you get from any sort of costume shop and a big towel nappy – that, of course, meant he was a spider baby with a full-on beard.”
- TedFest is back from Thursday March 3rd to Sunday March 6th 2022. Tickets are available at www.tedfest.org
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