"Chirpy Burpy Cheap Sheep" is the second episode of the third series of the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted. The episode's title is a reference to the 1971 song "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep," made famous by Middle of the Road.
Synopsis
bets the entire year's heating allowance for the parochial house on the King ofthe Sheep competition, placing his bet on Chris, a sheep who has won several times and is considered a sure thing. Unfortunately, Chris has heard rumours about a sheep-eating beast and isn't feeling at all himself. With a very cold winter forecast for the year, Ted becomes very worried about the possibility of losing the bet. He goes to John and Mary, asking for his bet money back, but they refuse. Chris's owner, Fargo Boyle, comes to the parochial house and begs Ted to help return Chris to his old self. After a week, Ted has successfully returned Chris's spirit. However, after he and Dougal hear sounds in the night and, upon investigation, discover a stereo in a tree, Ted finds out that Fargo Boyle arranged for Chris to be frightened by the beast in order to increase the meagre odds being offered for his victory. On the day of the competition, just as Chris is about to be declared the winner, Ted makes a dramatic scene and exposes the whole plot, telling the judge his observations, including expensive items being worn by the other contestants and Fargo leaving a shop with a BBC Sound Effects record that Dougal had wanted to buy. The judge is appalled to hear about the plot, and Chris is disqualified. Fargo begs Chris's forgiveness, but the sheep is apparently unforgiving. Ted is then left hanging his head when Dougal points out that because Chris was disqualified, he has lost the bet, and thus all of the heating allowance money. Subsequently, the residents of the parochial house prepare to hibernate for the extremely cold winter.
Ted and Dougal proved that the "Beast" was a hoax created by Giant Reed and Hud Hastings to rig the "King of the Sheep" competition. Dougal, Mrs. Doyle and Hud all give a description of the Beast:
It has claws as big as cups
It has four ears, two for listening and two "are sort of back-up ears". Some might be on the inside of its head
It has a retractable leg so it "can leap up at you better"
It has magnets on its tail, so "if you're made out of metal, it can attach itself to you"
It lights up at night
It has a tremendous fear of stamps
Its yawn sounds like Liam Neeson chasing a load of hens around inside a barrel
It has no mouth, but instead has four arses
It only has eyebrows on Saturdays
It lives "on the place where there should be moors"
The "terrible howling noise" was due to a stereo placed in a tree by Giant and Hud to trick the locals into believing in the existence of the "Beast". The "Beast"'s other features were just rumours spread by Giant and Hud.
Trivia
This episode shows that Dougal is forced by Ted to keep a list of things that don't exist. The list features the following.
This episode is notable as being the only episode in the entire series to contain the word 'Fuck' spoken uncensored. In other episodes, minced oaths such as "Feck" are used instead.
This episode inspired the Australian Sue Dowling in September 2015 to give the name "Chris" to a sheep she spotted in a paddock in Canberra that had an unusually large fleece. The fleece was shorn and it set a world record for the heaviest fleece.
