Graham Linehan, who was last year convicted of criminal damage after throwing a trans activist’s mobile phone across a road, took aim at the BBC with a strange allegation
Graham Linehan pictured outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court(Image: Getty Images)
The BBC has hit back at bizarre claims made by Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan.
The Irish comedy writer, 57, accused the broadcaster of demonising him in its soap Doctors. He alleged a character introduced in June 2024, who remained until the end of the programme in November that year, was based on him.
But a BBC Studios spokesperson rubbished this strange remark. They said: “Doctors was a fictional drama, set in a fictional location, featuring fictional characters, not based on any real-life individuals. To suggest that the character of Dr Graham Elton was based on any specific individual is simply untrue.”
Graham Elton, separated from his former wife, and aggressively transphobic, is pictured in one scene cruelly deriding his child for coming out as transgender. Mr Linehan, who was last year convicted of criminal damage after throwing a trans activist’s mobile phone across a road, faced a backlash in 2020 over his anti-transgenderism.
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Dad-of-two Mr Linehan said: “The writers on Doctors called a divorced character ‘Graham’ and made him the transphobic bad guy… I can’t believe I’m not making this up.” The five-time BAFTA winner added: “The BBC did the same to me with [Doctors].”
In 2020, Linehan and his wife of 16 years Helen Serafinowicz, with whom he has a daughter and a son, divorced amid the anti-transgenderism backlash. He said their marriage broke down after his critics “went after my wife”.
As the Daily Mail reports, Mr Linehan’s Edinburgh Fringe show was cancelled in 2023 after the venue said anti-trans views did “not align with our overall values”. In recent times, Mr Linehan became an outspoken critic of trans culture, and therefore, a pariah in Britain’s comedy scene.
But, as the BBC has pointed out, characters in soap operas are not based on real-life individuals. Dr Elton, in his 50s, was the last regular villain in Doctors, which came to an end in late 2024 after more than 4,000 episodes.
Mr Linehan, from Dublin, Ireland, was convicted of criminal damage in November last year, but cleared of harassing trans activist Sophia Brooks. The BAFTA winner had been trial at Westminster Magistrates Court accused of harassing the then 17-year-old and causing criminal damage to her phone costing £369. The co-creator of Father Ted was accused of grabbing the woman’s phone and throwing it across a road.
The court heard in September that the Irishman “relentlessly” posted abusive comments about the teenage trans woman on social media before throwing her phone into the street, while calling her “a groomer”, “a disgusting incel” and a “sissy-porn watching scumbag”.
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