Father Ted Trivia
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48 free Father Ted trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Three priests, one housekeeper and a parochial house at the end of the world: Father Ted ran for just three series on Channel 4 in the 1990s, yet its lines still turn up on protest placards and postage stamps. These 48 questions range across the whole run, from the first episode to the finale and the Christmas special: the cast and the writers who dreamed the show up, the guest stars, the theme music, the running gags, the real filming locations and the fan festival that followed. Fans will find plenty they know, and a few things they don't. Play it solo, print it for a quiz night, or settle once and for all who in the group is the real Craggy Island expert.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Father Ted star died on 28 February 1998, one day after filming of the final series wrapped?
Dermot Morgan
Dermot Morgan was 45, and the third series was held back a week as a mark of respect. Frank Kelly, his Father Jack, died on the same date exactly 18 years later.
Q 02At Father Ted's cinema protest, Ted's placard reads 'Down with this sort of thing'; what does Dougal's say?
Careful now
Careful now has since been waved at real protests, from the Pope's 2010 UK visit to student marches, and a protester carries Ted's sign in Grand Theft Auto V.
Q 03What does Ted hold up in Father Ted's caravan episode to explain 'small' versus 'far away' to Dougal?
Toy cows
Toy cows fail to get perspective across to Dougal, and Ted gives up; the line later titled Channel 4's retrospective documentary, Small, Far Away: The World of Father Ted.
Q 04Which musician recorded Father Ted's theme tune in The Jesus and Mary Chain's studio?
Neil Hannon
Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy offered two tunes; the writers wanted the jauntier one, but their producer overruled them, and the winner later gained lyrics on the band's 1996 album Casanova.
Q 05Which song do Ted and Dougal perform for Ireland in Father Ted's spoof of the Eurovision Song Contest?
My Lovely Horse
My Lovely Horse is picked by producer Charles Hedges, whom Dick Byrne suspects of wanting a loser so Ireland need not host yet again; it duly scores nul points from every country.
Q 06Which One Foot in the Grave star, playing himself in Father Ted, attacks Ted for shouting 'I don't believe it!'?
Richard Wilson
Richard Wilson genuinely hates strangers quoting the catchphrase at him and only performs it for charity; the writers dreamt up the scene sitting behind him at Cirque du Soleil.
Q 07Which Father Ted episode has Dougal driving a milk float rigged to explode if it drops below four miles per hour?
Speed 3
Speed 3 was born when Linehan and Mathews asked how to make a worse sequel than Speed 2: Cruise Control, and fans voted it their favourite episode on Channel 4's Father Ted Night.
Q 08Which future chat-show host played youth-group priest Father Noel Furlong in three Father Ted episodes?
Graham Norton
Graham Norton first turned up in the caravan episode Hell and bowed out in The Mainland, buried under rocks after a screeching contest in the Very Dark Caves.
Q 09Which Father Ted actor went on to play superhero Thermoman in My Hero and DI Jack Mooney in Death in Paradise?
Ardal O'Hanlon
Ardal O'Hanlon called Dougal his first proper job in television, and he and his on-screen Ted did their own stunts, once being dragged through a field behind a tractor.
Q 10Which American comedian reportedly signed on in 2004 to play Ted in a never-made US remake of Father Ted?
Steve Martin
Steve Martin, reported to be a fan of the original, was to play Ted on a small island off New York; a 2007 attempt cast John Michael Higgins instead, and neither version reached the screen.
Q 11What forfeit does Father Ted owe Dick Byrne after cheating at the over-75s football match?
Kick Bishop Brennan up the arse
Kick Bishop Brennan up the arse is the forfeit, and Byrne makes sure of it by telling the bishop his likeness has miraculously appeared in the parochial house skirting boards.
Q 12Father Jack Hackett's vocabulary in Father Ted runs to 'feck', 'arse', 'girls' and which other one-word roar?
Drink
Drink is the staple, and Frank Kelly wore a special lens in one eye to play Jack; when he was in full make-up, people would not eat with him.
Q 13Money meant for a child's Lourdes trip ended up 'resting' in Father Ted's account; where did Ted go on it instead?
Las Vegas
Q 21In Father Ted, which stock reply does Ted teach Jack for visiting bishops?
That would be an ecumenical matter
That would be an ecumenical matter covers everything, until Bishop Facks gets so excited by Jack's 'views' that Jack rams the newly upgraded relic up his rear end.
Q 22Which award does Ted win in Father Ted's Christmas special for guiding fellow priests out of a vast lingerie section?
