Dermot Morgan: ‘He would be livid that the same issues still bedevil Ireland’

Don Morgan on the life and legacy of his father, who died 20 years ago today

Don Morgan

Fr. Ted Crilly (Dermot Morgan) explains size and perspective to Fr. Dougal Maguire (Ardal O'Hanlon) in a clip from cult 90s comedy Father Ted. Video: Channel 4

When my father died, on February 28th, 1998, I wasn’t with him. He was in London and I was in Blackrock, with my brother and some friends. In my mind he could as easily have popped out for a newspaper and a late-night pint as have collapsed at home in the company of family and friends. I can only assume he died, and that it wasn’t a very sick joke on his part, although I wouldn’t put it past him. He was a brat that way. Since then my relationship with him has become an irresistible detective story, where I keep looking around for the essence of him, discovering more clues. But every time I think I’m getting close to him I realise I’m not. Twenty years on, here’s what I know about the ex-Dermot Morgan, who shuffled off this mortal coil to join his heroes Dr Chapman, Dean Swift, Lenny Bruce and Marty Feldman in the choir invisible.

He was punished for being different. The Christian Brothers beat him six ways from Sunday. One story that didn’t surprise me was one particular sadist saying to him: “Morgan, you’ll never make anything of yourself.” “You just f**king watch me,” he replied, presumably bypassing whatever part of your brain deals with self-preservation. At the school he went to they still talk of him. He once referred to having been schooled in Stalag 17.

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