Graham Linehan detained on arrival from Arizona as Met Police confirm arrest for ‘inciting violence’ on X
Father Ted creator Graham Linehan has revealed he was arrested by five armed police officers at Heathrow Airport over a series of “anti-trans” tweets, in the latest high-profile case of heavy-handed police responses to online posts.
The 57-year-old Irish comedy writer, who was travelling on an American Airlines flight from Arizona to London, says he was treated “like a terrorist” after being detained as soon as he stepped off the plane yesterday afternoon.
Linehan, whose successful career as creator of Father Ted, The IT Crowd and Black Books was derailed by his gender-critical views, claims he was escorted to a private area where he was informed he was “under arrest for three tweets” posted in April.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed a man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence at around 1pm on Monday “in relation to posts on X”, adding that he was taken to hospital after officers became concerned for his health.
The arrest represents the latest in a string of controversial police interventions over social media posts, with writers, councillors and parents in school WhatsApp groups targeted in recent months. The most high-profile case involved Lucy Connolly, wife of a Tory councillor, who was released from prison last month after serving nine months of a 31-month sentence for a racist tweet following the Southport attacks.
Linehan shared the three tweets which he says triggered his arrest. One from 20 April stated: “If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.”
A second tweet from 19 April showed a picture of a trans rally with the caption: “A photo you can smell.” The third was a follow-up reading: “I hate them. Misogynists and homophobes. F*** em.”
Writing on his Substack blog, Linehan described the dramatic scene: “The moment I stepped off the plane at Heathrow, five armed police officers were waiting. Not one, not two—five. They escorted me to a private area and told me I was under arrest for three tweets.
In a country where paedophiles escape sentencing, where knife crime is out of control, where women are assaulted and harassed every time they gather to speak, the state had mobilised five armed officers to arrest a comedy writer for this tweet. I promise you, I am not making this up.”
The five-time BAFTA winner claims that when he first saw the officers, he “actually laughed” and said: “Don’t tell me! You’ve been sent by trans activists.” He described “polite bafflement” among the rank-and-file officers, with some even revealing themselves to be Father Ted fans.
According to Linehan, officers arranged for a van to meet him on the tarmac “so I didn’t have to be perp-walked through the airport like a terrorist”. He was then taken to Heathrow police station where his “belt, bag, and devices were confiscated” before being placed in a cell.
The writer claims his blood pressure reached “stroke territory” at over 200mmHg during the ordeal, leading to him being taken to A&E where he spent eight hours under observation. Doctors suggested the high blood pressure was stress-related, combined with long-haul travel.
Linehan says he has been released on bail with a single condition: “I am not to go on Twitter. That’s it. No threats, no speeches about the seriousness of my crimes—just a legal gag order designed to shut me up while I’m in the UK, and a demand I face a further interview in October.”
The arrest drew swift condemnation from Conservative MP Neil O’Brien, who wrote on X: “Britain is now a total laughing stock – a country where we arrest the authors of light comedies and interrogate them about their tweets. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious.”
A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed: “On Monday, 1 September at 13:00hrs 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.
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. 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.”
Linehan claims the arrest may have been orchestrated, noting that when he handed over his passport in Arizona, officials told him he did not have a seat and had to be re-ticketed. At the time, I thought it was just the sort of innocent snafu that makes air travel such a joy,” he said. “But in hindsight, it was clear I’d been flagged.”
The writer praised individual officers for their professionalism but condemned the broader implications: “The police themselves, for the most part, were consistently decent throughout this farce. Some were even Father Ted fans. The female officers seemed more tuned in to what was actually happening. One mentioned the Sandie Peggie case in a certain way, and I realised I was among friends, even if they couldn’t admit it.”
Ms Peggie was suspended by NHS Fife after complaining about having to share a changing room with Dr Beth Upton, a trans medic, at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy on Christmas Eve 2023.
Linehan faces trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday over two separate charges relating to harassing trans activist Sophia Brooks on social media and damaging Brooks’s mobile phone in October. He denied the charges at a hearing on 12 May.
The Dublin-born writer, who also created Black Books and co-wrote with Arthur Mathews, has become increasingly known for his anti-transgender activism since 2008 when an episode of The IT Crowd was criticised as transphobic. His views have, by his own admission, “consumed his life”, cost him work including a planned Father Ted musical, and ended his marriage to Helen Serafinowicz.
In his 2023 memoir “Tough Crowd: How I Made and Lost a Career in Comedy”, Linehan detailed how his gender-critical stance led to him being “cancelled” by the entertainment industry. He was permanently suspended from Twitter in 2020 for “repeated violations of rules against hateful conduct”, before being reinstated under Elon Musk’s ownership.
Last month, Linehan accused JK Rowling of failing to defend him after he was cancelled over his views, saying the Harry Potter author’s “silence” made him feel “toxic” and isolated despite backing her stance on transgender issues.
Lucy Connolly’s case has become a touchstone in debates about policing social media. The 42-year-old mother posted: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the b******* for all I care… if that makes me racist so be it” on the day three girls were stabbed to death in Southport.
She was released from HMP Peterborough in August after serving nine months, with former Prime Minister Liz Truss calling her “a victim of a politicised two-tier justice system” who should have been “released immediately. Labour MP Mary Glindon also called the sentence “unduly harsh”, saying Connolly “doesn’t pose a threat to the public.
Linehan concluded his account: “I was arrested at an airport like a terrorist, locked in a cell like a criminal, taken to hospital because the stress nearly killed me, and banned from speaking online. To me, this proves one thing beyond doubt: the UK has become a country that is hostile to freedom of speech, hostile to women, and far too accommodating to the demands of violent, entitled, abusive men who have turned the police into their personal goon squad.
The writer is planning to move to Arizona to work on a sitcom with comedians Rob Schneider and Andrew Doyle, having announced the plans in December 2024.
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Image Credit:
Graham Linehan 2013 — photo by Gregor Fischer (via Flickr user “re:publica from Germany”), taken on 6 May 2013 at re:publica 2013, Tag 1 in Berlin. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)
