How groundhog schedules destroyed Christmas TV

Strictly. Call the Midwife. EastEnders. Mrs. Brown's Boys. We've been here before. The BBC's Christmas offering has stagnated, and now it's do or die

Vic Reeves slams British comedy including Fleabag

He prefers the cleverness of comedy to be more subtle.

Mrs Brown's Boys star reveals scrapped storyline

Mrs Brown's Boys star Brendan O'Carroll has revealed details of a scrapped storyline featuring Agnes and her sister Dolly that he's keen to revisit at some point in the future.

Is it time we stopped sneering at Mrs Brown's Boys?

So, isn't it about time that we stopped sneering at all this? Studio audiences? Loud laughter? Catchphrases? And yes, even Mrs Brown's Boys? Shouldn't we just accept that there's room for it?

O'Carroll refused to sell-out Agnes Brown to adverts

Brendan O'Carroll wasn't interested in selling out his Agnes Brown character to advertisers because he felt like the offers he were given were not "worth it".

More festive farce with the ribald Irish mammy. The cold weather has played havoc with Winnie's plumbing - steady now - so she and Sharon end up crashing in the Brown household. A chaotic place at the best of times, it becomes more volatile during a raucous birthday party for 10-year-olds.

Mrs Brown's Boys review

'Mrs Brown' thrives not on snideness or superiority, but speaks to the universal truth that quite a lot of people enjoy fart gags.

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.

How 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.

More potty-mouthed panto, but with good-natured cheer

Only a recent arrival from the North Pole could fail to hold a strong opinion on Brendan O'Carroll and his apron-clad alter ego.