Brendan opened up about what viewers can expect for the Christmas and New Year’s special episodes
Brendan O’Carroll has said he feels “very privileged” to still be part of the BBC’s Christmas viewing schedule.
The Mrs Brown’s Boys star hit headlines after he got his knuckles rapped last month by BBC executives for using a racial slur during rehearsals for the Christmas and New Year’s specials.
Opening up about what’s in store for Agnes Brown and her family this year, Brendan said he feels “very privileged” to still be a part of the BBC’s Christmas viewing schedule.
He said: “Very, very privileged. For me, Christmas Day didn’t finish until Morecambe and Wise was finished, everybody in the family gathered round to watch that. To have that now as my slot, particularly on the BBC, I’m very proud to be part of the BBC family. It is a privilege and to have had it for 11, 12 years now, I only signed up for 18 episodes and this will be 51!”
The first Christmas special – Ding Dong Mammy – airs on Christmas Day at 11.05pm on BBC One. Mrs Brown has a Christmas miracle to perform in the first of two festive visits to Finglas. Can Agnes convince her nearest and dearest that she’s not grumpy?
Elsewhere, the Dublin matriarch’s daughter Cathy pulls the community together for a good cause, and expects the unexpected from Buster, as he sources a sustainable tree.
Speaking about the episode, star and creator Brendan said: “First of all, we have a stunning Christmas tree that can be recycled. Then we’ve Cathy trying to solve the homeless problem in Finglas and the surrounding area.”
The Mrs Brown’s Boys New Year’s Special – B&B Mammy – airs on New Year’s Day at 10.30pm. After her Christmas Day shenanigans, Mrs Brown is ready to kickstart a new enterprise when she turns her spare room into a B&B. If you’re wondering who would willingly stay at the madcap matriarch’s home, the answer is soon revealed… A dangerous, escaped criminal turns up and takes over the gaff!
“Mrs Brown as a landlady doesn’t work out,” teases Brendan. “Agnes is held hostage, and so is everyone who calls at the house – including her family, the neighbours and a brass band!” The New Year’s Eve storyline is probably the funniest I’ve written in a long, long time.
Brendan said he feels the show brings together families during the festive season. He said: “I think that the fact that it is a family, about a family and that many of the cast are family, there’s a chemistry there already. For example, when Cathy is saying to Mrs. Brown, ‘Oh, Mammy, shut up!’ it’s taken exactly the way it would be taken if it was a member of our own family.
“The one thing about Agnes I think is adorable is that the most important thing in her life is her kids, more so than even her own life. I think maybe she’s the mammy that everybody wants to have, that kind of mammy that would just adore you.”
Brendan said he receives letters from all over the world about Mrs Brown. “Yes, I think everybody knows her. I get letters from Italy, I get letters from Romania, from people who say to me, ‘Oh, Agnes Brown just lives down the road, we know her!’ She’s like that aunt that you have to invite to the wedding, you don’t want to, but you have to and you know that after three vodkas she’s going to be standing up on the table, her knickers in the air and dancing on the table. That’s Agnes.”
Speaking about his own Christmas plans, he said his whole family and his eight grandchildren come around to his home on Christmas morning.
“As they got older and they married, we have eight grandchildren, and they have their own Christmas day but the exception is that on Christmas morning everybody arrives here for breakfast – they don’t all stay for dinner because sometimes they’re with in-laws or they do it at home themselves – we have sausage sandwiches, pudding sandwiches, and a good laugh.
“We then give the grandkids their presents from Granny and Grandad and everybody goes their own way. I don’t know if it’s like that in the UK but Christmas is a big visiting day, Christmas morning especially.”
