Noel Furlong is an extremely hyperactive priest who annoys everyone around him. He was portrayed by Irish actor-turned-TV presenter Graham Norton.
Biography[]
He is a very annoying and hyperactive priest whom Ted and Dougal hate spending time with. He runs the St. Luke's Youth Group and is first encountered during Ted's abortive caravanning holiday in the Series 2 premiere "Hell". Here he invades the peaceful surroundings of the priests' rented caravan and keeps them awake at night, singing songs and expressing his desire to tell ghost stories at six o' clock in the morning. He regales the helpless Ted and Dougal with tales of how members of the youth group have a habit of turning in "late" ("ten past the eleven") and succeeds in driving them out of their holiday home, which he then proceeds to tip over after having himself and the youth group perform a Riverdance routine inside it.
He turns up again in the Series 2 finale "Flight into Terror" leading Father Fay and Dougal into the cockpit of a plane. While there he inadvertently causes disaster when he allows Father Fay, who does not know he is a priest, to see his reflection. Father Fay goes mad and jumps on the pilot sending the plane out of its path. The pilot screams at Dougal to press the emergency button but the bumbling priest then presses the wrong button. This grave error results in one of the fuel tanks being emptied.
Noel's boundless energy results in him getting his group lost in the "Very Dark Caves" in the final series episode "The Mainland", and, after performing a rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody" his attempts to start a "screeching competition" cause him to be crushed by falling rocks. His youth group, who he believes are going to get help, abandon him by booking a one-way flight to Paraguay. Ted and Dougal also use this as a chance to escape, with Ted telling an apparent rescue service man to save Noel, but the man turned out actually to be an uninterested dustman. Noel's very last scene features him under the rocks with his hand sticking out, still in a very happy mood and singing "Fat Bottomed Girls" by Queen. It is left unanswered as to whether he survived the cave-in or not.
Trivia[]
- Graham Linehan stated that he believed Noel to be asexual.