Editing Father Dougal McGuire (section)

==Concept and creation==
Arthur Mathews created the character of Father Ted while working at ''Hot Press'' in 1987–89. During production weekends, he and Paul Woodfull had the idea for The Joshua Trio, a comedic [[U2]] tribute band. The band performed various warm-up sketches written by Mathews, Woodfull, and Graham Linehan, who joined in a non-musical capacity. These sketches included stand-up performed by Mathews in-character as Father Ted Crilly. As Ted, Mathews sometimes read from a book, ''Notes from Africa'', purportedly written by Father Dougal McGuire, a missionary friend who described his experiences of being attacked and chased by natives. In one sketch, Ted discussed his concern for Dougal, who had been voted Most Unpopular Priest in Africa for two years running and was spending Christmas up a tree in the grounds of The Bob Geldof Centre.<ref name="MartinDoyle"/>

In 1990, Linehan and Mathews began writing ''Irish Lives'', a six-part comedy television series. The show would have taken the form of a [[mockumentary]], with each episode focusing on interviewing a different character, one of whom was Father Ted Crilly. The story involved Ted returning to his [[seminary]] to catch up with old friends. When producer [[Geoffrey Perkins]] asked Linehan and Mathews to discard the mockumentary format and expand the Father Ted episode to a traditional sitcom, Father Dougal became one of the main characters.<ref name="ComedyConnections"/> When writing Dougal, Linehan and Mathews drew on [[Stan Laurel]], incorporating some of Linehan's own behaviour during moments of confusion.