Mrs. Brown's Boys

Mrs Brown's Boys isn't so much a sitcom as a full frontal assault on the senses. It is raucous, vulgar, sentimental, loud, infantile, audacious, irreverent, outrageous, inane, frequently frustrating and often hilarious. The jokes come thick and fast, with several circumventing quality control en route and at least one - a naked hand being described as "Sooty in the nude" - deserving a place in the annals of comedy history.

Star and writer Brendan O'Carroll dons drag for the title role - an Irish mammy forever interfering in her adult children's lives. He/she is on screen throughout and it's fair to describe the performance as all-embracing, leaving the supporting cast with little to do but stand, stare and sometimes suppress giggles.

There is an unapologetically old-fashioned, almost music hall, feel to proceedings, with O'Carroll embracing the proud cross-dressing traditions of Les Dawson, Old Mother Riley and the Two Ronnies, but with added profanity.

In another post-modern twist the show deliberately assumes all the conventions of the traditional studio-based TV sitcom, then takes great pleasure in subverting them. Mrs Brown crosses over sets, talks to the camera and even admonishes the live audience for rendering a sympathetic sigh ("It's a man in a dress, for feck's sake").

Episode one left me fully entertained but slightly shell-shocked, harbouring serious doubts that it can sustain such a high level of manic energy for an entire series. We shall just have to wait and see if Mrs Brown wins our hearts, or wears us out.

'Mrs Brown's Boys' 1.1 -

Taken as individual elements, this brand new studio-based comedy offers nothing original, but cumulatively it makes for a heady confection of madcap weirdness, a stream of hit-and-miss jokes, and bemusement.

Mrs Brown's Boys (BBC1) is like My Family meets Father Ted meets Dame Edna. Brendan O'Carroll, who also wrote it, plays Agnes Brown, who has a fruit and veg stall, swears a lot and interferes in the lives of her six children, one of whom is played by his real-life wife. It must be weird, pretending your husband is your mother.

Mrs Brown's Boys is not subtle or sophisticated. "Did Daddy always come late?" asks daughter/wife and the studio audience titter because it's not clear what kind of coming we're talking about. "That's none of your fecking business," says Mrs Brown, and they laugh some more because she said "fecking".

Grandad gets hit over the head with a frying pan, and a thermometer gets stuck up his arse. And Mrs Brown answers the Taser instead of the phone, just as you knew she was going to as soon as the Taser was plugged in to charge. I did find my self chuckling on a couple of occasions I'm afraid, against my better judgment.

Mrs Brown was just jaw-droppingly past its sell-by date

Mrs Brown's Boys (BBC1) was not even remotely funny, the BBC should hang its head in shame.

Mrs Brown's Boys, Monday 10.35pm, BBC One

I have no doubt that seeing Mrs Brown's Boys on stage would make for a good night out - especially after a couple of pints. But I can't help thinking there are probably more deserving comedy shows worthy of a six-episode run on BBC One.

How does a programme like this get commissioned?

The show just isn't funny at all. I didn't laugh once. Even smirk.

BBC comedy 'Mrs Brown's Boys' grabs 2.6m

New BBC comedy Mrs Brown's Boys debuted with 2.6 million on Monday evening, while Outcasts again lost out to The Biggest Loser, according to the latest audience data.

Mrs Brown's Boys: I love the lines that aren't scripted

Welcome to the world of Agnes Brown. It's a world where family comes first, authority is to be challenged, and everything always works out in the end.

New, fourth-wall-smashing sitcom starring Dublin playwright Brendan O'Carroll as an interfering, gutter-mouthed mother- of-six - the TV version of a hilariously rude stage show. We're rarely more than 20 seconds from a "feck", or the more common Anglo-Saxon equivalent - although even the clean one-liners are often pretty wonderful ("When I was 18, I married his son, because of a condition I had called pregnancy").

Mrs Brown's Boys - BBC1, 10.35pm

Remember the 80s sitcom Bread, with Ma Boswell, Joey and grandad? Imagine the very best episode of that with Catherine Tate's Nan in the central role and you have the rough flavour of this brilliant comedy from Dublin comic Brendan O'Carroll.