THE FR STACK episode of Father Ted is easily one of the most memorable of the Channel 4 series; fight us, we dare you.
Aggressive, belligerent and a die-hard fan of jungle-music, the role of Fr Stack was played (and absolutely nailed) by Irish comedian Brendan Grace back in 1996.
But, as it turns out, the Dubliner wasn’t a fan of the Channel 4 show… up until he landed a role, that is.
Speaking to RTÉ, the 67-year-old said:
When Father Ted first came on, I wasn’t really a fan. I’m not sure I had watched it at all, but there was a part on offer so I went along for the reading.
And as we all know, Brendan secured the part and gave Fr Stack the vaguely sinister side for which he’s still remembered today.
Some very well known actors also went along but mine was picked up because of the way I portrayed him. I put a different spin on Father Stack, making him more passive aggressive and that’s what the writers wanted.
Brendan is well aware that despite his hugely successful career as a stand-up, which introduced the public to the character of Bottler, he will only ever be known as Fr Stack to thousands of people.
In fact, he’s still regularly asked to deliver Fr Stack’s one-liners from fans of the show.
From that day to this, I get hundreds of people who come up to me and ask me to recite a line of Father Stack’s into their phones. Some of these people never heard about Bottler; some of them probably don’t know I’m Brendan Grace, but they all know about this dreadful, sarcastic priest.
“I keep having to say, ‘You dirty feckers’ into their camera phones,” he added.
We’d have gone with the ‘head through the wall’ line, but OK.
