Ardal O’Hanlon slams "Father Ted" trigger warning as "truly ridiculous"

"Father Ted" star Ardal O’Hanlon has slammed the "ridiculous" trigger warnings added to episodes of the classic Irish sitcom.

Earlier in the month it was found that "Are You Right There Father Ted?," a 1998 episode of the show, starts off with a disclaimer on Channel 4’s streaming service.

The warning tells viewers that the episode was made in 1998 and "contains language and racial impersonation which some viewers may find offensive."

The Plot

The episode is the first in the third series of the show, and sees titular character Ted facing rumours that he is a racist.

Talks of the priest, who is played by the late Dermot Morgan, being racist starts when he and Fr Dougal (played by O’Hanlon) take over cleaning the house after Mrs. Doyle hurts herself.

In a bid to make the mundane task more exciting, Ted puts a lampshade on his head and starts to offensively take on a Chinese person — only for the Chinese family living in the island to be watching from outside.

Later in the episode, Fr Jack emerges in an SS uniform after a fellow priest gives them Nazi memorabilia.

"Preposterous"

Comic and star of the show Ardal appeared on Good Morning Britain on Thursday morning and was in agreement when presenter Richard Madeley branded the warning "preposterous."

"I’m with you on that," Ardal agreed, "I don’t get it. You should have trigger warnings going into the supermarket maybe as well, some of the foodstuffs might offend you.

"Where do we start and where do we end? It is truly ridiculous."

Richard then noted that the show had been made some 30 years ago, with Ardal responding that it’s similar to trigger warnings on the news.

"You’re supposed to be offended, it’s the whole point of the news," he stated.

Ardal O'Hanlon as Fr Dougal and Dermot Morgan as Fr Ted.

*This article was originally published on Extra.ie.