Mrs Brown's Boys star's blunt message to haters of show after Christmas backlash

24 December 2023 , 10:41

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Brendan O'Carroll has hit back at haters (Image: BBC)

It may be one of the most polarising TV shows on the BBC, but creator Brendan O'Carroll has hit back at haters saying they've "suffered enough" as Mrs Brown's Boys returns for another Christmas special.

The popular sitcom will be back this Christmas with two specials, but Brendan - who plays Mammy - insists he's not bothered by the criticism. Every year the show continues to divise the nation, with millions tuning in - though last December some were so appalled they said it wrecked the festive period after an episode which centred around Buster’s magic Christmas tree.

The 68-year-old will return to his role as mischievous matriarch Agnes Brown alongside Jennifer Gibney as Cathy Brown, Paddy Houlihan as Dermot Brown and Eilish O’Carroll as Winnie McGoogan in the Christmas Day and New Year’s Day specials. Speaking ahead of the episodes airing, he told the Daily Star : "First of all, I’m well aware that comedy is very subjective. What some people like, other people just detest. So I don’t take it too serious."

Brendan O'Carroll has responded to critics of the show

He went on to explain he receieved letters from parents of autistic children saying that the show had helped them laugh in context for the first time. "One woman said she was in the ­kitchen and heard her son laughing for the very first time," he said. "So when you get a ­letter like that I don’t care what the critics say. That’ll do me.”

Brendan also previously said that it is the perfect antidote to a tough few years. “I think since 2008 the world hasn’t had a break,” Brendan said. “We’ve had all sorts of challenges, we’ve had a pandemic, we have had wars, all sorts of worries and it just gets to the stage where people get unsure, they get nostalgic.

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“They go ‘Oh do you remember before, all this was lovely, that was lovely, the summers were longer and Christmas was brighter’. Mrs Brown’s Boys has a kind of nostalgia to it. It looks back to that kind of late 80s and 90s comedy where you don’t have to worry about it, you just sit down and let it come at you. You don’t have to try and figure it out, you don’t have to have a university degree to understand it.

“It’s just gags and it’s ‘let’s sit down on Christmas Day, whatever else happens, let’s sit down and just have a laugh. I think that’s a big part of it, I think it’s nostalgia.” He said his character’s focus “completely switches from herself” which catches her by surprise during the duo of festive episodes, describing it as a “Christmas miracle”.

Rose Hill