My Mrs Brown's Boys endurance test: I cried, cringed and almost laughed

Telegraph

2 days ago

Television's most divisive sitcom is back. Mrs Brown's Boys – widely reviled by critics but adored by millions of viewers – returned to BBC One on Friday night for a fresh four-part run.
The full box set is available on BBC iPlayer, so fans can binge them all at once. And that's exactly what I'm doing: watching all four episodes back-to-back and chronicling my experience in an effort to understand the Mrs Brown phenomenon. Along the way, I'm going to keep a tally of the laughs and also those moments of pathos that prompt the studio audience into a collective, 'Aww'. Are the critics correct and it's really an unfunny aberration? Or are they hopelessly out of touch and, actually – steady yourselves – the show is rather good?
With a four-pack of Guinness to hand (Irish stereotyping be damned), I press play with an open heart, hoping to be entertained…
Episode 1: The Mammy Effect
Those cartoon opening credits slightly set my teeth on edge, but let's not write it off just yet…
1 min: Proceedings open, as is traditional, with Agnes Brown (creator Brendan O'Carroll) talking directly to camera from her home in the scrappy Dublin suburb of Finglas. Grandad (Dermot O'Neill) is 'not feeling himself' and more armchair-bound than usual. 'Aww,' choruses the studio audience.
3 mins: Mrs Brown has a heart-to-heart with daughter Cathy (Jennifer Gibney, O'Carroll's real-life wife – confused yet?). Upon hearing that Cathy has a new boyfriend, Agnes is unimpressed: 'He'll pump you and dump you, then we'll all have to listen to Enya for a month while you survive on a diet of ice cream and vengeance.' Actually a well-written, well-observed line. Who knew?
5 mins: Thus begins the main plot of the episode: Cathy launching a new podcast . Mrs Brown's Boys is often dismissed as wilfully old-fashioned, but this feels pleasingly modern.
9 mins: Straight-talking Agnes unwittingly hijacks the podcast and becomes its breakout star. While this all-too-predictable turn of events sends Cathy into a tailspin, it becomes clear that the storyline is actually about their dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship, whereby the controlling Agnes accidentally ends up ruining everything that Cathy does.
18 mins: Eldest son Mark (Pat 'Pepsi' Shields) tries and fails to move Grandad from his armchair. 'It's pointless, Ma,' he sighs. Mrs Brown replies: 'Pointless? Could be worse. It could be The Chase.' O'Carroll apologises for this seemingly ad-libbed quip and the cast reset the scene. It's all part of the show's intentionally chaotic filming style.
21 mins: Breast-feeding, menopause, penises. Yep, we're back to the nudges, winks and lowest-common-denominator material.
29 mins: Time for the industry-standard happy ending. Mrs Brown admits that 'mothers can be cruel without realising' and 'we expect more of our daughters than we do of our sons'. This is verging on profound.
Episode 2: Mammy's Talent
We're back at the kitchen table for Mrs Brown's opening monologue. It's a misty-eyed riff on her impoverished upbringing with a couple of decent lines. 'My father invested all his money in sick horses. He didn't know they were sick when he backed them.' 'Growing up, all I had was hand-me-downs. I was the only girl in my ballet class with football boots.' Worthy of a 1970s club comic.
2 mins: Grandad drops the bombshell that he's planning to move into a care home, a prospect that makes Agnes panic and vow to find out why. This is followed by a volley of genitalia jokes.
4 mins: Mrs Brown gets a visit from her nemesis, local busybody Hilary Nicholson (comedy veteran Susie Blake, playing one of her trademark snobbish Englishwomen). Offered tea, she asks: 'Have you got anything herbal?' Agnes shrugs: 'My shampoo?' And, yes, I chuckle.
6 mins: As the action shifts to the pub, the Hilary baiting continues as she pompously quotes Latin. 'I've got the vox populi ' (Agnes: 'Well, keep using the cream twice a day'). Come for the toilet humour, stay for the classical references.
12 mins: Grandad unleashes a loud 'Feck off!' at parish priest Father Damien (Conor Moloney). O'Carroll has clearly been taking notes in front of Father Ted repeats.
15 mins: Everybody laments how sad it will be when Grandad leaves. Cue another round of 'Awws'. Mournful piano music strikes up. They're really milking this, but I can't help being drawn in and whimper slightly into my Guinness.
17 mins: Light relief comes from a talent show in the pub.
23 mins: Birdie overcomes her stage fright to lead an arm-swaying, lighters-aloft sing-along of 'That's What Friends Are For'. There's not a dry eye in Foley's Bar. Or, in fact, on my sofa. Sob!
25 mins: Happy ending time again. Agnes finally admits how she doesn't want Grandad to leave and begs him to stay. Before it gets too soppy, they exchange potty-mouthed insults and normal service is resumed. Phew. Time to open a second can of Guinness.
Episode 3: Motor Mammy
I feared this would be an endurance test. While I wouldn't say I'm a total Mrs Brown convert – not yet, anyway – I am enjoying it much more than I'd expected. Hang on, let me check the strength of this Guinness.
