Father Ted writer held at Heathrow Airport

Graham Linehan has been arrested at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of inciting violence via social media posts.

The Father Ted co-creator told how five armed officers greeted him off a plane from Arizona yesterday – and that he was then taken to hospital because of fears his blood pressure was in ‘stroke territory’. 

‘The stress of being arrested for jokes was literally threatening my life,’’ he wrote on Substack. ‘So I was escorted to A&E, where I write this now after spending about eight hours under observation.

‘The doctors suggested the high blood pressure was stress-related, combined with long-haul travel and lack of movement. I feel it may also have been a contributing factor that I have now spent eight years being targeted by trans activists working in tandem with police in a dedicated, perseistent [sic] harassment campaign.’

Linehan, who also created The IT Crowd and Black Books, said his only bail condition was not to go on X, which he described as ‘a legal gag order designed to shut me up while I’m [in] the UK’, before appearing for another interview next month.

The 57-year-old writer said he was arrested over tweets posted in April, including one which read: ‘If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.’

The Metropolitan Police confirmed that a man in his 50s was arrested at Heathrow and taken to hospital, telling the BBC his condition ‘is neither life-threatening nor life-changing’, and he was bailed ‘pending further investigation’.

They added that the arrest was made by officers from its aviation unit and: ‘It is routine for officers policing airports to carry firearms. These were not drawn or used at any point during the arrest.’

Describing his arrest on Substack, Linehan said: ‘When I first saw the cops, I actually laughed. I couldn't help myself. "Don't tell me! You've been sent by trans activists" The officers gave no reaction and this was the theme throughout most of the day. Among the rank-and-file, there was a sort of polite bafflement.’

He added that at Heathrow police station, his belt, bag, and devices were confiscated and he was shown into a cell before being interviewed, when he told officers his tweet ‘was a serious point made with a joke.’ 

When one officer referred to trans people as ‘people who feel their gender is different than what was assigned at birth’, the writer said: ‘I told him he was using activist language.’

However he praised police for being ‘consistently decent throughout this farce…. just doing their jobs, however insane those jobs had become.’

‘The civility of individual officers doesn't alter the fundamental reality of what happened. I was arrested at an airport like a terrorist, locked in a cell like a criminal, taken to hospital because the stress nearly killed me, and banned from speaking online—all because I made jokes that upset some psychotic crossdressers. 

‘To me, this proves one thing beyond doubt: the UK has become a country that is hostile to freedom of speech, hostile to women, and far too accommodating to the demands of violent, entitled, abusive men who have turned the police into their personal goon squad.’

Linehan is due in court on Thursday to face charges he harassed 18-year-old transgender woman Sophia Brooks and caused  criminal damage to her phone. He pleaded not guilty at a preliminary hearing in May. The above picture was taken outside Westminster Magistrates' Court on that day.

Published: 2 Sep 2025