- Mrs. Brown's Boys
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Mrs Brown's Boys 
Mrs. Brown's Boys titlecardGenre Comedy Format Sitcom Created by Brendan O'Carroll Written by Brendan O'Carroll Directed by Ben Kellett Creative director(s) Chris Cleveland Starring Brendan O'Carroll
Jennifer Gibney
Paddy Houlihan
Fiona O'Carroll
Danny O'Carroll
Eilish O'Carroll
Pat Shields
Amanda Woods
Rory Cowan
Gary Hollywood
Dermot O'NeillCountry of origin Ireland, UK Language(s) English No. of series 1 No. of episodes 6 (List of episodes) Production Producer(s) Stephen McCrum Editor(s) Mark Lawrence Running time 35 minutes (Ireland) 28 Minutes (United Kingdom) Broadcast Original channel BBC One
RTÉ One
BBC One HDPicture format 16:9
576i SDTV
1080i HDTVOriginal run 1 January 2011 – present External links Production website Mrs Brown's Boys is an Irish sitcom created by and starring Dublin writer-performer Brendan O'Carroll, who plays (in drag) the title character Mrs. Brown. The programme is a co-production between BBC Comedy and BocPix in association with RTÉ.
Mrs Brown's Boys began broadcast in Ireland on RTÉ One starting 1 January 2011 and finished on 5 February, 2011. It began in the UK on BBC One and BBC One HD on 21 February 2011 at 10.35pm.
The BBC have commisioned a second series for 2012 plus a christmas special for 2011.
Contents
Cast
A large majority of the main cast is played by O'Carroll's family. For example, Cathy Brown is played by his wife, Winnie McGoogan by his sister, Maria Nicholson by his daughter, Buster Brady by his son and Betty Brown by his daughter-in-law. [1]
Characters
- Brendan O'Carroll as Mrs. Agnes Brown - A loud foul-mouthed Irish matriarch who is always looking out for her family after the death of her husband. Agnes seems to be a very nosy woman who is very interested in other peoples lives. She takes great pleasure in making a fool of her neighbour and best friend Winnie and her father-in-law.
- Jennifer Gibney as Cathy Brown - Cathy is Agnes' daughter. She is a lonely woman who is on the look-out for a man but is always put off by her mother by what she has to say to her.
- Paddy Houlihan as Dermot Brown - Dermot is Agnes' son and is commonly seen in giant costumes, like his penguin costume or cigarette butt costume promoting things like penguin biscuits and to stop smoking. Dermot is always in trouble with the law with his friend Buster Brady
- Fiona O'Carroll as Maria Nicholson - Maria is Agnes' daughter-in-law and is married to Dermot. She is a nurse who is from a wealthy family and always seems to be quiet.
- Eilish O'Carroll as Winnie McGoogan - Winnie is Agnes' next door neighbour and best friend. She is always seen either in Foley's Bar or at the kitchen table with Agnes. She is a quiet, harmless soul and is always made a fool of by Agnes. She is married to Jacko McGoogan who is an unseen character who is illness or accident prone
- Danny O'Carroll as Buster Brady - Buster is Dermot's best friend and is not well liked by Agnes, who he is feared by. He was the best man at Dermot and Maria's wedding.
- Pat Shields as Mark Brown - Mark is another of Agnes' sons. Mark is known to have a nice house with his wife Betty and his son. We find out that Mark never learned to read and write at the school, for which Agnes took the blame, but when Cathy pointed out that it was the teacher's fault she exclaimed "The Bastards!".
- Amanda Woods as Betty Brown - Betty is Agnes' daughter-in-law and is married to Mark. She and Mark have a son.
- Rory Cowan as Rory Brown - Rory is Agnes' homosexual son but fears announcing his sexuality to his mother because she will be ashamed. When she finally finds out she confronts Rory and says "I know about your illness."
- Gary Hollywood as Dino Doyle Dino is Rory's friend and is also gay. He is a chef and cooked for when Maria's mother and Agnes had dinner together.
- Dermot O'Neill as Grandad - Grandad is Agnes' father-in-law and is always made a fool of. He seems to be quite a senile man and is always complaining, which makes Agnes mad.
