Ardal O'Hanlon

Ardal O'Hanlon (Template:IPAc-en; born 8 October 1965) is an Irish comedian, actor, and author. He played Father Dougal McGuire in Father Ted (1995–1998), George Sunday/Thermoman in My Hero (2000–2005), and DI Jack Mooney in Death in Paradise (2017–2020). He has written two novels The Talk of the Town (1998) and Brouhaha (2022).

Early life

O'Hanlon was born in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan,<ref name="Scotsman"/> the son of Fianna Fáil TD and physician Rory O'Hanlon and Teresa (née Ward).<ref name="Scotsman">Template:Cite web</ref> He is the third of six children and has three brothers and two sisters.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

O'Hanlon was educated in Blackrock College in Dublin. He graduated in 1987 from the National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin, (now Dublin City University) with a degree in communication studies.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Career

With Kevin Gildea and Barry Murphy, O'Hanlon founded the International Comedy Cellar, upstairs in the International Bar on Dublin's South Wicklow Street.<ref name="Scotsman"/> Dublin had no comedy scene at the time. As a stand up comic, O'Hanlon won the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition in 1994. and was for a time the presenter of The Stand Up Show.<ref name="Scotsman"/>

O'Hanlon was cast as Father Dougal McGuire in Father Ted (1995–1998), which he said was his "first proper job in television".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> During filming, O'Hanlon went to buy shoes. Still being in costume, the seller thought he was a real priest and offered the footwear for free.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref> He and Dermot Morgan (Father Ted) often did their own stunts, and he recalled that on one occasion they were dragged through a field behind a tractor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1995 he received the Top TV Comedy Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards for this role. In 1995, he appeared as Father Dougal in a Channel 4 ident ("Hello, you're watching ... television"), and during Comic Relief on BBC1. This was followed by the award-winning short comedy film Flying Saucer Rock'n'Roll.

In a 2019 interview, O'Hanlon said he had attempted to distance himself from Father Ted once the show had finished.<ref name="Scotsman" /> He moved into straight acting, alongside Emma Fielding and Beth Goddard, in the ITV comedy-drama Big Bad World, which aired for two series in summer 1999 and winter 2001.<ref name="Scotsman"/> He also had a minor role in The Butcher Boy as Joe's (Francie's best friend) father, and appeared in an episode of the original Whose Line is it Anyway?. In 2000, O'Hanlon starred in the comedy series My Hero, in which he played a naive superhero from the planet Ultron.<ref name="Scotsman" /> His character juggled world-saving heroics with life in suburbia. He stayed in the role until the first episode of series 6 in July 2006, when he was replaced by James Dreyfus during the same episode.

O'Hanlon provided the voice of the lead character in the three Christmas television cartoon specials of Robbie the Reindeer. He appeared in the 2005 BBC One sitcom Blessed, written by Ben Elton, which was publicly slated by Jonathan Ross, albeit in jest, at the 2005 British Comedy Awards.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Towards the end of 2005, O'Hanlon played an eccentric Scottish character, Coconut Tam, in the family based film, The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby. He has also appeared on radio, including an appearance on Quote... Unquote on BBC Radio 4 on 18 July 2011, where one of his questions concerned a quotation from Father Ted. In 2015 he appeared on the same channel as incompetent angel Smallbone in the sitcom The Best Laid Plans.

In 2006, O'Hanlon wrote and presented an RTÉ television series called Leagues Apart, in which he investigated the biggest and most passionate football rivalries in several European countries. Included were Roma vs Lazio in Italy, Barcelona vs Real Madrid in Spain, and Galatasaray vs Fenerbahce in Turkey. He followed this with another RTÉ show, So You Want To Be Taoiseach? in 2007, a political series in which he gave tongue-in-cheek advice on how to go about becoming Taoiseach of Ireland.

O'Hanlon appeared in a Doctor Who episode "Gridlock", broadcast on 14 April 2007, in which he played a catlike creature named Thomas Kincade Brannigan.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He appeared in series 3 of the TV show Skins<ref name="Scotsman" /> playing Kieran, Naomi Campbell (Lily Loveless)'s politics teacher, who attempts to kiss her, and forms a relationship with Naomi's mother (Olivia Colman). O'Hanlon played the lead role in the Irish comedy television programme Val Falvey, TD on RTÉ One. In February 2011 he returned to the Gate Theatre, Dublin, starring in the Irish premiere of Christopher Hampton's translation of Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage, alongside Maura Tierney. Later that year he appeared in the comedy panel show Argumental. In 2012, he performed in the Edinburgh Fringe

O'Hanlon has written a novel, The Talk of the Town (known in the United States as Knick Knack Paddy Whack), which was published in 1998. The novel is about a teenage boy, Patrick Scully, and his friends. His second novel, "Brouhaha", a darkly comic murder mystery set in the Irish border country, was published in 2022. In February 2015 he launched the 2015 Sky Cat Laughs Comedy Festival, which took place in Kilkenny from 28 May to 1 June.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2015 he played the role of Peter the Milkman in the Sky One sitcom After Hours. In February 2017 it was announced that he would play the lead role in the BBC crime drama Death in Paradise, taking the role of DI Jack Mooney following Kris Marshall's departure. He announced his intention to leave the series in early 2020 and was replaced by Ralf Little.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Starting in 2024, he has reprised the role in a spin-off series, Return to Paradise.

