Brendan O'Carroll

Brendan O'Carroll refuses to censor show for US viewers

The comedian's manager has revealed he is refusing to censor the swearing for American audiences, despite strong language being a big no-no on mainstream US TV.

In an act of a solidarity with the millions of you forced to sit through hours of TV you don't want to watch (and the fact that the BBC wouldn't let me watch Dr Who in advance), I thought it would only be proper to end this review with a few words on the last show I would want to spend Christmas evening watching... Mrs Brown's Boys Christmas Special (Christmas Day, BBC One).

It may have been the sherry, it may have been the wine, it might have been the clever metatextual moment when Brendan O'Carroll asked a workman to say something - "You've got a speaking part now, they'll have to pay you extra. Merry Christmas son!" - but I almost made it all the way through. Almost. So here are my six words on Mrs Brown's Boys Christmas Special: "I really miss The Royle Family".

Who is the real Mrs Brown?

Brendan O'Carroll's unlikely inspiration is a legendary Irish radical, reveals his biographer.

Quizmaster Stephen Fry, resplendent in a deep red, Noël Coward-ish dressing gown, hosts a sparkly QI Christmas special with guests, Mrs Brown's alter ego Brendan O'Carroll, Phill Jupitus, Jo Brand and Alan Davies. It's the Feast of Stephen, of course, and Fry introduces a young lady who's invented what she describes as an "unknitting machine" which is operated behind the scenes in the studio by her brother, much to everyone's ribald delight.

Fry, a man who loves gadgets, is thrilled as the machine unravels Alan Davies's festive scarf. Meanwhile, the guests wonder what presents we can expect from the Queen, and why Father Christmas is no longer on a Rich List.

Mrs Brown: The People's Princess?

Brendan O'Carroll's comic creation is generating Diana-like levels of public affection. Why has the nation has taken Mrs Brown to its bosum?

Brendan O'Carroll was once in the frame for murder

When former business partner Kevin Moore was found hanged, the finger of suspicion pointed at Brendan, and he was arrested.

The Security Men was a one-off comedy thriller about a quartet of feckless shopping-mall security guards, who, following a raid on a jewellery store under their protection, decide to re-stage the robbery to disguise their own incompetence. Actually, they aren't entirely feckless, as Brendan O'Carroll - escaping from under Mrs Brown's skirts - is given plenty of 'feck'-peppered dialogue to deliver.

Written by Caroline Aherne and Jeff Pope, The Security Men started out promisingly but ultimately disappointed on almost every level. It needed either more time to build up the characters, plot and tension or less time, so it could have focused solely on the better jokes. It was neither thrilling nor funny. But, for all its shortcomings, I feel a spin-off series coming on.

The Security Men, ITV, review

The Security Men, a one-off comedy written by Caroline Aherne and starring Bobby Ball and Brendan O'Carroll, was unfunny and full of rancid sexism.

Since the all-conquering success of The Royle Family, Caroline Aherne has been almost invisible, the great disappearing woman of British comedy. Security Men is a one-off collaboration with Jeff Pope, who also co-wrote her last project, 2009's The Fattest Man in the World.

So expectations will be high for this, a boysy, old-fashioned comedy about work-shy nightwatchmen at a shopping centre, where an attempt to catch a late-night boxing match in the centre's electrical shop backfires horribly. The star is Peter Wight as Kenneth, the mall's jobsworth head of security, obsessed with detail and routine, while his colleagues (played by Dean Andrews, Brendan O'Carroll and - gulp - Bobby Ball) mock him behind his back.

This one-off comedy written by Caroline Aherne and Jeff Pope (who also wrote The Fattest Man In Britain together) was filmed way back in 2011. But, although anything that bears Aherne's name is usually worth seeking out, this isn't going to set the world alight.

In fact, one of the main reasons for tuning in is to see Brendan O'Carroll in uniform instead of the Mrs Brown drag that has made him a superstar.

The show also stars Peter Wight, Dean Andrews and Bobby Ball as his fellow security guards in a Salford shopping mall.

Gentle, old-fashioned and predictable, Take Me Out presenter Paddy McGuinness also pops up as a copper after the slack security men have to cope with an actual robbery.