Graham Linehan, who started off his illustrious writing career alongside the hit show's other co-writer Arthur Mathews as journalists with Hot Press, says he could envisage such a musical in which the bumbling Father Ted bizarrely finds himself next in line to become Pope!
"I think if you look at something like the South Park boys and the Book of Mormon, that’s pretty hardcore and I think there is an argument you could make a Ted musical where you really go for the jugular and you get all the things people loved about it, all the innocence and all the sweetness, but introduce a harder edge," said Graham, who also wrote 'The IT Crowd', 'Black Books', and 'The Walshes'.
"Because it’s such a special event, it would have to be about something that’s kind of world-shaking. It would have to be about Ted becoming Pope, or some weird succession thing that means Ted’s next in line. It would have to be substantial and big.”
In an interview published in yesterday's Sunday Business Post, Graham Linehan also said that he could imagine the following big scene in such a musical adaptation: "The only thing that’s stuck in my head is a dance sequence in the Vatican with spinning cardinals. I can see that quite clearly.”