Producers 'fear trans activists will try to shut it down' if he remains involved

Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan says he’s been asked to step away from the musical version of his hit sitcom because of his controversial views on trans issues.

The writer says producers of the planned Pope Ted stage show have urged him to remove his name from the project to save it from being targeted by campaigners.

‘The production company are terrified that as soon as it opens, trans activists will try and shut it down,’ he told The Mail on Sunday.

‘Hat Trick have simply told me it will be impossible for them to be able to finance the show unless I am no longer associated with it. I’m considering leaving for the good of the show.

‘I am not concerned by trans activists but my producers are.’ 

He added: ‘In almost every company I’ve worked with there are now young employees who are ferociously authoritarian. They seem to think that unless you believe the same things as them then you have no right to take part in society.’

Linehan first announced the Pope Ted project in 2018, but work has been delayed by the lockdown.

As with the original sitcom, he wrote it Arthur Mathews, with Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy responsible for the music. Hannon also provided the theme tune for the Channel 4 show and wrote Father Ted’s fictional Eurovision entry My Lovely Horse.

Linehan has previously said that his stance on transgenderism has cost him work and his relationship with his wife Helen, co-writer of BBC Two’s Motherland.  The couple are getting divorced. 

The writer, who also created The IT Crowd, has previously been dubbed ‘the most hated man on the internet’. He was banned from Twitter last year after moderators said he was guilty of ‘repeated violations of our rules against hateful conduct and platform manipulation’.

Published: 19 Dec 2021