Mrs Browns Boys (BBC-1 2011, Brendan O’Caroll)

Sitcom Mrs Browns Boys is written by and stars Brendan O’Carroll who in best Old Mother Riley style plays the foul mouthed matriarch of the Brown family who loves nothing more than interfering in her sons business.

The theatre shows of Mrs Brown’s Boys has been a sell-out success for a number of years in Eire and the UK (O’Carroll created the character in the early 1990s), and this series, specially written by Brendan for the BBC and RTE, is jam-packed with all the laughs, surprises and drama of Mrs Brown on stage. Definitely not for the easily offended but very funny.

O’Carroll had also written four books in the 1990s featuring Mrs Brown. At that time she was known as Agnes Browne and the first book was made into a 1999 movie called Agnes Browne with Anjelica Huston. Over the next few years O’Carroll produced seven straight to DVD stories featuring the character who was by now in full Mrs Brown mode. These were all versions of the stage shows.

2014 saw the arrival of a proper big screen outing with Mrs Brown’s Boy D’Movie.

In a somewhat bizarre twist the game show The Guess List hosted by Rob Bryden was to have been a vehicle for Mrs Brown to have been called Mrs Brown’s Celebrities. O’Carroll made a pilot episode but then turned down the series. O’Carroll also turned down the chance to make a US special for HBO.

production details
UK / BBC1 / 27×30 minute episodes plus three specials running between 35 and 40 minutes / Broadcast from Monday 21 February 2011

Writer: Brendan O’Carroll / Producer: Stephen McCrum

cast
BRENDAN O’CARROLL as Agnes Brown
DERMOT O’NEILL as Grandad Brown
JENNIFER GIBNEY as Cathy Brown
PADDY HOULIHAN as Dermot Brown
DEREK REDDIN as Dr Flynn
FIONA O’CARROLL as Maria Nicholson
ELISH O’CARROLL as Winnie McGoogan
AMANDA WOODS as Betty Brown