Father Ted the musical is a heavenly idea says Graham Linehan

“I would never bring back the TV show, because of the risk you poison people’s memories of the original,” he says.

“But if you were to come up with a completely new format, I think it would be worth doing. I have this vision of a dance number, with spinning cardinals.”

Were the project to proceed, it would have to reference child abuse scandals within the Catholic Church, adds the writer: “The jokes would have to have a little bit more edge, because you just can’t ignore this stuff.”

And while co-creator Arthur Mathews is “not as convinced” of the musical idea according to Linehan, he still insists: “I think it could work.”

Set in a priests' parochial house on the fictional Craggy Island, Father Ted came to an abrupt end in 1998 after 25 episodes when lead actor Dermot Morgan died suddenly from a heart attack.

Other cast members including Ardal O’Hanlon, who played the hapless Father Dougal McGuire, and Pauline McLynn, aka housekeeper Mrs Doyle, are still acting.

The series was chosen as BBC head of comedy Shane Allen's all-time favourite show during a Radio Times poll in 2013.