A star of Mrs Brown’s Boys kissed his own real-life father in the Christmas special of the show on Monday, leaving viewers stunned.
The festive instalment of the comedy saw Cathy Brown (Jennifer Gibney) plan on cooking Christmas dinner for Agnes Brown (Brendan O’Carroll) so Agnes could enjoy some quality time with her family.
Buster Brady (Danny O’Carroll) was seen popping round to Mrs Brown’s house while Cathy was there and whipping out some mistletoe in the hopes of wooing her.
He told her: ‘Kathy a woman cannot refuse a kiss under mistletoe. Now pucker up and lay it on me.’
However, after he shut his eyes, Cathy dashed off and Agnes stood in her place, leaving Buster to kiss her on the lips instead – with Buster actor Danny being the real-life son of creator and star Brendan, who plays Agnes.
The moment left some viewers feeling uneasy while others took to Twitter to express just how unimpressed they were with the whole episode.
One person wrote: ‘This is the most shocking Mrs Brown’s Boys episode ever, Mrs Brown kissing Buster my God!!!!’
Someone else remarked: ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys honestly makes me want to gouge out my eyes, pour petrol into my eye sockets and cut off my ears.’
While someone else commented: ‘Mrs Brown’s boys is just not funny. End of.’
‘Mrs Brown’s Boys makes my blood run cold,’ wrote another viewer, while someone else posted: ‘I’ve never met anyone who thinks Mrs Brown’s boys is funny. Except my dad. You can’t choose your family.’
One other viewer wrote: ‘Literally anyone who chooses to watch Mrs Brown Boys falls into immediate red flag territory for me. Most sitcoms get a giggle out of me at some point but it’s only ever made me groan, and not in a fun way.’
While someone else asked: Mrs Brown’s Boys is truly ghastly. Why do they keep commissioning it?’
‘The true meaning of Christmas is about successfully avoiding Mrs Brown’s Boys for another year,’ wrote another viewer.
Mrs Brown’s Boys creator and star Brendan O’Carroll said the nostalgia of the show which allows people to ‘have a laugh’ away from troubles dominating the world is part of its charm.
The 68-year-old returned to his role as mischievous matriarch Agnes Brown alongside Jennifer Gibney as Cathy Brown, Paddy Houlihan as Dermot Brown and Eilish O’Carroll as Winnie McGoogan in the Christmas Day and New Year’s Day specials.
‘I think since 2008 the world hasn’t had a break,’ Brendan, who also created and wrote the sitcom, said.
‘We’ve had all sorts of challenges, we’ve had a pandemic, we have had wars, all sorts of worries and it just gets to the stage where people get unsure, they get nostalgic.
‘They go “Oh do you remember before, all this was lovely, that was lovely, the summers were longer and Christmas was brighter”.
‘Mrs Brown’s Boys has a kind of nostalgia to it. It looks back to that kind of late 80s and 90s comedy where you don’t have to worry about it, you just sit down and let it come at you. You don’t have to try and figure it out, you don’t have to have a university degree to understand it.
‘It’s just gags and it’s “let’s sit down on Christmas Day, whatever else happens, let’s sit down and just have a laugh”. I think that’s a big part of it, I think it’s nostalgia.’
Brendan said his character’s focus ‘completely switches from herself’ which catches her by surprise during the duo of festive episodes, describing it as a ‘Christmas miracle’.
Speaking about the challenge of writing Christmas episodes year after year, the Irish actor said: ‘It is difficult to come up with different stories, but again I always remember a story Richard Curtis was telling me about when they were making Love Actually.
‘When they finished shooting it, he went “Oh, it’s a disaster, we need to do some more shoots”, and they decided to go back and shoot it as a Christmas movie and set it at Christmas and it changed the whole flavour of the movie and it became, and still is, my favourite Christmas movie.
‘Christmas is not Christmas without Love Actually, and It’s A Wonderful Life, then it’s Christmas. So, no matter what the story is, if you add Christmas onto it, it just becomes more magical, I think.’
A Mrs Brown’s Boys New Year’s Special will air at 10pm on January 1 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
