Mrs. Brown's Boys

TV review, Mrs Brown's Boys Live, BBC1

The only real surprise was the speech direct to the camera at the very end. "If you ever feel lonely or a bit down turn on the television and flick to comedy. From Dad's Army to Fawlty Towers or Only Fools And Horses. We'll be there - you can depend on that." A nice sentiment from a man who clearly cares about comedy and yet insists on sticking to the lowest common denominator. Personally I'd rather watch a rerun of Dad's Army.

Why you just don't get Mrs Brown's Boys

Can't fathom why Brendan O'Carroll's comedy wins the Christmas TV battle every year? You're missing a very simple truth.

Brendan O'Carroll on Mrs Brown's Boys

Anything could happen tonight on BBC One - Mrs Brown is broadcasting live...

Mrs. Brown's Boys Live - the Donald Trump of sitcoms

Mrs. Brown's Boys is the Donald Trump of sitcoms. Brendan O'Carroll's ribald ratings gobbler has become a red rag to the intelligentsia yet its popularity soars unbounded with 9.7 million tuning in to last year's Christmas special and nearly 40,000 viewers applying for the 400 audience places the BBC had made available for this one-off live broadcast from Glasgow.

Brendan O'Carroll spills family secrets

The star talks to the Mirror about how he and his wife took in needy kids - and why he never takes his TV alter ego home with him.

Mrs Brown's Boys live episode won't have a swear buzzer

There will be no safety net when the occasionally foul-mouthed Mammy goes live for the night.

The danger of constantly celebrating the past

Nostalgia. Easy promotability. A blend of old and new. Low risk. Lots of press. And a brand new half hour to be written by Clement and Frenais, writers of the near-perfect Porridge. What's not to like? As a consumer of comedy, I'm fine with all of the above obviously. As a writer of comedy, my feelings are slightly more mixed.

Not to everyone's taste, but Mrs Brown's Boys is widely watched over the festive season. There's precious little concession to the holidays in this New Year special - more, as ever, a procession of near-the-knuckle jokes, delivered while the cast try their hardest (not always successfully) to avoid laughing. Tonight, Robert Bathurst guests as a surprise visitor to Foley's Bar. He has designs not on Kathy (who has "been on so many blind dates she needs a guide dog") but on Agnes Brown herself.