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Mrs Brown’s Boys 2024 festive special saw its ratings plummet to the lowest ever, with viewers claiming it ‘ruined’ their Christmas.
The BBC sitcom, created by and starring Brendan O’Carroll as Agnes Brown and first aired in 2011, attracted a measly 2.2M viewers on Christmas Day, which was a huge drop from the 11.5M who turned into the show’s 2013 December 25 special.
While the sitcom struggled in the ratings, elsewhere on BBC1, Gavin and Stacey: The Finale was the most watched show of the festive season with 12.5M, while Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl attracted 9.5M.
The latest episode of Mrs Brown’s Boys, which has previously been described as ‘marmite television’, saw the Irish matriarch trying to convince her family that she was not grumpy like Scrooge, but those at home described it as ‘spectacularly unfunny’.
Racing to X they fumed: ‘Usually love Mrs browns Boys but this years special was so boring and really not funny’: ‘How awful was Mrs Mrs Brown’s Boys? My deepest sympathies if you had to sit through this’: ‘Christmas was going well until Mrs Brown’s Boys’: ‘Just been reminded Mrs Brown’s Boys is on tonight. Christmas ruined’.
‘But Mrs Brown’s Boys is spectacularly unfunny’: ‘Being home for Christmas is great until Mrs Brown’s Boys is on TV’: ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys is so made makes me actually hate the people who were part of making it’: ‘Why on earth in 2013 is Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas Special still on’.
Mrs Brown’s Boys’ 2024 festive special saw it’s ratings plummet to it’s lowest ever, with viewers claiming it ‘ruined’ their Christmas
The BBC sitcom, created by and starring Brendan O’Carroll (C) as Agnes Brown, attracted a measly 2.2M viewers, after it’s 2013 Christmas Day episode was watched by a whopping 11.5M
During rehearsals for the special the show become embroiled in a racism row after actor and writer Brendan, 69, alluded to the N-Word in front of shocked co-stars and production staff.
During a reading of the script while in character as Agnes Brown, he is said to have said ‘I don’t call a spade a spade, I call a spade a…’
Brendan then started to utter the N-word before he was stopped by a co-star, whose intervention was allegedly delivered while in character as Agnes’ daughter.
The Dublin-born comic later apologised before claiming his racist joke ‘was a good thing’ for the BBC because it ‘raised awareness of racism’.
Speaking to The Sun Brendan said: ‘The one thing that that incident did is give great awareness about racism, and great awareness about the BBC, they don’t take any messing.
‘The context of it… it was completely taken out of context. However I think in the long run it was a good thing, because it got people talking about it.’
When the scandal was revealed last month, Brendan’s representative told the Mail: ‘We would also like to clarify that the “n” word was absolutely not spoken, it was implied.
‘Agnes (Mrs Brown) began the word but was stopped from finishing it by her daughter Cathy, as she knew she would be.’
The latest episode of Mrs Brown’s Boys, which has previously been described as ‘marmite television’, saw the Irish matriarch trying to convince her family that she was not grumpy like Scrooge
While the sitcom struggled in the ratings, elsewhere on BBC1, Gavin and Stacey: The Finale (pictured) was the most watched show of the festive season with 12.5M
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (pictured) attracted 9.5M
Those at home described it as ‘spectacularly unfunny’
In initial statements about the incident, neither the BBC nor Brendan acknowledged the severity of the offensive slur.
Cast and crew were reportedly stood down while the corporation ‘tried to get to the bottom’ of what happened.
The rehearsals then resumed in Glasgow at the broadcaster’s Pacific Quay studios in Scotland and shows will go ahead as planned.
The BBC said: ‘Whilst we don’t comment on individuals, the BBC is against all forms of racism, and we have robust processes in place should issues ever arise.’
Brendan later apologised for making a ‘clumsy attempt at a joke’ in character as Mrs Brown where a ‘racial term was implied’.
His full statement said: ‘At a read-through of the Mrs. Brown’s Boys Christmas specials, there was a clumsy attempt at a joke, in the character of Agnes, where a racial term was implied. It backfired and caused offence which I deeply regret and for which I have apologised.’
During rehearsals for the special the show become embroiled in a racism row after actor and writer Brendan, 69, alluded to the N-Word in front of shocked co-stars and production staff
The Dublin-born comic later apologised before claiming his racist joke ‘was a good thing’ for the BBC because it ‘raised awareness of racism’
Those who witnessed the remark were reportedly left ‘shocked’ by the slur which was ‘flagged with the BBC afterwards’.
Mrs Brown’s Boys has been a regular feature on the BBC’s Christmas schedules for more than a decade.
The show has also had several mini-series runs, including a four-part series last year, which was the first since 2013.
In the programme Brendan’s character, who is known affectionately as ‘mammy’ in the series, is a foul-mouthed Irish mother.
He is also slated to star in new BBC sitcom Shedites and will touch on ‘men’s mental health’ and is due to hit screens by ‘the fall’.
The new BBC programme will star iconic funnyman Tommy Cannon, 86, who previously starred in The Cannon and Ball Show, as the leading character.
The episodes are being filmed in Glasgow at the BBC’s Pacific Quay studios.