1 mins: We're flung straight into this episode's storyline: Winnie's impending driving test. Will the pedestrians of Dublin ever be safe again? These ponderous jokes aren't pulling their weight. I might have spoken too soon when it comes to enjoying myself.
3 mins: Buster and Dermot make their weekly entrance. This time, they're dressed in insect costumes, promoting pest control. At least the quality of the gags improves slightly. Birdie says: 'I was going to start a celebrity magazine for the elderly. I was going to call it 'HELLOOOOOO?'
5 mins: Uh-oh. Birdie has lost her pet snake. Something tells me this will become crucial later in the episode.
10 mins: A pub gossip session throws up some more resolutely unreconstructed gags. One woman's teeth are described as 'only short of the white one for a full snooker set'.
14 mins: Hilary has been campaigning for a new bus depot and now we learn why – her husband has lost his high-flying job and is secretly working as a bus driver. Even Agnes feels sorry for them. All together now: 'Aww.'
17 mins: Winnie's driving test arrives. So does a veritable traffic jam of phallic innuendoes. Just when Mrs Brown's Boys ambushes me with its emotional resonance, it reverts to type.
21 mins: Wait, I spoke too soon. There's a shock plot twist. Winnie is understandably distracted at the wheel by the presence of a snake inside the car. The vehicle mounts the pavement and hits a pedestrian. who turns out to be… dramatic pause… Mrs Brown. Cue gasps.
22 mins: With our heroine in an induced coma, family and friends gather at her hospital bedside. They share happy memories, which is essentially a chance to rewind some classic clips – including the infamous bikini wax.
27 mins: Ordained deacon Trevor Brown (Martin Delany) says fondly of Agnes: 'I remember how kind Mammy was when I told her I wanted to join the missions. She just smiled and said, 'A lot of men are gay'.' Mrs Brown's Boys might be written off as politically incorrect, but it occurs to me that it's more diverse than many assume,with the family spanning four generations. It boasts gay characters, priests, lonely widows and sexually active pensioners. It also happens to star a man in drag.
28 mins: Has tragedy struck? A consultant tells the assembled family that they need to turn the machine off. A cliffhanger leaves things agonisingly poised for the series finale. We play out with a poignant piano version of the theme song and a beeping heart monitor. Soapy but effective.
Episode 4: Easy Rider Mammy
There's a rare 'Previously on Mrs Brown's Boys…' pre-titles recap. Does that mean no title sequence for once?
1 min: No, here it comes. Even these cartoon credits are growing on me. I find myself humming along to the theme song. Worrying.
2 min: Sharp intakes of breath when bungling GP Dr Flynn (Derek Riddin) says, 'She's gone.' False alarm. Mammy merely has a herniated disc. Phew. As for 'turning off the machine', the consultant meant Birdy's noisy coffee machine. I feel manipulated but relieved.
4 mins: 'I'm home!' trills a familiar voice. Mrs Brown makes her entrance on a mobility scooter to a raucous reception.
9 mins: Another peek behind the comedy curtain as Agnes drives her granny wagon from one set to another, chatting to the camera crew as she goes. If Fleabag had done this, it would have been hailed as avant-garde genius.
12 mins: The mobility scooter causes more mayhem at the Wash & Blow salon. Never let it be said that Mrs Brown doesn't milk a gag for every last drop.
19 mins: Dermot and Buster present Agnes with a surprise gift: an automatic recline-and-rise armchair. Hark, I hear more slapstick opportunities coming over the horizon.
27 mins: A chaotic final sequence sees Agnes wearing a sombrero (best not to ask) and getting rumbled for faking her injuries. Yes, she can walk after all. It's a medical miracle. As everyone takes her to task , she slumps into her new armchair. It promptly malfunctions, blows up and throws her across the room. After one last cuppa, we roll credits on the series. Mercifully, my Mrs Brown's Boys marathon is at an end. But what have I learnt?
Yes, what have I learnt?
To my surprise, I realise I have actually been sucked in by the pathos of several storylines. The humour might be hit-and-miss, but the emotion isn't. This is a show about family, friendship and community. Unfashionable topics in our fractured age, perhaps, but the new series does have huge warmth…
Sure, it's frequently panto-adjacent (oh, yes it is), but it also plays with the sitcom form, with fourth-wall breaks and knowing nods to its own artifice. It's unabashedly working class and exists far outside the metropolitan bubble. The liberal elite might blanch, but it's not for them.
Ratings have declined from a blockbuster peak of 11 million, but it still pulls in 4 million loyal viewers – figures that most comedies (and many dramas) would kill for. In an era when critically lauded comedies often struggle to get recommissioned, such review-proof longevity is surely to be applauded. I'll raise a pint of the black stuff at Foley's Bar to that.
Mrs Brown's Boys airs on Fridays at 9.30pm on BBC One. The whole series is available on BBC iPlayer now