Brendan O’Carroll says RTE and BBC chiefs terrified he might turn air blue during live Mrs Brown’s Boys episode

 BRENDAN O’Carroll says telly chiefs are petrified that he might turn the air blue when he performs a live Mrs Brown’s Boys episode to millions tonight.

The Finglas man is fronting a Mrs Brown’s Boys live Halloween special, which will air across the UK and Ireland — on both RTE and BBC — in real time.

Brendan O'Caroll plays Mrs Brown in the hit TV showCredit: BBC

And the star — known for his four-letter expletives — admitted that TV executives might be right to be worried.

Brendan told the Irish Sun: “There is no five or ten second delay. So I’ve no doubt that the people running both channels  will be s******g themselves.

“Those lads will spend the whole night on the edge of their seats. Frankly, I’m amazed I’ve been entrusted with  half an hour of live TV which, by its nature, you never know what’s going to happen.”

BACK TO IT'S ROOTS

To celebrate Mrs Brown’s decade-long run at the BBC, the 66-year-old came up with the idea of bringing the popular comedy back to its roots as a stage show.

However, during the live shows, Brendan regularly  departs from the script to launch  good-natured tirades at fellow cast members who forget their lines.

The colourful performances are what makes the live shows so enjoyable to audiences — but Brendan admitted he needs to be cautious during the live broadcast.

Brendan said: “Imagine if I accidentally said something abusive or irreligious. Not that I ever would, but in a live show, you have to be so, so careful. It’s a huge responsibility.  I just hope I remember.”

The father-of-four recounted how, in 2018, he was summoned by BBC bosses to a meeting and asked to cut down on the swearing in Mrs Brown  so the programme could air earlier in the evening.

Brendan — who is married to Jennifer Gibney, who plays his on-screen daughter Cathy Brown —  revealed: “I said, ‘You want me to stop saying ‘f***’ so you can put the show on at eight o’clock?

“‘The show is the show. Put it at eight o’clock, or put it on at 10.30pm, put it on at 12.30am, the people who want to see it will find it, but the show is the show. I don’t care when you put it on, we are not changing the show’.”

SPOOKY SPECIAL

BBC bosses have promised a ‘spooky’ Mrs Brown special where the Dublin mammy is rudely interrupted by a ghost from the past.

While the seasoned cast are used to performing together in theatres, Brendan admitted that doing a live show to such a huge audience is terrifying.

Brendan said: “Of course doing the live show scares the living daylights out of me. But that’s why you do it. That added stress brings an adrenalin I’m hooked on.”

In 2019, surgeons put a stent into Brendan’s heart after finding a blockage which would have brought on a massive heart attack within days if it had not been treated.

FLORIDA RESIDENT

However, a recent health check determined he was 100 per cent “tickety-boo” fit for his live TV show and the two Christmas specials he recorded.

The Finglas native is now resident in Florida, US,  for the majority of his time.

And he credits his low-key lifestyle in the Sunshine State with helping him escape Covid-19, despite Florida’s high number of cases, deaths and hospitalisations.

Brendan said the couple are anonymous in the US and only leave their house to golf, adding: “We live in a bubble. We don’t see anyone and no one knows us here. We don’t have people round.

“Now, if we were back in Dublin, we’d have visitors calling into our house all day long.

“In fact, it would be non-stop visitors that would have us terrified of catching Covid.”