Mrs Brown's Boys: mainstream comedy for the middle-aged

Part of me wonders what the BBC was thinking with Mrs Brown's Boys - another part can't help laughing at Brendan O'Carroll's old-fashioned sitcom.

Mrs Brown's Boys 1.2 review

I gave this new BBC1 comedy another spin last night, having been impressed by its raw energy and foulmouthed verve the week before. It was appreciably less manic, which was nice, but I think I have a better grasp on why it's still not working for me.

More potty-mouthed panto from Brendan O'Carroll and his updated Old Mother Riley act. Meddling ratbag Agnes Brown ("I was so long in labour they had to shave me twice") thinks her children are keeping too many secrets from her, such as the real reason why Mark's wife has kicked him out of the house. As usual, the earthy antics are offset by a sentimental streak as thick as your arm. We have come to fecking hug and learn, after all.

We love, love, LOVE this comedy. If you missed last week's opening episode, catch up on iPlayer. You won't be disappointed (unless, as we previously warned, you're offended by swearing).

The central character, Irish matriarch Agnes Brown, mum to six grown-up children, would be the bossy old bag from hell if she were real.

On TV she's nothing short of effing brilliant. Tonight we meet two more fruits of her loins. There's Mark, who is having marital problems, and Rory, whom she warns not "to get some girl into trouble" when he goes out - oblivious to his feminine robe, highlighted hair and manicured nails. "She's very posh," he says. "So are we," retorts Agnes. "We have a series on the BBC."

This mixing reality with fiction is brilliant, as is keeping in the bouts of corpsing. That said, the show does have two major faults. It's only 20-odd minutes long and there are just four more episodes left.

Mrs Brown's Boys: TV Sitcom Review

New to the BBC is Brendan O'Carroll's long running stage creation Mrs Brown's Boys. A sitcom which features Brendan himself dragged up as an old Irish mother of six. The show will grab the headlines initially for its language as a lot of the humour features Mrs Brown's incredibly course ramblings being saturated in Fecks and Fucks. Somehow this language pleases the real live studio audience but how I'm not exactly sure.

Mrs Brown's Boys isn't so much a sitcom as a full frontal assault on the senses. It is raucous, vulgar, sentimental, loud, infantile, audacious, irreverent, outrageous, inane, frequently frustrating and often hilarious. The jokes come thick and fast, with several circumventing quality control en route and at least one - a naked hand being described as "Sooty in the nude" - deserving a place in the annals of comedy history.

Star and writer Brendan O'Carroll dons drag for the title role - an Irish mammy forever interfering in her adult children's lives. He/she is on screen throughout and it's fair to describe the performance as all-embracing, leaving the supporting cast with little to do but stand, stare and sometimes suppress giggles.

There is an unapologetically old-fashioned, almost music hall, feel to proceedings, with O'Carroll embracing the proud cross-dressing traditions of Les Dawson, Old Mother Riley and the Two Ronnies, but with added profanity.

In another post-modern twist the show deliberately assumes all the conventions of the traditional studio-based TV sitcom, then takes great pleasure in subverting them. Mrs Brown crosses over sets, talks to the camera and even admonishes the live audience for rendering a sympathetic sigh ("It's a man in a dress, for feck's sake").

Episode one left me fully entertained but slightly shell-shocked, harbouring serious doubts that it can sustain such a high level of manic energy for an entire series. We shall just have to wait and see if Mrs Brown wins our hearts, or wears us out.

'Mrs Brown's Boys' 1.1 -

Taken as individual elements, this brand new studio-based comedy offers nothing original, but cumulatively it makes for a heady confection of madcap weirdness, a stream of hit-and-miss jokes, and bemusement.

Mrs Brown's Boys (BBC1) is like My Family meets Father Ted meets Dame Edna. Brendan O'Carroll, who also wrote it, plays Agnes Brown, who has a fruit and veg stall, swears a lot and interferes in the lives of her six children, one of whom is played by his real-life wife. It must be weird, pretending your husband is your mother.

Mrs Brown's Boys is not subtle or sophisticated. "Did Daddy always come late?" asks daughter/wife and the studio audience titter because it's not clear what kind of coming we're talking about. "That's none of your fecking business," says Mrs Brown, and they laugh some more because she said "fecking".

Grandad gets hit over the head with a frying pan, and a thermometer gets stuck up his arse. And Mrs Brown answers the Taser instead of the phone, just as you knew she was going to as soon as the Taser was plugged in to charge. I did find my self chuckling on a couple of occasions I'm afraid, against my better judgment.

Mrs Brown was just jaw-droppingly past its sell-by date

Mrs Brown's Boys (BBC1) was not even remotely funny, the BBC should hang its head in shame.

Mrs Brown's Boys, Monday 10.35pm, BBC One

I have no doubt that seeing Mrs Brown's Boys on stage would make for a good night out - especially after a couple of pints. But I can't help thinking there are probably more deserving comedy shows worthy of a six-episode run on BBC One.