Editing Father Dougal McGuire (section)

==Reception and legacy==
After the first episode aired, Ben Thompson of ''[[The Independent]]'' singled out O'Hanlon as "the real star of the show", and said that Dougal's "holy-fool innocence" as "worthy of [[James Stewart]]". Writing for the ''[[Irish Examiner]]'', Ed Power said that while the "[[Internet meme|meme]]-worthy" Dougal and Jack received the most attention at the time of broadcast, [[Dermot Morgan]]'s straight-man performance was the highlight in retrospect.<ref name="IrishExaminerGreatest"/> Morgan attributed the show's success to the appealing double-act formed by Dougal, "an idiot who knows nothing", and Ted, "an idiot who thinks he knows something but actually knows nothing."<ref name="IndependentMorgan"/>

As testament to the character's enduring popularity, Irish bookmakers humorously began collecting bets on whether Dougal would succeed Pope [[John Paul II]] upon his death. The odds were 1,000-1<ref>{{Cite news|title = Betting on the next Pope|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2540369.stm|newspaper = BBC|date = 2002-12-05|access-date = 2015-09-05}}</ref> (better odds than some genuine candidates), and some small stakes were actually received.

In 2001, O'Hanlon reprised the role of Dougal for a series of [[PBS]] advertisements to coincide with ''Father Ted''{{'}}s American broadcast; these segments were included on later DVD releases as "Fundraising with Father Dougal".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktsmKO97b44| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/ktsmKO97b44| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|title=Dougal Maguire|publisher=[[YouTube]]|date=30 December 2006|access-date=17 February 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbcamericashop.com/dvd/father-ted-the-holy-trilogy-11095.html|title=Father Ted: The Holy Trilogy|work=bbcamericashop.com|access-date=17 February 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525200354/http://www.bbcamericashop.com/dvd/father-ted-the-holy-trilogy-11095.html|archive-date=25 May 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>