Get the tissues out as the festive trip to Mrs. Brown’s house will explore one characters dementia, there will be tears when Agnes’ favourite decoration goes missing and there’s a tribute to Love Actually
The Mrs. Brown’s Boys Christmas special is set to be an emotional one as creator and writer Brendan O’Carroll explores dementia.
The show star wanted the storyline to to be really sensitive to capture to essence of what the illness is because so family families are affected by it.
There will also be a special nod to one of the country’s favourite festive movies, Love Actually.
Brendan told RSVP Live: “I always wanted to do a dementia storyline, but I wanted to do it the right way.
“Everybody I know has someone close to them affected by it. We handle it really well on the show.”
He added: “I wanted it to be really sensitive but also follow it with a big laugh and we managed to get that.”
The storyline begins when Agnes starts to look for a traditional Christmas ornament.
Brendan explained: “I got the idea from Jenny’s family, her dad has a little robin that they clip onto the tree. Growing up, the youngest person in his house clipped it on every year and he continued that on when Jenny was a child.
“On the show, Agnes has this rocking horse that she puts on the tree every year, but she can’t find it. There is uproar in the house because she can’t find it.
“The story behind the decoration is that she asked Santa for a rocking horse and her dad told her that he couldn’t fit it in the sleigh. There is a lovely ending to that part.”
Mrs. Brown then meets Fr Damian’s mother and her whole outlooks changes.
Brendan said: “Fr Damian’s mother is in a care home and Agnes meets her for the first time. She has dementia and doesn’t realise it is Christmas.
“Agnes soon cops on and she tells him to bring her around for Christmas dinner. They are having a sing song at the end of the night and nobody can remember the words to one of the verses and then she stands up and sings the song.
“We wanted to get the message across that it is Christmas for everyone.”
The Christmas episode will also feature a small tribute to his favourite Christmas movie, which is Love Actually, in the opening scene – and there is drama with the Christmas tree, as always!
Brendan said: “Buster is still trying to pursue Cathy. I start having to think about the Christmas tree in January to make sure I am ready for the next one.
“When we had the spinny, people wrote in to say they created one just like it. People always copy our Christmas trees.
“This time around, we put the tree upside down because Buster bought it in Australia. It looked fantastic on the set and there was loads of room for presents underneath it.”
Mrs. Brown’s Boys Christmas special airs on Christmas Day on RTÉ One and BBC One.
