THIS WEEKEND the hit TV series Mrs Brown's Boys will get it's biggest audience yet when an expected 12 million people will tune in to see the ground-breaking live special on RTÉ and BBC television.
While some Irish people find the show cringeworthy to watch, people in Britain can't seem to get enough of the foul-mouthed Dublin granny that we've affectionately become to know as mammy. but there is more to the show
Love it or loathe it there is more to the show than meets the eye and creator and star of the show Brendan O'Carroll is an Irish talent to be proud of, as well as a very generous man.
Brendan O'Carroll in Australia. Picture: Getty ImagesHere are seven facts about of the biggest shows in BBC history and the man behind it
1. Humble beginnings
Creator and star Brendan O'Carroll started out from humble beginnings, running a pub with a friend of his in Dublin.
Once, O'Carroll returned from a holiday and found his friend had ran off with the cash from the pub. This left O'Carroll having to declare bankruptcy - accruing debts of £96,000.
His friend later committed suicide but after his death, O'Carroll says he was under suspicion for killing his friend. During that dark period O'Carroll visited a fortune teller who predicted that he would become a star one day.
Encouraged by that news and by friends, O'Carroll decided to take up stand-up comedy. The rest they say is history.
2. Charitable family
Brendan O'Carroll is known for his charitable work off the screen and it seems the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. His son andMrs Browns Boys co-star Danny O'Carroll raised €60,000 for the victims of the Buncrana Pier disaster.
O'Carroll himself raised $50,000 (£24,500) for the family of a pregnant mother who died in a car crash in Australia.
3. First Impressions
The first time O'Carroll pitched the idea of the series to the team in the BBC it didn't go well.
Confusion reigned when O'Carroll tried to explain his style.
He said: “At the first ever script meeting with the BBC for the first series, one of the executives asked ‘Who’s BOB? There’s someone called Bob in the script quite a lot, but he doesn’t seem to have any lines’. “And I said: ‘Bob who?’ He pointed to the script, I had to tell him, ‘BOB is what I put in brackets after a line which means Bit Of Business. This means that between hearing the phone or answering the door bell, Mrs Brown would do some sort of funny look or movement.
“And they (the BBC) said, ‘OK and what will that be?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know’. And they said, ‘When will you know?’, and I said not until the doorbell rings on the show. And they said, ‘Oh dear’.
Thankfully for the funnyman's fans everywhere the Beeb decided to stick with the Dubliner's show.
4. Inspiration for Mrs Brown
Creative people look for inspiration everywhere they look but O'Carroll didn't have far to look when creating Mrs Brown, The show, originally a radio play created in 1992 called Mrs Browne's Boys - later dropping the E on the name when it was adapted to a sitcom.
5. Unusual feats
Mrs Brown's Boys has been a worldwide hit for Brendan O'Carroll and his family but his creation Mrs Brown also is a hit with the open road gang as it was voted the most popular voice for being on a Sat Nav in 2014.
Let's hope she keeps it clean while you're trying to drive.
Brendan O'Carroll as Agnes Browne with wife Jennifer Gibney at the filming of Mrs Browns Boys D Movie (Photo Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland)6. Familiar cast
Mrs Brown's Boys isn't like a lot of established comedies on the Beeb and RTE in that there isn't a list of established actors filling out the cast list, instead the cast are made up of O'Carroll's family.
O’Carroll’s real-life wife Jennifer Gibney takes up the role of Mrs Brown’s daughter Cathy. Her daughter-in law is played by O’Carroll’s actual daughter-in-law, Amanda Woods. Mrs Brown’s other daughter-in-law Maria is played by O'Carroll's real-life daughter, Fiona. With son Danny taking on the role of Buster Brady.
7. Big Sales
Brendan O'Carroll has had massive success.
Despite critics panning the Mrs Browns movies in the past, Mrs Brown's Boys D'Movie shifted 315,981 units in its first week onsale in the UK alone. The film was also a success in the cinemas as well, pulling in over a reported £9 million.
Also in 2013 and 2014 the show's festive specials were the most watched shows on the BBC around the Christmas period, while coming a measly second place last Christmas.
He's also worth a lot of money, a reported £8 million in fact. Any chance of a fiver, Brendan?
