Mrs. Brown's Boys

Mrs Brown's Boys review

'Mrs Brown' thrives not on snideness or superiority, but speaks to the universal truth that quite a lot of people enjoy fart gags.

I endured only the second Mrs Brown's Boys of my life. The first I reviewed not long after the Brexit vote, and I wondered then whether the inexplicable success of the programme with the British mainland public wasn't directly linked to the success of the Leave campaign. I see no reason, second time around, to revise my opinion: we should have seen that vote coming. Unutterably witless, smutty/borderline blue, most of it (again) simply involved Brendan O'Carroll mugging sneeringly to camera about anyone who can spell or say things properly, saying "bucking" or "feck" to new gales of pant-wetting audience mirth, and a big happy swayalong at the end: it's like the worst panto ever. Perhaps after 29 March we'll be shot of it - O'Carroll's job here is done.

How did a show nobody likes become so popular?

In 2006, years before anyone in the UK had heard of Mrs Brown's Boys, comedian Brendan O'Carroll was grilled by two puppets on Irish television. O'Carroll was introduced as "the equally annoying, equally successful" creator of Agnes Brown.

More potty-mouthed panto, but with good-natured cheer

Only a recent arrival from the North Pole could fail to hold a strong opinion on Brendan O'Carroll and his apron-clad alter ego.

So awful that it's physically painful to sit through

It will take me a long time indeed to forgive the BBC for its infatuation with Mrs Brown's Boys, which is so awful that it is physically painful to sit through. Recall, if you will, the scene in A Clockwork Orange where the violent droog played by Malcolm McDowell undergoes forcible cinematic aversion therapy. His eyelids are clamped open while he is forced to watch unspeakable acts of horror, his ordeal part of some deranged official experiment. Same here, when I get a commission to review the Christmas edition of Mrs Brown's Boys.

Michael McIntyre beats Mrs. Brown in TV ratings

The comedian's Christmas showcase was the most watched programme on Christmas Day, after the Queen's Speech which aired across multiple channels.

Why the feck is Mrs. Brown's Boys so popular?

Critics derided it from the beginning, yet Brendan O'Carroll's creation only seems to become more popular with each year. Alexandra Pollard explores the appeal of one of the UK's most polarising comedies.

How Mrs Brown's Boys took over the comedy world

Ben Dowell follows the story of Brendan O'Carroll's comedy hit, from the radio waves of Dublin to the centrepiece of the BBC1 Christmas schedule, as he talks to those who helped make it happen

The long life of a critic-proof comedy

It has been called "the worst comedy ever made," but after seven years, Mrs Brown's Boys remains a hit with viewers.

Everyone likes a good mystery show: here the mystery continues as to why this series rides higher than Santa's reindeer in the ratings. Agnes wants to enter a Christmas-decoration competition, but has to tear herself away from her new wifi assistant first. Pinnacles of wit include "arse", and a raspberry noise.