Would 'Fr Ted' have escaped a Twitter backlash?

Imagine if Twitter had been around back in 1995 when the first ever episode of 'Fr Ted' was broadcast. If I remember correctly, it was the one featuring the Craggy Island fairground, with its crane of death, pond of terror, spinning cat, tunnel of goats and freak pointing. It still makes me laugh.

I can vividly recall watching it from the comfort of my one-bedroom flat in Ranelagh and realising that this was going to be something special. If I had been able to tweet back then, I'm sure I would have been fulsome in my praise.

•Writer Graham Linehan pictured (centre) with the cast of 'The Walshes'

Those were the dark, backward days of the last century when writing to the equivalent of Arthur's Mailbag or whoever opened the post at TV stations was the only way to vent your spleen if something on the telly box irked you. Never in our wildest dreams could we have predicted a time when you would be able to directly tell the creators of a show - and the world at large - exactly what you thought of it within seconds of the opening credits.

But almost two decades on that's where we are now. Social media, for all its benefits, has given bullies, cowards, creeps, begrudgers - and yes, morons - a variety of outlets for their nastiness.

'Fr Ted' co-creator, Graham Linehan, is the writer behind BBC/RTE's new co-production 'The Walshes', which got the equivalent of a schoolyard hiding on the Twitter machine as the first episode aired. You had to marvel at how so many of the Twitterati managed to multitask with such venomous efficiency. Some balance was brought to the debate by more seasoned commentators who cautioned against a rush to judgement and urged the detractors to give the show a chance. Linehan himself rose to the provocation, advising one tweeter to just try watching the show before calling him a f****** moron.

I knew Graham Linehan briefly in 1987/88 when we were both in Colaiste Dhulaigh in Coolock doing post-Leaving Cert media courses. The Castleknock native was an easygoing, likeable and approachable guy. When I went on to do my work experience in Hot Press, Linehan was already a rising star at the music magazine. His insightful, witty and offbeat film reviews, in particular, raised the bar for critics everywhere. It was during this period at the magazine that he met his 'Fr Ted' co-writer Arthur Matthews. The duo eventually moved to London to ply their trade and through sheer hard graft and not inconsiderable talent ended up creating some of the most memorable comedy in television history.

Linehan is also the brains behind 'The IT Crowd' and 'Black Books'. It took me a couple of episodes to get into the characters in these sitcoms but my conversion didn't take long and I am now a committed devotee of both shows.

And this was indeed the case with 'The Walshes'. There was a lot more of Linehan's wacky form on display in the second and third episodes but it probably wasn't enough to placate the Twitter whingers (Twingers?). It takes more than 140 bitchy characters to be a writer, folks, particularly one that is respected and successful. If social media had been around in 1995, one hopes that Linehan would have tweeted back at critics of 'Fr Ted' with a simple 'FECK OFF!'