Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Police speak to Father Ted co-creator after Twitter ‘transphobia’ row

Father Ted TV writer Graham Linehan (Anthony Delvin/PA)
Father Ted TV writer Graham Linehan (Anthony Delvin/PA)

Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan was given a verbal harassment warning after being reported by a transgender activist over social media comments.

West Yorkshire Police spoke to the writer and told him to cease contacting Stephanie Hayden, who he has rowed with on Twitter.

Ms Hayden reported him for “transphobia” after he referred to her as “he” and for “deadnaming” her by referring to her by names used before she transitioned.

On Saturday, Linehan told the Press Association: “The police asked me to stop contacting someone I had no intention of contacting.

“It was a bit like asking me to never contact Charlie Sheen.”

Ms Hayden, a 45-year-old from Leeds, is also suing the 50-year-old Irish writer, also known for being behind Black Books and The IT Crowd, in the High Court.

Linehan, who lives in Norfolk, has tweeted calling her Stephanie/Tony/Steven”, references to her former names.

As included in her lawsuit, Linehan also wrote: “I don’t respect the pronouns of misogynists, stalkers or harassers, and Tony is all three.”

The claims are refuted by Ms Hayden.

Ms Hayden said: “I don’t take kindly to a public figure tweeting about me referring to me as a man and putting my legal name in quotation marks to suggest it’s not valid.”

Police can issue harassment warnings to deter individuals from further behaviour. They are not convictions or cautions, but do appear on enhanced criminal records checks.