IT'S official. Pauline McLynn is the funniest woman in Ireland. She plays the crazed tea making housekeeper Mrs Doyle in Father Ted and being nominated for Best TV Comedy Actress Award in the prestigious British Comedy Awards puts her in select company - the other nominees are Dawn French and Caroline Quentin of Men Behaving Badly fame.
Proving that Father Ted can do no wrong, both Ardal O'Hanlon and Dermot Morgan have been nominated in the Best Comedy Actor category (Frank Kelly must be feeling a bit left out).
In America the show has just been nominated for an Emmy - a sort of TV Oscar. While Pauline doesn't think she'll get to New York for the Emmy - the team will be filming; the Father Ted Christmas special - she's definitely going to London for the TV awards at the end of the month. The "thrilled to be even nominated" actress spent this week trawling through the racks at the Design Centre looking for the perfect Irish rig out for the ritzy occasion.