The Golden Cleric
The Golden Cleric comes with no cash prize, and Ted's obsession with it is mirrored by a visiting priest who tries to steal it in the night.
Q 23Mrs Doyle spends nearly an hour guessing the name of a priest who arrives for Christmas in Father Ted; who is he?
Las Vegas stayed Ted's fantasy destination: the writers say his obsession with money emerged only once they began tailoring the part to its eventual star.
Q 14Which singer do Ted, Dougal and Jack all dress as for the priests' lookalike contest in Father Ted's Competition Time?
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley gets a three-ages tribute, young Dougal, comeback Ted and a half-asleep late-period Jack, a storyline Linehan later regretted as a sign of running out of ideas in series one.
Q 15Which lecherous Father Ted milkman is sacked after Ted and Dougal spy on his rounds?
Pat Mustard
Pat Mustard is undone when Ted links him to Craggy Island's suspiciously hairy babies, and he takes revenge by planting a bomb on the milk float Dougal has taken over.
Q 16Location filming for Father Ted took place mostly in which Irish county, around Corofin, Kilfenora and Ennistymon?
Clare
County Clare supplied most of the exteriors, including the caravan park at Fanore, but every interior was shot in a London studio in front of a live audience.
Q 17The Lovely Girls competition that Ted judges in Father Ted's Rock a Hula Ted parodies which real Irish festival?
The Rose of Tralee
The Rose of Tralee gets spoofed with rounds of sandwich-making, walking and laughing, and Ted crowns Imelda the winner.
Q 18In Father Ted's Rock a Hula Ted, a feminist singer who takes over the parochial house parodies which Irish musician?
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor is the target: Niamh Connolly, played by the lead singer of Altered Images, goes on television to claim the Church closed factories that made potatoes during the Famine.
Q 19In Father Ted's Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest, Father Jack appears to die after downing what?
Floor polish
Floor polish only mimics death, and it wears off just after Ted and Dougal learn Jack has left them £500,000, so they head out to buy more.
Q 20Which household object on Ted's head leads Craggy Island's Chinese community to brand him a racist in Father Ted?
A lampshade
A lampshade, worn as a conical hat, is spotted by the Yin family through the window; Ted's apology party wins them over, until they find a dead priest's Nazi memorabilia in the house.
Todd Unctious
Todd Unctious is an awards-obsessed thief who tries to steal Ted's trophy overnight; Mrs Doyle's wrong guesses later filled a booklet of An Post commemorative stamps.
Q 24In Father Ted's The Plague, Dougal names his new pet rabbit after which tennis player?
Pete Sampras
Pete Sampras lends his surname to the rabbit, which multiplies into dozens just as rabbit-phobic Bishop Brennan arrives to inspect the house.
Q 25What befalls Father Ted's dull guest Father Stone after Ted prays to be rid of him?
He is struck by lightning
He is struck by lightning while raising a golf club, and a guilt-ridden Ted promises at his hospital bedside to look after him for the rest of his days.
Q 26Which Irish comedian plays the despairing Father Kevin whom Ted talks down from a ledge in Father Ted's final episode?
Tommy Tiernan
Tommy Tiernan's Father Kevin was to reappear in the original ending, with Ted joining him on the ledge, but the writers swapped that for a reverse-order montage of every episode.
Q 27Which Tony-winning stage actor, a regular in Conor McPherson's plays, plays Bishop Len Brennan in Father Ted?
Jim Norton
Jim Norton was cast after the writers saw him as the butler Wentworth in a 1995 episode of Frasier; he has also played Albert Einstein twice in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Q 28Which Father Ted actress, only in her early thirties when cast as elderly Mrs Doyle, won a 1996 British Comedy Award?
Pauline McLynn
Pauline McLynn's tea-pushing housekeeper was modelled on Graham Linehan's own mother; she went on to play Yvonne Cotton in EastEnders and Libby Croker in Shameless.
Q 29For which BBC sketch series did Father Ted's writers create Ralph and Ted, a lovelorn squire and his gardener?
The Fast Show
The Fast Show's Ralph and Ted were a Linehan and Mathews creation; the pair also planned Irish Lives, a mock documentary series whose episode about a priest grew into Father Ted.
Q 30Which karst landscape, spotted by location manager Joe Mardis from a pub, stands in for Father Ted's Craggy Island?
The Burren
The Burren's bare rock convinced Mardis the area could pass for an island, and the parochial house exterior is a real farmhouse, Glenquin House, on the road from Kilnaboy.