Bless Me Father
an Episode Guide
by Russell Wodell
Last updated:
Thu, 25 Oct 2018 21:00
Bless Me Fatheran Episode Guide
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| aired from: Sep 1978 to: Sep 1981 | 21 eps | LWT | 30 min | mono | ______________ |
regulars:
recurring characters:
production credits:
Produced by London Weekend Television, this series was written by Peter de Rosa and is based upon his autobiographical novels written as "Neil Boyd". The series is an engagingly idiosyncratic situation comedy based on the post-war experiences of a young priest sent to the parish of St. Jude's in the London suburb of Fairwater in 1950. Although it is not necessary to understand the sociological underpinnings to enjoy the comedy, the series gains extra bite from the relatively embattled situation of the parishioners as (mainly Irish) Catholics in a firmly Protestant Britain just recovering from the war and still smarting under Government rationing and other restrictions. (It should also be noted that St. Jude is the Catholic patron saint of lost causes...) Period detail is understated but convincing, particularly the hideous clothes worn by the pious women.
The core of the series is naive and rather shy, Father Boyd's education at the hands of Father Duddleswell, an experienced parish priest whose staunch faith occasionally seems dangerously old-fashioned to Father Boyd but is usually revealed to be tempered by shrewd common sense and genuine goodness. Veteran character actor Arthur Lowe is quite magnificent in the role, conveying Father Duddleswell's limitations as well as his strengths, and making the growing affectionate bond between the two priests convincing and subtly moving. It is Father Duddleswell's nemesis Mother Stephen (head of the local convent) and Bishop Reilly who embody the hidebound and sometimes cruel aspects of the Church hierarchy. (It should be noted that novelist de Rosa is a formerpriest himself.) Daniel Abineri is convincingly earnest and gauche as the newly ordained curate embarrassed by his own good looks and appeal for the female members of the congregation. (So far as I know this is the only series Abineri appeared in.)
Sharp-tongued housekeeper Mrs. Pring has a love-hate 40-year relationship with Father Duddleswell which produces some delightful insult matches, as does his conflict with next-door neighbour Billy Buzzle, a Cockney bookie and black-marketeer. Most of the Irish ethnic comedy is embodied in Doctor Daley, usually seen downing a whiskey with a fag end still in his mouth while reminiscing about the Connemarra childhood he shared with his oldest friend.
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Father Duddleswell welcomes his new curate, the recently ordained Father Neil, with a teasing baptism of fire, which opens the young priest's eyes to the complex nature of his parish duties and responsibilities.
b: 24 Sep 78rc: Bishop O'Reilly, Billy Buzzle, Dr. Daley
Father Duddleswell plans to install a new church bell.
b: 1 Oct 78rc: Dr. Daley, Billy Buzzle
Father Duddleswell refuses to make bad-weather plans for the annual bazaar.
b: 8 Oct 78Father Duddleswell decides to disprove the curse of a doomsday chair.
b: 15 Oct 78rc: Bishop O'Reilly, Dr. Daley
Father Duddleswell accidentally damages the hideous portrait of the founder of the local convent, uncovering a concealed French masterpiece.
b: 22 Oct 78rc: Mr. Pinkerton
Father Duddleswell enters a tennis match against the Anglican clergy.
b: 29 Oct 78rc: Doctor Daley
Father Neil tries to modernize with a P.A. system and soundproof confessionals.
b: 5 Nov 78| Back to TOP of Page |
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rc: Dr. Daley, Mother Stephen, Billy Buzzle
Synopsis needed
b: 11 Nov 79rc:
Synopsis needed.
b: 18 Nov 79rc:
Father Neil receives embarrassing attentions from Miss Davenport, which he must tolerate because she is a generous benefactor of the Parish.
b: 25 Nov 79A beautiful nurse helps Neil recover from an appendectomy.
b: 9 Dec 79rc: Dr. Daley
Father Duddleswell tries to arrange a burial at sea.
b: 16 Dec 79rc: Billy Buzzle, Dr. Daley
Even at Christmas, Father Duddleswell can't keep out of trouble.
b: 23 Dec 79rc: Dr. Daley
Exhausted from performing several marriages, Father Duddleswell takes Father Boyd to the pictures as a treat -- where they are paged to return to the parish to perform one more forgotten wedding. After placating the angry families and seeing the young couple off on their honeymoon, Father Duddleswell realizes that he performed the ceremony after 6 pm, and therefore the bridge and groom are not legally married.
b: 6 Jan 80| Back to TOP of Page |
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Father Neil offers advice to a woman with marital problems and thereby provides a field day for gossips.
b: 5 Jul 81rc:
Synopsis needed.
b: 12 Jul 81rc:
Synopsis needed.
b: 19 Jul 81rc: Billy Buzzle, Mother Stephen
A family deals with an irreverent grandfather.
b: 26 Jul 81rc: Mother Stephen, Billy Buzzle, Dr. Daley
When he was young, Father Duddleswell was curate to a legendary eccentric. Now, 40 years late, the old man has come to stay just when Father Duddleswell is incapacitated with lumbago, and manages to turn the parish upside down -- including locking Fr. Neil in the church with Mother Stephen.
b: 2 Aug 81rc: Billy Buzzle, Dr. Daley
When Billy Buzzle sets up a pig-sty in his back yard to accommodate Porgy and Bess, two pigs he has received from a defaulting better, the resultant stench proves too much for Father Duddleswell, who desperately resorts to pig-napping, stealing Porgy by dead of night and taking him to a nearby farm. When Porgy subsequently dies, Billy takes Fr. Duddleswell to court, but the judge, while berating Fr. Duddleswell for his transparently dishonest testimony, rules in his favour. Then Bess appears to be succumbing to the same sickness, but Dr. Daley reassures everyone that she is only in labour...
b: 9 Aug 81rc: Mother Stephen, Mr. Pinkerton
Mother Stephen demands an audience with Fr. Duddleswell over a serious problem: Christine Hammond, a war orphan brought up in the convent, has fallen in love with Isaac Rosen, the elder son of the local rabbi. When the priest and the rabbi meet, they immediately agree that the marriage is impossible; so the young couple decides to ask the Anglican vicar to marry them. When Mr. Pinkerton insists that they wait two weeks before making a decision, the couple come to see Fr. Boyd, who suggests a "naughty" plan: Christine and Isaac announce that they have already been married in the registry office. Both Fr. Duddleswell and Rabbi Rosen are overcome with joy and wish them happiness -- whereupon they confess they were only testing them to see who would treat them with greater kindness. Fr. Duddleswell invites Rabbi Rosen to dinner (which Mrs. Pring supplies from a local kosher caterer), and we learn that the wedding did indeed take place in the registry office, as Fr. Boyd leads a toast to the happy couple.
b: 16 Aug 81| Back to TOP of Page |
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