The writer of TV’s Father Ted has been arrested at Heathrow over three social media posts on transgender issues.
Graham Linehan, who also created the IT Crowd and, with Dylan Moran, Black Books, said he was intercepted by five armed officers after flying in from Arizona and told he was under arrest over the messages.
Writing on Substack, the 57-year-old Irishman said he was taken to a cell and then questioned over the posts, published on X in April.
He said the posts related to him challenging a “trans-identified male” in a “female-only space”.
Linehan said after questioning by police that his blood pressure “was over 200 – stroke territory” and he was taken to hospital and kept under observation before being discharged and released on bail.
The Metropolitan police did not identify Linehan but a spokesperson said: “On Monday, 1 September, at 1pm officers arrested a man at Heathrow airport after he arrived on an inbound American Airlines flight.
“The man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence. This is in relation to posts on X.
“After being taken to police custody, officers became concerned for his health and he was taken to hospital. His condition is neither life-threatening nor life-changing. He has now been bailed pending further investigation.
“The arrest was made by officers from the MPS aviation unit. It is routine for officers policing airports to carry firearms. These were not drawn or used at any point during the arrest.”
Legal and regulatory oversight of social media posts in the UK has become an increasingly contentious political topic on both sides of the Atlantic. US officials have expressed concerns over the Online Safety Act and the country’s vice-president, JD Vance, has said the UK is going down a “very dark path” of losing free speech.
The case of Lucy Connolly, a British woman who was jailed after last summer’s riots for a post on X calling on people to set fire to hotels housing asylum seekers, has become a cause célèbre for the right.
The Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, has said he will raise Connolly’s case in an appearance on Wednesday at the House judiciary committee in Washington, where has been asked to testify about online regulation in the UK and Europe. Connolly, who was jailed for two years and seven months, was released last month.
Linehan’s arrest prompted a backlash from various figures, including author JK Rowling and opposition politicians.
Downing Street declined to comment directly on the arrest. The prime minister’s official spokesperson said the arrest was “an operational matter for the police”. He added: “The prime minister and the home secretary have been clear about where their priorities for crime and policing are, and that’s tackling antisocial behaviour, shoplifting, street crime, as well as reducing serious violent crimes like knife crime and violence against women.”
He also rejected Rowling’s claim that the UK was engaging in “totalitarianism”.
Rowling had earlier attacked Linehan’s arrest, in a post on X asking what the UK had become. The tech billionaire Elon Musk reposted Rowling’s tweet, adding: “Police state.”
Opposition politicians also criticised the arrest. Former shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick called it “ridiculous and a complete waste of police time”.
Shadow cabinet minister Claire Coutinho said: “You live in a society? Occasionally you’re going to be offended. That’s how it works.”
Labour backbencher Jonathan Hinder said the arrest showed the need for a “serious reset to get the priorities right” in policing, while Independent MP Rupert Lowe said: “I stand with Linehan.”
