# Bless Me, Father

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).
   Yes I enjoyed that very much. I enjoyed that because it was such a change from playing these bumbling old Englishmen, but... I would have liked to do more of that but for some reason or other we didn't and I don't know quite why. For one thing I know young Abineri, the boy who played my curate, he went to Australia, more or less on a permanent basis. He married a girl out there and we've lost him to the clergy but... I don't think that was a sufficient reason in itself, I mean there must've been some other politics behind it, because one can always get another curate [for the series]... however Lionel Jeffries has done something similar as recently so...

## Cast

* Arthur Lowe as Father Charles Clement Duddleswell (all episodes)
* Daniel Abineri as Father Neil Boyd (all episodes)
* Gabrielle Daye as Mrs. Pring (all episodes)
* Patrick McAlinney as Dr. Daley (12 episodes)
* David Ryall as Billy Buzzle (9 episodes)
* Sheila Keith as Mother Stephen (8 episodes)
* Geoffrey Drew as Mr Pinkerton (4 episodes)
* Pamela Ruddock as Mrs Rollings (3 episodes)
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

The series was repeated from March 2020 on Fox Classics.

### Series 1

| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
| 1 | 1 | "Baptism of Fire" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 24 September 1978 (1978-09-24) |
| 2 | 2 | "The Bells of St. Jude's" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 1 October 1978 (1978-10-01) |
| 3 | 3 | "The Parish Bazaar" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 8 October 1978 (1978-10-08) |
| 4 | 4 | "The Doomsday Chair" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 15 October 1978 (1978-10-15) |
| 5 | 5 | "Father & Mother" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 22 October 1978 (1978-10-22) |
| 6 | 6 | "The Tennis Match" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 29 October 1978 (1978-10-29) |
| 7 | 7 | "The Seal of Confession" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 5 November 1978 (1978-11-05) |

### Series 2

| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
| 8 | 1 | "Blessings from Heaven" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 11 November 1979 (1979-11-11) |
| 9 | 2 | "Father Neil's First Miracle" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 18 November 1979 (1979-11-18) |
| 10 | 3 | "Fatal Lady" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 25 November 1979 (1979-11-25) |
| 11 | 4 | "The Heart of a Curate" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 9 December 1979 (1979-12-09) |
| 12 | 5 | "All at Sea" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 16 December 1979 (1979-12-16) |
| 13 | 6 | "The Season of Goodwill" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 23 December 1979 (1979-12-23) |
| 14 | 7 | "A Back to Front Wedding" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 6 January 1980 (1980-01-06) |

### Series 3

| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
| 15 | 1 | "Things Are Not What They Seem" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 5 July 1981 (1981-07-05) |
| 16 | 2 | "Women" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 12 July 1981 (1981-07-12) |
| 17 | 3 | "Beddings and Weddings" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 19 July 1981 (1981-07-19) |
| 18 | 4 | "Fire & Brimstone" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 26 July 1981 (1981-07-26) |
| 19 | 5 | "A Legend Comes to Stay" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 2 August 1981 (1981-08-02) |
| 20 | 6 | "Porgy & Bess" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 9 August 1981 (1981-08-09) |
| 21 | 7 | "A Mixed-Up Marriage" | David Askey | Peter de Rosa | 16 August 1981 (1981-08-16) |

## 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 DVD released the complete series on 6 August 2007. In Australia, the complete series was released on 11 March 2015 via distribution company Reel DVD.

## 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 novels from which the TV series was adapted.
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.