Recent festive specials were called ‘unfunny’ and accused of using ‘ancient’ jokes

Mrs Brown’s Boys creator Brendan O’Carroll has vowed to continue making new material despite facing a backlash over the latest festive specials.

The Irish sitcom was first aired by the BBC in 2011 after beginning as a radio programme and revolves around an Irish mother and her four children who live in the Dublin suburb of Finglas.

It was once extremely popular with viewers, aired around the world, won various awards and spawned live shows and even a spin-off movie.

After 12 years of series and festive specials however, it is often savaged by critics.

Recent offerings of the show, which star Jennifer Gibney, Paddy Houlihan, Eilish O’Carroll, Dermot O’Neill and Pat Shields, have been branded “unwatchable” and “excruciatingly terrible”, with some calling for the BBC to decommission the programme.

O’Carroll, 68, who also plays the titular character, is undeterred however.

“As long as the BBC keep asking, we’ll keep making episodes. It’s down to what the BBC want and what we can plan around,” he told the Daily Star.

He added: “We are definitely making more specials, whether we do another full series or not depends on dates.”

The Christmas Day special, which was titled Mammy’s Mare, was described by viewers as the “most shocking episode ever” as O’Carroll shared an onscreen kiss with his real-life son Danny O’Carroll.

While the New Year’s Day special, which was called New Year, New Mammy, was blasted as being unfunny and featuring “ancient” jokes.