Bono was going to sing ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ in Foley’s Bar, says Brendan

Mrs Brown’s Boys star Brendan O’Carroll has revealed U2 came incredibly close to appearing in a previous Christmas special.

Writer Brendan, who returns this Christmas with two seasonal episodes of the hugely popular BBC One comedy, tells us that the Irish rock legends were poised to make a guest appearance at Foley’s pub, the bar where Mrs Brown drinks.

They were going to be the pub band singing their megahit “Where the Streets Have No Name”, and of course, Mrs Brown wouldn’t have been impressed! But sadly the guest appearance didn’t happen.

Talking about guest stars, Brendan told What to Watch: “The closest we got — and we got very close! — was when we were going to do a scene at the end of one of our Christmas specials where there’s a live band in Foley’s pub and it was going to be U2! Bono would start with ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ and Agnes would tell them to sing a proper song! Unfortunately at the time, just coming up to it, someone became very unwell, so that’s the closest we got to it.”

We do now have two seasonal specials to look forward to. In Christmas Day cracker “Mammy’s Mare” — BBC One at 10.45 pm — Brendan’s alter ego Agnes Brown has trouble remembering ‘‘tis the season to be jolly!’ While in the New Year’s Day knees-up “New Year, New Mammy”, — BBC One at 10 pm — the mouthy matriarch comes face-to-face with a blast from the past!

Talking about what makes the festive episodes so popular, Brendan says: “All we want is for people to sit and watch this show and laugh for half an hour on Christmas Day.

“When I was a kid it wasn’t Christmas until we watched Morecambe and Wise and had a supper of leftovers — turkey and stuffing sandwiches and Christmas pudding! It was the highlight. The fact that Mrs Brown now has that slot is absolutely unbelievable and a huge, huge honour.”