Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

In my last term at CH in 1960 I remember a senior boy Nick Cox saying to me that he sometimes felt that he was sitting on a volcano. This was in Col. B where NT Fryer was housemaster. More recently I read an interview in Radio Times with the originators of Father Ted who said that they got the idea because they'd noticed that if you put a group of people (particularly single gender) away in an isolated community for a length of time they ended up driving each other mad. Was this what was happening at Horsham then (or maybe at Hertford too?) Were these places just very large versions of Craggy Island with a few lonely matrons dotted around like token Mrs Doyles?
The interviewees said that soon after the series began they were introduced to a priest who ran a similarly rural community. They were a bit worried that he might be offended by the humour, but he talked away amicably enough without mentioning it and in the end they got curious and asked him. "Lads," he replied, "yer don't know the half of it!"

Very true, Freaky !

I don't know if you've seen it, but there is a very good documentry which has been shown on TV about the making of 'Father Ted', after Termot Morgan passed away, and before Dermot Kelly followed suit. Hard to believe, but Dermot was a serious character actor.

Very true, Freaky !

I don't know if you've seen it, but there is a very good documentry which has been shown on TV about the making of 'Father Ted', after Dermot Morgan passed away, and before Frank Kelly followed suit. Hard to believe, but Frank Kelly was a serious character actor.

CH as a sitcom? What a great thread.
Certainly some stories on this forum - such as a sausage in communion and the tales about Kirby - qualify.
And yes, I can see some similarities between CH and Father Ted.
Buckaroo.... the sport of kings anyone?

rockfreak wrote:Were these places just very large versions of Craggy Island with a few lonely matrons dotted around like token Mrs Doyles?

I had never thought of that, but now I will never be able to get rid of the idea!

A few years ago, on one of my first visits to Ireland, we stayed in a hostel on Achill Island. It turned out to be an ex-clergy house, almost exactly like Father Ted's house, and in almost exactly the same situation. It was half empty. The few Irish people staying there were gathered in the sitting room laughing at Father Ted on the TV. It felt pretty much like visiting Father Ted in person. It didn't, though, feel remotely like being at CH.