Tributes have been paid to Father Ted actor Dermot Morgan, who passed away 20 years ago today (February 28).
Morgan – who played the show’s morally dubious eponymous priest – died of a heart attack in 1998, a day after recording the final episode of the much-loved comedy.
His son Don has paid tribute to his father in a piece for The Irish Times, writing: “Although he was funny, that was the frill of his intelligence; he was deeply contemplative and extraordinarily well read.”
“I hope he knows how he is still in the fabric of our modern culture and how much he still means to us, his family and his country.”
“He’d have been a fantastic grandad, although he’d no doubt moan about how old he was getting,” Don added.
Another of Morgan’s three sons, Rob, has paid tribute on Twitter, tweeting a collage of photos and saying in a caption: “Twenty years gone. Still miss you Dad x”.
Twenty years gone. Still miss you Dad x ? pic.twitter.com/bUgNqDlmqN
— Rob Morgan (@RobMorganDublin) February 28, 2018
Fans have taken to social media to remember the actor too:
Father Ted easily my favourite sitcom. Easily. Incredible absurd yet broad comic writing performed by brilliantly cast gifted comic actors and, at its core, Dermot Morgan as Ted, our sole sane human in a sea of surreal yet totally plausible grotesques. Timeless. Missed. pic.twitter.com/vKk8h58bmH
— barney farmer (@barneyfarmer) February 28, 2018
Twenty years gone.
Never forgotten.
Dermot Morgan RIP pic.twitter.com/6RG5s563Qq— Phil MacGiollaBhain (@Pmacgiollabhain) February 28, 2018
20 years today since Dermot Morgan died. What a loss. pic.twitter.com/kijRwsRuEO
— Siún Ní Dhuinn (@Siuners) February 28, 2018
Morgan’s co-star Frank Kelly, who played Father Jack, is also being honoured. Kelly died in 2016, died 18 years to the day after Morgan passed.
“Only right thing to do tonight is watch Father Ted,” one fan wrote.
It’s two years since we lost the great Frank Kelly. pic.twitter.com/nAs36lUMo2
— Father Ted Quote of the Day (@FrTedQOTD) February 28, 2018
On This Day 28th February 1998 Dermot Morgan (Fr Ted) died
and
On This Day 28th February 2016 Frank Kelly (Fr Jack) died pic.twitter.com/38TQRr8tFH— Anaglogs Daughter (@AnaglogsDaughtr) February 28, 2018
20 years since Dermot Morgan died. And 2 since Frank Kelly. Only right thing to do tonight is watch #FatherTed
— Mr Brew (@13rew) February 28, 2018
Hundreds of Father Ted fans flocked to the show’s setting of Inis Mór, aka Craggy Island, for Tedfest last week.
The annual festival in Co Galway was in its 12th year and ran in 2018 from February 22 to February 25.