Mrs Brown's Boys tops Monday ratings with 8.7 million

Mrs Brown's Boys topped Monday (December 30) night's ratings, pulling in 8.71 million viewers, according to overnight data.

It's New Year's Eve in Agnes's house and there's a lot of funny business going on. The main thread revolves around her plan to stop grandson Bono being enrolled in the infamous local primary school, but along the way she takes in a homeless parrot with an extraordinary vocabulary, there's a severe new priest, Father McBride, to get the better of, and Dermot and Buster dress up as Laurel and Hardy.

There's another of those priceless "Rory, why are you so down?" moments, where the actor Rory Cowan is tricked on set and reduced to helpless giggles. But as is so often the case, the funniest scenes involve just Agnes and her mate Winnie (Brendan O'Carroll's real-life sister, Eilish). They muck about in the kitchen with a canister of "hellenium" gas bought for the balloons, and engage in vulgar but hysterical antics involving pine spray, glue and the effects of a curry.

Mrs Brown's Boys, New Year special, review

It is easy to be snooty about Mrs Brown's Boys - much harder to divine why this is the comedy that, in sheer popularity, knocks all of the more lauded shows from your Walliamses or your Mirandas into a cocked hat. Essentially, I suspect, it's because the show knows its fans and involves them directly.

Viewers love Mrs Brown because she bucks every trend

Mrs Brown's Boys, the biggest hit on the box at Christmas, reflects TV's new role as refuge from the complex world beyond the living room.

Brendan O'Carroll refuses to censor show for US viewers

The comedian's manager has revealed he is refusing to censor the swearing for American audiences, despite strong language being a big no-no on mainstream US TV.

Mrs Brown's Boys somehow garnered the biggest average audience on Christmas Day. My only explanation is that, after the festive EastEnders, the nation as a whole fell asleep and left their televisions on as I can't see anybody finding Brendan O'Carroll's drag act in the least bit amusing.

I feel that O'Carroll's biggest audience must be the elderly who still find gags about mechanically-operated Christmas trees funny. Indeed the big comic set pieces in this year's festive special involved Mrs Brown getting a new tree that she could operate using a remote control which she inevitably got stuck on by the end of the episode. The other running joke was that Mrs Brown got ultra-competitive when playing Christmas games and was incredibly aggrieved when her rival Hilary (Susie Blake) guessed 'Silence of the Limbs' to a charade clue.

Just like with the obvious humour in Vicious, Mrs Brown's Boys takes all the suggestion out of the character by having her swear every thirty seconds. I feel the vulgarity in Mrs Brown's Boys is often uneccessary and only exists to get cheap laughs from the sitcom's easily-pleased audience.

Now I'm not someone who's opposed to old-fashioned comedy, as you can see from my review of Not Going Out, but I like it to be at least a little bit funny. Again, just like Vicious, I didn't laugh once while watching Mrs Brown's Boys and I just can't see why almost nine and half million of you tuned in to watch this atrociously awful so-called comedy.

In an act of a solidarity with the millions of you forced to sit through hours of TV you don't want to watch (and the fact that the BBC wouldn't let me watch Dr Who in advance), I thought it would only be proper to end this review with a few words on the last show I would want to spend Christmas evening watching... Mrs Brown's Boys Christmas Special (Christmas Day, BBC One).

It may have been the sherry, it may have been the wine, it might have been the clever metatextual moment when Brendan O'Carroll asked a workman to say something - "You've got a speaking part now, they'll have to pay you extra. Merry Christmas son!" - but I almost made it all the way through. Almost. So here are my six words on Mrs Brown's Boys Christmas Special: "I really miss The Royle Family".

Mrs Brown's Boys a surprise Christmas Day ratings hit

BBC One's Mrs Brown's Boys has topped the Christmas Day ratings chart.

Who is the real Mrs Brown?

Brendan O'Carroll's unlikely inspiration is a legendary Irish radical, reveals his biographer.

Mrs Brown interrupted for Mandela? How could they!

The BBC's decision to cut short an episode of Mrs Brown's Boys to announce Nelson Mandela's death has triggered nearly 1,000 angry complaints. Here, we summarise everything fans missed in those crucial 12 minutes.