Brendan O’Carroll has revealed that he didn’t intend of playing the iconic role of Mrs Brown.
The actor has been playing the cheeky granny for over nearly 30 years, with the TV show launching in 2011.
Brendan admitted that the character almost happened by accident.
“I started Mrs Brown on the radio. A radio DJ invited me in and used to get fellas in who were currently gigging to read some whacky stuff out of newspapers.
“He brought me in to do this and he must have seen me roll my eyes and I said, ‘It’s just not funny’… And he said, ‘Do you think you can do better?’ and I said, ‘Let it roll’.
“Afterwards we had a cup coffee and off the top of my head I said ‘I’m writing a comedy soap opera, five minutes, five days a week, it’d be great on radio.’”
The star also revealed the inspiration behind the well-known name.
“He asked me what it was called and on the way in to the studio I was listening to the news and it was Louise Brown’s 18th birthday, who was the first test tube baby and she’d changed so many lives with that one event and I was thinking about the Browns so I said, Mrs Brown’s Boys.”
The comedian also revealed that he never planned on playing Mrs Brown, but was left with no choice but to step in when the original woman he cast had to cancel due to illness.
“I went home and wrote the first five episodes and got anybody I knew who could come in and record a voice like Bugsy who plays Grandad. He was my window cleaner,” he told the Jonathan Ross show.
“I had an actress booked to play Mrs Brown but she had a kidney infection and couldn’t come in and I’d already paid for the studio so I thought I’d record everything, I’ll do her lines and when she’s well I’ll dub her voice in.”
But when the producers loved his take on the character, they decided to continue with Brendan as Mrs Brown.
We couldn’t imagine it any other way!
