Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas specials planned until 2020
Brendan O’Carroll has plenty more festive episodes up his sleeve as he discusses the possibility of another film and a host of other projects
Mrs Brown’s Boys has won the Christmas ratings battle two years in a row, pulling in 7.61 million viewers this Christmas Day – and there’s plenty more where that came from says writer and star Brendan O’Carroll.
“I have been commissioned to write another two Christmas specials and the BBC are expecting Christmas specials up until 2020,” said O’Carroll, who dons drag to play the comedy's title character.
“I am lucky enough that I can grow into the part and so that is nice," he told The Mirror. "The Christmas special was quite naughty. But it was good fun to do.”
O’Carroll insists there is “absolutely no truth” to rumours that he’s not writing the show anymore – an interview with his son Danny, in which he said they were finished, was simply in reference to filming schedules on the most recent special,.
“I would be very disappointed if that were the case, because that is the kind of fool I am. I work for 20 years to make something and as soon as it’s successful then I stop.”
In regards to the material that is working on at the moment, O’Carroll says he hasn’t decided yet whether it will be another series, or a second big-screen outing, but he's keen to work on pilots for new things this year, including a possible Mrs Brown spin-off.
“I want to do a spin-off called Wash and Blow”, he said, referring to the hair salon that features in the main series. The team also has a sold out UK tour for this year and another in 2016 for Australia.
If that wasn’t enough to be getting on with, O’Carroll's ideas for new projects range from adapting his very first play, which he explains is about “somebody who had to train six idiots on a positive mental attitude course”, as well as a series from the arrivals gate at an airport.
“I would like to film them and speak to them about who they are waiting for and why they are there.
“You would see a mother waiting for her son or daughter and the joy on their faces. You know the end of Love Actually and they do that montage and that’s what it’s like."
The Dubliner is also working on an idea around the history of dance, inspired by his wife Jennifer Gibney’s time on Strictly Come Dancing and a cookery show with the chef who caters the Mrs Brown's Boys cast while on tour.
