TV Presenter Philip Schofield

Writer Graham Linehan

Irish television writer, actor and director.

http://twitter.com/glinner

Graham Linehan co-wrote Father Ted and received a BAFTA for his writing on The IT Crowd which focuses on the exploits of a three-strong IT support team located in a forgotten basement of a British corporation in London. I asked Graham if the Father Ted series was influenced at all by Laurel and Hardy to which he replied... "Ardal O Hanlon based Dougal on Stan Laurel and ME. So yes! I also based a scene in 'IT Crowd' on one in sons of the desert. That 'Laurel and Hardy' are still funny to modern audiences means they have a sure hold on something central to the human condition. They are eternal in a way that I don't think, say, Chaplin is."