SHE’S BEST remembered for playing Craggy Island’s tea-loving, devoutly Catholic housekeeper to Ted Crilly on Father Ted.
But what most probably don’t know about actress Pauline McLynn is that she is actually a confirmed atheist – or, at least, they didn’t until now.
However, according to the Irish Mirror, that looks set to become apparent on a new BBC series in which McLynn and six other celebrities head off on a 1000-kilometre pilgrimage from Belgrade to Istanbul.
The three-part series, titled Pilgramage: The Road To Istanbul, sees the Irish actress speaking candidly about her experienced with religion which, like many in Ireland, began at a young age.
“I was christened a Catholic but I’m a secular person,” McLynn explains on the show, in quotes carried by the Irish Mirror.
“I was brought up an Irish Catholic at a time when the church and the state were so entwined in Ireland that you just didn’t get a choice.
“It was more a habit than a religion to the point where I realised I wasn’t practicing or anything anymore, it just meant so little that I didn’t even miss it. I’m an atheist.”
On the show, McLynn goes on to reject the notion religious people have some kind of monopoly on kindness and decency just because of their belief in God.
“All of the talking about ‘well I like to be kind and everything’, yeah, I do as well, but I just think that’s being a decent human being.”
McLynn is joined by Adrian Chiles, Fatima Whitbread, Edwina Currie, Mim Shaikh, Amar Latif and Dom Joly for the new series, which will air on BBC Two this Friday, March 27 at 9pm.
