"New Jack City" is the ninth episode of the second series of the
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
television sitcom ''
Father Ted
''Father Ted'' is a sitcom created by Irish writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews and produced by British production company Hat Trick Productions for Channel 4. It aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until 1 May 1998, includin ...
''.
At the inaugural
Ted Fest
The Friends of Ted Festival, or Ted Fest, is an annual fan convention held on the island of Inishmore, off the coast of County Galway, Ireland for fans of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Father Ted'', created by Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews (writer) ...
in February 2007, it was voted the best ''Father Ted'' episode.
Synopsis
Father Jack contracts "Hairy Hands Syndrome" (level 6 out of a maximum 12) and is sent to St. Clabbert's Hospital for wayward priests (jokingly referred to as "Jurassic Park" by the Clergymen of
Craggy Island
Craggy Island is a fictional island, supposedly off the west coast of Ireland, which serves as the primary setting for the Channel 4 sitcom ''Father Ted''. Craggy Island Parochial House is located on the island, which is the home of three Catholic ...
, after
the film of the same title). He is visibly alarmed upon learning from Ted that he will be going to "Jurassic Park", and tries to escape by riding on a lawnmower, but to no avail.
A new priest replaces Jack while he is on leave:
Father Fintan Stack, an obnoxious, rude and destructive priest, who torments
Ted and
Dougal. Stack's torments include deliberately driving Ted's car into a wall and then telling him all about it and saying that all that mattered was that he liked it, insulting Ted and his friends in the priesthood, getting Dougal drunk on Jack's whiskey, drilling holes in the living room wall for no particular reason and blasting
jungle music
Jungle is a genre of dance music that developed out of the UK rave scene and sound system culture in the 1990s. Emerging from breakbeat hardcore, the style is characterised by rapid breakbeats, heavily syncopated percussive loops, samples, and ...
(
Cutty Ranks
Philip Thomas (born 12 February 1965), better known as Cutty Ranks, is a Jamaican dancehall singer.
Biography
Thomas was born in Clarendon Parish, Jamaica in 1965. He began his career as a reggae artist at the age of eleven with local sound s ...
’ “Limb By Limb”) at 3 o'clock in the morning. In a discussion with Dougal during a sleepless night (courtesy of Stack), Ted labels him "worse than
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
", because "you wouldn't find Hitler playing jungle music at 3 o'clock in the morning".
Fed up with Stack, Ted and Dougal kidnap Father Jack back from St. Clabbert's Hospital, which is full of elderly priests with a similar demeanour to Jack (except for one who says "I really shouldn't be here"). Jack returns to the parochial house with Ted and Dougal, desperate for a drink. He is furious when he finds out that his booze stash is gone and prepares to punch Stack out for going after his whiskey, but stops himself after noticing that Stack has caught the "Hairy Hands Syndrome" from sitting in Jack's chair, which Dougal forgot to disinfect before Stack arrived. Stack is sent to St. Clabbert's Hospital and everything in the parochial house returns to normal, though Jack is locked in a hermetically sealed chamber to prevent him from passing the "Hairy Hands Syndrome" on to anyone else, which Ted considers an improvement.
Meanwhile at St. Clabbert's, Father Stack still insists on playing his jungle music, distracting the other residents.
Production
Pat Laffan
Patrick Laffan (8 June 1939 – 14 March 2019) was an Irish actor.
Laffan is best remembered for playing the lothario milkman Pat Mustard in the Channel Four sitcom ''Father Ted'' episode "Speed 3" (1998), and Mr Burgess in Roddy Doyle
Ro ...
auditioned for the role of Father Stack. He later appeared as the villainous milkman Pat Mustard in "
Speed 3", in the third series.
Fr. Stack's
jungle music
Jungle is a genre of dance music that developed out of the UK rave scene and sound system culture in the 1990s. Emerging from breakbeat hardcore, the style is characterised by rapid breakbeats, heavily syncopated percussive loops, samples, and ...
is ''Limb By Limb (
Dj SS
Leroy Small (born 27 August 1970 in Leicester, England), better known as DJ SS, is a British drum and bass DJ and record producer.
Biography
SS started out as a hip hop and rare groove DJ in his home-town of Leicester, and was originally kno ...
Remix)'' by
Cutty Ranks
Philip Thomas (born 12 February 1965), better known as Cutty Ranks, is a Jamaican dancehall singer.
Biography
Thomas was born in Clarendon Parish, Jamaica in 1965. He began his career as a reggae artist at the age of eleven with local sound s ...
and ''The Way (The VIP Mix)'' by
DJ Taktix.
The episode was named after the film ''
New Jack City
''New Jack City'' is a 1991 American action crime film based upon an original story and written by Thomas Lee Wright and Barry Michael Cooper, and directed by Mario Van Peebles in his feature film directorial debut. Released in the United S ...
''.
Mrs. Doyle parodies the opening scene of ''
Dont Look Back
'' Look Back'' is a 1967 American documentary film directed by D. A. Pennebaker that covers Bob Dylan's 1965 concert tour in England.
In 1998, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library ...
'', a 1967 documentary film by
D. A. Pennebaker
Donn Alan Pennebaker (; July 15, 1925 – August 1, 2019) was an American documentary filmmaker and one of the pioneers of direct cinema. Performing arts and politics were his primary subjects. In 2013, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sci ...
that principally covers
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
's 1965 concert tour of the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.
References
External links
*
*
Cutty Ranks - Limb By Limb - DJ SS Remix' (YouTube)
*
DJ Taktix - The Way - The VIP Mix' (YouTube)
{{Father Ted
Father Ted episodes
1996 British television episodes