Bless Me, Father

Bless Me, Father
Title screen of Series 1
Genre	Comedy
Written by	Peter de Rosa
Directed by	David Askey
Starring	Arthur Lowe Daniel Abineri Gabrielle Daye Patrick McAlinney
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	21
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	London Weekend Television
Release
Original network	ITV
Picture format	4:3 (576i)
Original release	24 September 1978 (1978-09-24) – 16 August 1981 (1981-08-16)

Bless Me, Father is a British sitcom starring Arthur Lowe, Daniel Abineri, Gabrielle Daye, Patrick McAlinney, David Ryall, and Sheila Keith. It was aired on ITV from 1978 until 1981 and described the adventures of an Irish Catholic priest, Father Charles Duddleswell (Lowe) and his young curate (Abineri) in the fictional parish of St. Jude's in suburban London. Twenty-one episodes, written by Peter De Rosa (who had previously been a novice curate), were aired. De Rosa wrote the books on which the series was based using the pseudonym of Neil Boyd which was also the name of the young curate character; Boyd also served as the narrator in the series of novels upon which the series was based. It was made for the ITV network by London Weekend Television.

The series was set in 1950 and 1951 and marked a departure from the middle class "bank manager" roles associated with Lowe such as that in Dad's Army. The other regular characters included Mrs Pring (Daye), the housekeeper, the hard-drinking Dr Daley (McAlinney), the non-religious neighbour Billy Buzzle (Ryall), and abbess Reverend Mother Stephen (Keith).

Cast

• Arthur Lowe as Father Charles Clement Duddleswell
• Daniel Abineri as Father Neil Boyd
• Gabrielle Daye as Mrs. Pring
• Patrick McAlinney as Dr. Daley
• David Ryall as Billy Buzzle
• Sheila Keith as Mother Stephen

Guest appearances on the series include Derek Francis, Phoebe Nicholls, Daniel Gerroll, Peter Bowles, Clive Swift, Rynagh O'Grady, Michael Troughton, Geoffrey Palmer and Peter Copley.

Episodes

Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

Home media

The complete series of Bless Me, Father has been released on DVD in region 1, region 2 and region 4. In the United States and Canada, "The Complete Collection" was released on 26 April 2005 from Acorn Media. In the United Kingdom, distribution company Network released the complete series on 6 August 2007. In Australia, the complete series was released on 11 March 2015 via distribution company Reel DVD.^[1]

Book series

Peter De Rosa, formerly an ordained Catholic priest and lecturer, left the priesthood in 1970 and later became a full-time author. Under the pen-name Neil Boyd he wrote the Bless Me, Father books from which the TV series was adapted.^[2]

Boyd, Neil (1977). Bless Me, Father. London: Robert Hale. 
Boyd, Neil (1978). A Father Before Christmas. London: Michael Joseph. 
Boyd, Neil (1979). Father in a Fix. London: Michael Joseph. 
Boyd, Neil (1980). Father Under Fire. London: Michael Joseph. 
Boyd, Neil (1981). Bless Me Again, Father. London: Michael Joseph. 

References

External links

• Bless Me, Father at the Internet Movie Database
• Bless Me, Father at British Comedy Guide
• Bless Me, Father at epguides.com