TELLY’S Brendan O’Carroll has revealed he will pull the plug on Mrs Brown’s Boys when the BBC tell him they don’t want it on at Christmas anymore.
The Dubliner is signed up to make two festive specials as Agnes Brown a year until 2026.
But Brendan, 67, told The Irish Sun: “When they decide they are
not putting it on at Christmas any more, we will stop making Mrs Brown.
“That’s it, I am happy to do that, and they are happy to do that and
we are happy to move forward on that basis.”
The comedy pulls in up to 11million viewers since it began airing in 2011.
But Brendan said the Beeb might never have made Mrs Brown’s Boys due to the outrage over Sachsgate, when Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand left obscene messages on the answerphone of actor Andrew Sachs while recording their radio show.
The skit saw 45,000 complaints to the BBC and a fine from regulator Ofcom, leaving bosses terrified of offending anyone and likely to turn down a swearing Irish woman for a prime-time slot on BBC One.
BBC executive Stephen McCrum had been due to present a pilot of Mrs Brown Boys to big-wigs just as the scandal kicked off.
And Brendan told us: “We were so lucky Stephen knew enough about the BBC to say ‘stop everything until this dies down. The BBC is in a turmoil, if I present this show now all they will see is f, f, f* — nothing more’.”
Meanwhile, Brendan has also told how daughter Fiona struggled to deal with the breakdown of his marriage and new relationship.
Brendan O'Carroll is signed up to make two festive specials as Agnes BrownCredit: BBC
He was wed to Doreen Dowdall for 22 years before they split in 1999.
He later became romantically involved with co-star Jenny Gibney. The Finglas funnyman admits his new relationship caused a strain with Fiona, who was 16 at the time.
In new memoir Call Me Mrs Brown, Brendan explains: “I think she took it the hardest; Fiona was convinced that I had left her mother for Jenny but I know that I cannot control what somebody thinks.
“Anyway . . . I was persona non grata with Fiona for a long time.”
And speaking to The Irish Sun, Brendan told us: “I think with Fiona it was a young girl who wasn’t so much worried I would love someone more than her mother.
'LOVE WORKED OUT GREAT'
“It was that I might love someone more than her. Once she realised that they are completely separate things, it was fine. Love worked out great, and Fiona is my baby girl.”
He also revealed the hilarious first time he met Jenny as he arrived late to a play at Dublin’s Eblana Theatre.
Brendan said: “There was an usherette standing between the doors. I handed her my ticket and said ‘I’m so sorry, where do I sit’.
“The usherette snapped at me and said, ‘Sit where you f* like. Just get in there’. I thought to myself ‘what great customer service’.”
It was only when the play started and the blonde woman walked onto the stage and Brendan realised he had made a terrible mistake.
BLUNDER
He said: “No wonder she had been snappy: I had mistaken this actress for house staff. She must have thought I was an a*****e.”
However Brendan was so blown away by Jenny’s performance in Lee Dunne play Return to the Hill, he decided to cast her in his first play.
He told us: “I wanted to make sure that hadn’t been a fluke.
“So I went back to see her the following night. But this time, when Jenny came out to give a bow at the end, the entire audience gave her a standing ovation. I thought ‘wow’.
“It was only years later that Jenny told me all her co-workers from the bank had come in to see her.”
Brendan will be at Eason’s on Dublin’s O’Connell Street today at 11am and in Waterstones Belfast at 4pm.
