Funnyman Ardal O’Hanlan has revealed how he was paid just £50,000 to star in Father Ted.
The 56-year-old, who played dozy priest Dougal McGuire, said that despite appearing in all 25 episodes, he barely made any money from the BAFTA-winning comedy.
The show, which aired between 1995 and 1998, followed the lives of three priests - Dermot Morgan as Father Ted Crilly, Frank Kelly as Father Jack Hackett and Father Dougal McGuire - on Craggy Island.
Read More: Pauline McLynn opens up about working with former Father Ted co-star Ardal O'Hanlon 25 years later
The TV show won Best Comedy Series at the BAFTAs twice and Father Dougal was voted in 5th spot in Channel 4’s Greatest TV Characters.
Despite this, the funnyman - who starred as DI Jack Mooney in Death in Paradise - said he was only paid £2,000 per episode, which works out at just £50,000 for the entire three series and Christmas special.
Speaking at the weekend, he said: “People would be shocked by how little it was (that I got paid for Father Ted).
“I was paid something like £2,000 an episode.”
He said that at the same time he had heard of the star of another sitcom getting paid a whopping £45,000 for just one episode.
Ardal added: “To put it in context, I remember hearing that a senior figure in sitcom was doing a Christmas special for £45,000 per episode.
“I was fine with that. I wasn’t in it for the money,” he told the Business & Money supplement in the Sunday Telegraph.
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