![Mrs. Brown's Boys. Image shows from L to R: Buster Brady (Danny O'Carroll), Grandad Brown (Dermot O'Neill), Dino Doyle (Gary Hollywood), Rory Brown (Rory Cowan), Cathy Brown (Jennifer Gibney), Mark Brown (Pat Shields), Betty Brown (Amanda Woods), Winnie McGoogan (Eilish O'Carroll), Dermot Brown (Paddy Houlihan), Agnes Brown (Brendan O'Carroll), Maria Nicholson / Brown (Fiona O'Carroll). Copyright: BBC / BocPix Mrs. Brown's Boys. Image shows from L to R: Buster Brady (Danny O'Carroll), Grandad Brown (Dermot O'Neill), Dino Doyle (Gary Hollywood), Rory Brown (Rory Cowan), Cathy Brown (Jennifer Gibney), Mark Brown (Pat Shields), Betty Brown (Amanda Woods), Winnie McGoogan (Eilish O'Carroll), Dermot Brown (Paddy Houlihan), Agnes Brown (Brendan O'Carroll), Maria Nicholson / Brown (Fiona O'Carroll). Copyright: BBC / BocPix](https://cdn.comedy.co.uk/images/library/comedies/300/m/mrs_browns_boys_xmas_2011.jpg)
Mrs. Brown's Boys
- TV sitcom
- BBC One
- 2011 - 2024
- 49 episodes (4 series)
Sitcom adaptation of the popular live stage show starring Brendan O'Carroll as aged housewife Agnes Brown. Also features Derek Reddin, Jennifer Gibney, Paddy Houlihan, Rory Cowan, Pat Shields and more.
Episode menu
Christmas 2018, Episode 1 - Exotic Mammy
![Mrs. Brown's Boys. Agnes Brown (Brendan O'Carroll) Mrs. Brown's Boys. Agnes Brown (Brendan O'Carroll)](https://cdn.comedy.co.uk/images/library/comedies/900x450_eps/m/mrs_browns_boys_2018.jpg)
Further details
It's the festive season once again in the Brown household, and Father Damian has organised a Christmas decoration contest to support the local football team. Agnes is keen to enter, especially as it might mean getting one over her old nemesis Hilliary Nicholson. But she is soon distracted, when Dermot and Buster give Agnes a "wifi assistant" and she has trouble figuring out what to do with it.
Meanwhile, Cathy is up for a promotion at work and Dino and Rory give Buster a full make-over, so he can look the best for his internet date. It's bound to go well, as long as she looks like she does in her photo...
Broadcast details
- Date
- Tuesday 25th December 2018
- Time
- 10:15pm
- Channel
- BBC One
- Length
- 35 minutes
Cast & crew
Brendan O'Carroll | Agnes Brown |
Derek Reddin | Dr Flynn |
Jennifer Gibney | Cathy Brown |
Paddy Houlihan | Dermot Brown |
Pat Shields (as Pat 'Pepsi' Shields) | Mark Brown |
Eilish O'Carroll | Winnie McGoogan |
Danny O'Carroll | Buster Brady |
Fiona O'Carroll | Maria Nicholson / Brown |
Amanda Woods | Betty Brown |
Dermot O'Neill | Grandad Brown |
Susie Blake | Hillary Nicholson |
Gary Hollywood | Dino Doyle |
Conor Moloney | Father Damien |
Fiona Gibney | Sharon McGoogan |
Martin Delany | Trevor Brown |
Jimmy Gibney | Father McBride |
Damien McKiernan | Rory Brown |
June Rodgers | Blind Date |
Helen Spain | Sheila Flynn |
June Rodgers | Maggie (Voice) |
Jo Kennedy-Valentine | Maggie (Voice) |
Brendan O'Carroll | Writer |
Ben Kellett | Director |
Fiona Gibney | Producer |
Ben Kellett | Producer |
Justin Healy | Executive Producer |
Steven Canny | Executive Producer |
Brendan O'Carroll | Executive Producer |
Tracy McParland | Producer |
Martin Delany | Executive Producer |
Chris Sussman | Executive Producer |
Gavin Smith | Executive Producer |
Mark Lawrence | Editor |
Yvonne Simpson | Costume Designer |
Martin Hawkins | Lighting Designer |
Andy O'Callaghan | Composer |
Chris Webster | Production Designer |
Nicole Tulloch | Make-up Designer |
Gregor Sharp | Commissioning Editor |
Press
I endured only the second Mrs Brown's Boys of my life. The first I reviewed not long after the Brexit vote, and I wondered then whether the inexplicable success of the programme with the British mainland public wasn't directly linked to the success of the Leave campaign. I see no reason, second time around, to revise my opinion: we should have seen that vote coming. Unutterably witless, smutty/borderline blue, most of it (again) simply involved Brendan O'Carroll mugging sneeringly to camera about anyone who can spell or say things properly, saying "bucking" or "feck" to new gales of pant-wetting audience mirth, and a big happy swayalong at the end: it's like the worst panto ever. Perhaps after 29 March we'll be shot of it - O'Carroll's job here is done.
Euan Ferguson, The Guardian, 30th December 2018How did a show nobody likes become so popular?
In 2006, years before anyone in the UK had heard of Mrs Brown's Boys, comedian Brendan O'Carroll was grilled by two puppets on Irish television. O'Carroll was introduced as "the equally annoying, equally successful" creator of Agnes Brown.
Ed Power, The Telegraph, 26th December 2018So awful that it's physically painful to sit through
It will take me a long time indeed to forgive the BBC for its infatuation with Mrs Brown's Boys, which is so awful that it is physically painful to sit through. Recall, if you will, the scene in A Clockwork Orange where the violent droog played by Malcolm McDowell undergoes forcible cinematic aversion therapy. His eyelids are clamped open while he is forced to watch unspeakable acts of horror, his ordeal part of some deranged official experiment. Same here, when I get a commission to review the Christmas edition of Mrs Brown's Boys.
Sean O'Grady, The Independent, 26th December 2018The long life of a critic-proof comedy
It has been called "the worst comedy ever made," but after seven years, Mrs Brown's Boys remains a hit with viewers.
Thomas McMullan, BBC, 24th December 2018Everyone likes a good mystery show: here the mystery continues as to why this series rides higher than Santa's reindeer in the ratings. Agnes wants to enter a Christmas-decoration competition, but has to tear herself away from her new wifi assistant first. Pinnacles of wit include "arse", and a raspberry noise.
David Stubbs, The Guardian, 24th December 2018