It's almost time for the Mrs Brown's Boys Christmas special and this year's there's also an episode on New Year's Day! Here, creator and star Brendan O'Carroll reveals why he just loves the festive season...
Brendan O’Carroll on how Mrs Brown turns Cupid and crime-fighter in two festive specials this Christmas, starting with the Mrs Brown Brown's Boys Christmas special on Christmas Day…
Get ready for more fun and frolics round at Mrs Brown’s this festive season with two brand-new episodes this Christmas and New Year.
Brendan O’Carroll is back as foul-mouthed matriarch Agnes Brown, who’s getting into more hilarious scrapes than ever before. On Christmas Day, Mrs Brown is getting to grips with yet another wayward Christmas tree and meddling in daughter Cathy’s love life – again! Then, on New Year’s Day, she turns vigilante… we just know this is NOT going to end well.
Here, the show’s writer, creator and star Brendan, 62, tells TV Times more about Mrs Brown’s crazy Christmas and reveals how one of his past Christmases was like a scene straight out of the sitcom…
Brendan, everyone looks forward to the Mrs Brown's Boys Christmas special - Christmas Day on BBC1 at 10.00pm - and there's also a special Mrs Brown's Boys on New Year's Day at 10.00pm. So, what’s in store for Mrs Brown this Christmas?
"I’m very pleased with this year’s Christmas special. This Christmas, Agnes’s daughter Cathy [played by Brendan’s real-life wife Jennifer Gibney] has got a date… finally! Usually Agnes is trying to get Cathy OUT of her dates but, this time, Agnes is trying to get Cathy to stay ON a date. It’s very much a visual gag, so I wont give too much away, but let’s just say the date ends rather abruptly."
Is Mrs Brown’s Christmas tree giving her problems again this year?
"Agnes is very pleased with the Christmas tree that family friend Buster [played by Brendan’s real-life son Danny] has got her this year. It’s an electric Christmas tree that he got in a closing down sale and when you press a button it spins around and ends up in the shape of a tree with all these baubles on. Agnes is really taken with it and, of course, by the end of the show, she really IS taken with it!"
Tree-mendous! Mrs Brown shows her fancy Christmas tree to neighbour Winnie
Following the departure of Rory Cowan earlier this year, can we expect to see a new Rory?
"Well, the story is that, Rory’s had plastic surgery. It’s very radical surgery; it’s changed his face, his voice and he’s two shoe sizes smaller - but everyone thinks it’s the same Rory. Agnes is the only one that sees any difference – her family don’t see anything! She’s going around saying: ‘Look at his face!’ She’s exasperated."
And what can you tell us about the New Year episode?
"It’s called CSI Mammy and sees a neighbourhood crimewatch group set up to catch one guy who’s been plaguing the area – but Agnes thinks this means they want vigilantes, so she’s up for getting involved big time. Also, young Bono is now 12 and his school is having an under 13s disco but his dad Mark doesn’t want him to go, so Agnes interferes a little bit so that he can go, which causes a few problems. In the end, Agnes vows never to interfere in her family’s life again – but I’d take that with a large pinch of salt!"
The police are on the hunt for a criminal - but will Mrs Brown be the one getting her collar felt?
You’re never afraid to show viewers when you mess up on Mrs Brown’s Boys? Do you consciously write ‘mishaps’ into the show now?
"The bloopers all look like they come naturally but I write it, so while nothing’s a surprise to me most of the time, it’s definitely a surprise to the rest of the cast! They don’t know what I’m going to do next. I think it keeps everybody on their toes and I think it’s fun. We show the viewers at home the studio and the cameras and they know it’s a TV show, so we let them in on the gag and let them be part of it."
[Mrs Brown Brown's Boys Christmas special is one of the 25 must watch shows this Christmas!]
Fans loved your entertainment show All Round to Mrs Browns. You must be thrilled it's got the green light for a second series...
"Yes, I’m thrilled that the BBC has commissioned another series of All Round to Mrs Browns. At first, I was like: ‘Oh I don’t know if this is going to work’. But before last year’s Christmas episode, we did a pilot and, honest to God, it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. So when it came to doing the series I just couldn’t wait. We start filming the second series in March. I’m determined to milk this Dublin widow to death!"
Do you like Christmas?
"Oh, I absolutely love Christmas. We live in Florida but it’s not very Christmassy there, so every year we come home to Dublin for Christmas and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I love the frosty mornings, the Christmas lights and decorating the house. All the family get together and we play charades and Trivial Pursuit and get the hump playing chess. I’ve been very lucky all my life that no matter how bad some years have been – and I’ve had some awful years – Christmas has always been magical. It doesn’t matter how bad things get, you just know that, at the end of the year, Christmas is on its way."
Mrs Brown Brown's Boys Christmas special - Christmas is a real family affair for Brendan
Have any of your Christmases been a disaster like they usually are for Mrs Brown?
"I remember when my son Danny was about six, he wanted an ice skating outfit for Christmas and I couldn’t get one anywhere in Ireland. Eventually, I found one in a mail order catalogue from Toronto, so I ordered it and it came in lovely packaging. When Danny came down Christmas morning he was just over the moon but when he opened the present the outfit was an XXL… he could have lived in it. He wore this massive thing to church mass and it was like we’d taken E.T. with us!"
Mrs Brown Brown's Boys Christmas special is on BBC1 on Christmas Day at 10.00pm and the New Year's Day episode is also on at 10.00pm.
