Brendan O’Carroll breaks silence on BBC Mrs Brown’s Boys’ ‘enduring success’ amid backlash to series return
The BBC has announced a new series of Mrs Brown’s Boys is returning to screens this August for its fifth season, and star Brendan O’Carroll reveals what’s in store.
The slapstick sitcom, produced and fronted by O’Carroll, 69, is a live audience show that follows foul-mouthed Irish matriarch, Agnes Brown, meddling with her close-knit, and often chaotic family.
The new season focuses on the continuing life in the Brown family and surrounding households in Finglas. Cathy gets involved with a podcast producer, which obviously is commandeered by Agnes, and Granddad decides that he wants to leave the family for a care home.
Meanwhile, Winnie’s husband’s car, which has been lying up for ten years, is pressed into action, leading to a disastrous driving test which ends with a huge shock for the Brown family.
O’Carroll admitted he got inspiration for the new series from true events that either happened to his own family or stories other people have shared.
He said the new series is no different from the previous 53 episodes, and it continues telling the story everyone knows and loves.
O’Carroll teases a fun twist in the upcoming series where Agnes is on a mobility scooter, adding: “She goes nuts, with hilarious consequences.”
He also added: “In every episode there is something that stands out for me, I love being Agnes Brown and I love her family, and her neighbours like Winnie and Birdy.”
Last week, the news of the series’ recommission left some license fee payers furious; flocking to social media, they branded it “utter garbage” and “abysmal”.
“Literally no one asked for this, the BBC becoming even more irrelevant and out of touch,” one user wrote on X, before another added: “Actually, I’m starting to think this is an elaborate prank on behalf of the BBC.”
Users continued to double down on the BBC’s decision to green-light another series. On X, one user wrote: “Why oh why is this still commissioned ?? #MrsBrownsBoys not been funny in years!!!!!”
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“Dropping ratings and such bad reviews and bad comments from audience, and keeps coming back like a rotten smell!
“Give the investment to more new comedy, not keep old ones past best limping on @BBC.”
As well as five series, Mrs Brown’s Boys has bagged a primetime Christmas Day slot since 2011, until it was bumped to make way for Gavin & Stacey last year.
The Ruth Jones and James Corden comedy pulled in a record 19.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched scripted TV show of the century. Meanwhile, the slapstick staple only managed to scrape 2.2 million views.
Despite the outcry, Agnes and the Finglas gang return for more laughs, chaos and heartfelt moments in the brand-new season.
When asked what the secret to the show’s success was, O’Carroll said: “I honestly don’t know the secret to the enduring success of Mrs. Brown’s Boys, I write and perform what I think is funny and just hope that somebody somewhere watching gets a laugh out of it.
“That’s it, and, although I sometimes try to include a “family” message along the way, essentially it’s just a bunch of actors trying to make you laugh.”
He admitted filming in front of a live audience was essential to the show’s success, saying they would be “lost without them”.
Mrs Brown’s Boys was shrouded in controversy in 2024 when O’Carroll apologised for making a “clumsy” joke, where a “racial slur was implied” during rehearsals for the 2024 Christmas special.
O’Carroll said: “It backfired and caused offence, which I deeply regret and for which I have apologised.”