On 25 November 2021, it was announced that O'Hanlon would participate in series 13 of Taskmaster.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref> He finished in 4th place ahead of Judi Love. In 2023, he played Uncle Jack in the National Theatre's production of Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel, alongside Siobhan McSweeney and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor.<ref name="Nat-the-1">Template:Cite web</ref> In January 2024 he presented his first Irish language show, Inis na nIontas, on TG4, exploring the islands around the coast of Ireland.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2025 he starred in the video for the single Invisible Thread by The Divine Comedy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

O'Hanlon met his wife Melanie as a teenager. They have a son who lives in Houston, Texas, and two daughters.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> O'Hanlon is a supporter of Leeds United<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and a club tennis player.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Moll Flanders	Gentleman From East Chiswick
1997	The Butcher Boy	Mr. Purcell
1998	Flying Saucer Rock'n'Roll	Eddie Johnny	Short film<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2002	Another Bobby O'Hara Story...	Bobby O'Hara	Short film<ref name="York-IFF-2003">Template:Cite news</ref>
2005	The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby	Coconut Tam
2007	Blind Eye	Immigration Official	Short film
2008	Tales of the Riverbank	Hammy Hamster (voice)	Direct-to-DVD
2009	Wide Open Spaces	Myles
2016	Donkeys	Derek	Short film
	Handsome Devil	Dan Roche
	Twice Shy	Brendan O'Meara
2021	Rian	McCarthy	Short film
2024	My Freaky Family	Nerlin Flood
TBA	Fran the Man	Jim O'Dea	Post production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995–1998	Father Ted	Father Dougal McGuire	Series 1–3 (25 episodes)
1996	Whose Line Is It Anyway?	Himself	Series 8; Episode 7
1997	Top of the Pops	Himself - Guest Presenter	Series 34; Episode 5<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1999	Hooves of Fire	Robbie the Reindeer (voice)	Television film
	The Comedy Trail: A Shaggy Dog Story	George Sunday / Thermoman	Television Special
1999–2001	Big Bad World	Eamon Donaghy	Series 1–3 (16 episodes)
2000–2006	My Hero	George Sunday / Thermoman	Series 1–6 (45 episodes)
2002	Legend of the Lost Tribe	Robbie the Reindeer (voice)	Television film
2005	Blessed	Gary Chandler	Episodes 1–8
2006	Leagues Apart	Himself - Presenter	Episodes 1–6
2007	Close Encounters of the Herd Kind	Robbie the Reindeer (voice)	Television film
	Doctor Who	Thomas Brannigan	Series 3; Episode 3: "Gridlock"
2008	Who Do You Think You Are?	Himself	Series 1; Episode 4: "Ardal O'Hanlon"
2009	Val Falvey, TD	Val Falvey	Episodes 1–6
	Skins	Kieran	Series 3; Episodes 1 & 6: "Everyone" and "Naomi"
2010	Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow	Himself	Series 2; Episode 6: "Leeds"
2013	London Irish	Chris 'Da' Lynch	Mini-series (4 episodes)
2014	Lily's Driftwood Bay	Bull Dozer	Series 1; Episode 24: "Stop! Watch"
2015	Celebrity Mastermind	Himself - Contestant	Series 14; Episode 1
	Cucumber	Brian McCoy	Mini-series; Episode 4
	Nelly & Nora	Dad (voice)	24 episodes
	After Hours	Peter Hannigan	Episodes 1–6
2016	Ireland with Ardal O'Hanlon	Himself - Presenter	Episodes 1–3
2017–2020	Death in Paradise	DI Jack Mooney	Series 6–9 (24 episodes)
2019	Showbands: How Ireland Learned to Party	Himself - Presenter	Television film
2019–2022	Derry Girls	Eamonn	Series 2; Episode 4: "The Curse" and Series 3; Episode 7: "The Agreement"
2021	Would I Lie to You?	Himself - Panellist	Series 15; Christmas Special
2022	Rosie Molloy Gives Up Everything	Conall	Series 1; Episodes 1–5
	Ardal O'Hanlon: Tomb raider	Himself - Presenter	Documentary<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Taskmaster	Himself - Contestant	Series 13; Episodes 1–10
	Countdown	Himself	Dictionary Corner. Series 86 & 88 (10 episodes)
2023	The Woman in the Wall	Dara	Episodes 2 & 3: "Show Thyself" and "Knock Knock"
2023–2024	Extraordinary	Martin (voice)	Series 1 & 2 (8 episodes)
2024	Celebrity Catchphrase	Himself - Contestant	Series 9; Episode 9: "Chris Bisson, Ruth Madeley and Ardal O'Hanlon"
2024-present	Return to Paradise	DI Jack Mooney	Episodes: "R.I.P. Tide" and "Oh Mine Papa"
2024	Richard Osman's House of Games	Himself - Contestant	Series 8; Episodes 51–55 (Week 11)
2025	Sherlock & Daughter	Mr. Halligan	Series regular

Awards

Year	Name
1994	Hackney Empire New Act of the Year
1995	Top TV Comedy Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards

External links

• Template:IMDb name
• Template:British Comedy Guide
• Ardal O'Hanlon on comedycv.co.uk
• Ardal O'Hanlon in Melbourne at The Australian Ireland Fund charity event