Brendan O’Carroll says Mrs Brown’s Boys storylines are ‘based on true events’

By Lauren Del Fabbro, PA Entertainment Reporter

Irish actor and comedian, Brendan O’Carroll, has said the storylines for Mrs Brown’s Boys are “based on true events”.

O’Carroll, 69, who is best known for playing the menacing matriarch, Agnes Brown, in the hit BBC comedy series, will reprise the role in a new miniseries.

The fifth series, which is due to air on August 1st on BBC One, follows Mrs Brown as her meddling – into the lives of her family and friends, takes her on a number of misadventures.

Speaking about the new series, O’Carroll said: “Believe it or not most of the storylines are based on true events that either happened to my family or have been told to me by people about their families.

“Everybody has a story, and it’s quite common for someone in a family to say in the middle of a family disaster, ‘This is like an episode of Mrs Brown’s Boys’.

“In every episode there is something that stands out for me. I love being Agnes Brown and I love her family, and her neighbours like Winnie and Birdy.”

The new series will see Mrs Brown as she becomes the subject of a podcast, helps Winnie pass her driving test and becomes the unexpected new member of a book club where she discovers a “passion” for steamy fiction.

Mrs Brown’s Boys was first broadcast on BBC One in 2011 and has since transmitted more than 50 episodes, including Christmas specials.

The Bafta-winning series is filmed in front of a studio audience which O’Carroll described as “essential”.

He said: “So many times, at the end of rehearsals for a particular episode, our director, Ben Kellett will say ‘all this needs now is the audience’ and he is so right.

“They follow every move, every line and add so much to our performances. We would be lost without them.”

The miniseries will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Friday, August 1st.