Father Ted star Pauline McLynn glad to be an atheist after new BBC show – Extra.ie

Pauline McLynn might have been iconic as tea-loving Mrs. Doyle in Father Ted, but she admits shes nothing like her character. So much so, in fact, that the actress says she got out of the habit of Catholicism.

Pauline became a global star in the 1990s as the scatty housekeeper to three priests in the hit Channel 4 clerical comedy.

Though she was brought up as a Catholic, the TV star has revealed she doesnt miss having religion in her life.

Despite that, Sligo-born Pauline has embarked on a 1,000-km pilgrimage from Belgrade to Istanbul alongside former British politician Edwina Currie and Olympic star Fatima Whitbread in BBC series Pilgrimage: The Road to Istanbul.

TV presenter Adrian Chiles, a converted Catholic, and comedian Dom Joly, an atheist, are also taking part.

The group spend two weeks living as simple pilgrims on the ancient route, and Pauline was certainly curious about the spiritual element of the new three-part series.

She reveals: I was christened a Catholic but Im a secular person. I was brought up an Irish Catholic at a time when the church and the state were so entwined in Ireland that you just didnt get a choice.

It was more a habit than a religion to the point where I realised I wasnt practicing or anything anymore, it just meant so little that I didnt even miss it. Im an atheist.

TheFather Ted favourite said being religious and being kind were not mutually exclusive.

In fact, all of the talking about, Well I like to be kind and everything. Yeah, I do as well, but I just think thats being a decent human being.

Revealing why she decided to take part in the pilgrimage, Pauline said: These were three countries Ive never been to before! Mostly, which I was glad to see in the first episode, was just how funny it all was.

We all did [an] interview before we went off on our travels, and Im afraid I quite shallowly said that I like walking, a little bit of an adventure and I was hoping to have a right laugh. That is indeed what happened.

So, did she find spiritual enlightenment on the trek in the end?

All the trip did for me was cemented the fact that I really have no time for organised religion of any sort, Pauline said.

We visited an awful lot of places where the most extraordinary atrocities occurred, and its all in the name, really, of religion. I was glad to be an atheist at the end of it all.

Pilgrimage: The Road To Istanbul airs on BBC Two on Friday, March 27 at 9pm.

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Father Ted star Pauline McLynn glad to be an atheist after new BBC show - Extra.ie