The character has previously appeared in the film Agnes Browne, played by Angelica Huston, and, along with the family, a bringing into the 21st century the characters in the book The Mammy and its sequels, also written by O'Carroll.
Filming
The show is filmed in Scotland at the BBC Pacific Quay studios in Glasgow[2] and is recorded in front of a live audience meaning no laughter track is used in the show. The programme uses a laissez-faire style of production in which the audience, cameras and production crew are often seen; the main character often breaks the fourth wall by talking straight to camera.
Reception
Mrs Brown's Boys was a ratings success upon its initial broadcast in Ireland. Every episode aired won its timeslot for RTÉ, with an average viewership of 753,500 in January 2011. One episode's rating beat that of RTÉ's own ratings giant The Late Late Show, with 856,000 viewers tuning in to watch.[3] However, critics disliked the show. "The whole thing is entirely predicated on viewers finding a man dressed as a foul-mouthed elderly woman intrinsically funny," noted Bernice Harrison in the Irish Times. "If you do, you’re away in a hack (and the viewing figures are astronomical), but if you don’t, and you think that died out with Les Dawson and Dick Emery, then it’s a long half-hour." [4] The Irish Independent said that Mrs Brown's Boys was the type of TV programme that "that makes you vaguely embarrassed to be Irish". [5]
Its opening in the UK won 16.4% of the ratings in its Monday night slot and was received well by viewers[6], but British critics were equally damning.But despite the critic's reviews 2.9 million viewers had tuned in by the third episode.[citation needed][7][8][9] In 2011 it was nominated for a BAFTA award at the British Academy Television Awards.[10]
Future
A BBC One continuity announcer stated during the end credits of the final episode that the show would be returning later in the year. This was later confirmed by the show's producer, Stephen McCrum and through the show's Facebook page. Series 2 is officially confirmed to be filming, and the whole series has had all of the seats booked[11] The show started rehearsing on the 15th of September to tape the episodes.Tapeing of the second series concluded on the 4th of November. A christmas special has also been recorded for christmas 2011.22ND NOV IT WAS REVEALED VIA FACEBOOK THAT A 3RD SEASON WAS GOIN AHEAD
DVD release
Series One of Mrs Brown's Boys was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK and Ireland on 3 October 2011. [12]
References
- ^ "Mrs. Brown's Boys", RTÉ.ie, retrieved 3 April 2011.
- ^ Brown is the new back as Mrs Brown's Boys is set to return - The Daily Record
- ^ "Mrs Brown's Boys put it up to Tubridy", Irish Independent, 5 February 2011.
- ^ "It's not that 'Mrs Brown' is too mainstream. It's just not funny.". Irish Times. 12 February 2011. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2011/0212/1224289582149.html. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
- ^ "Why Irish TV has the cringe factor". Irish Independent. 19 February 2011. http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/why-irish-tv-has-the-cringe-factor-2547198.html. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
- ^ Shah, Kavi. "Mrs Brown's Boys rakes in 2.6million viewers for the BBC", Metro, 22 February 2011.
- ^ Lesnik, Tim. "Mrs Brown's Boys to make BBC One return", 22 March 2011.
- ^ Scott, Marion. "Brown is the new back as Mrs Brown's Boys is set to return", Daily Record, March 20 2011.
- ^ Sykes, Jaine. "Mrs Brown will be back for a second series", BBC Comedy Blog, BBC, 22 March 2011.
- ^ "O'Carroll's hit comedy nominated for BAFTA award". Irish Independent. 2011-4-27. http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/arts/ocarrolls-hit-comedy-nominated-for-bafta-award-2630215.html. Retrieved 2011-4-27.
- ^ "BBC - Be in the audience - Mrs Brown's Boys". BBC One. http://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/shows/shows/mrs_brown_series2. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
- ^ "Mrs. Brown's Boys Series 1 Box Set". Amazon. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mrs-Browns-Boys-1-DVD/dp/B004I5C3Y4. Retrieved 2011-09-08.
External links
Categories:- Irish comedy television programmes
- 2011 Irish television series debuts
- BBC television sitcoms
- RTÉ television programmes
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