Its been panned by critics as a ‘war crime‘, about ‘as funny as polio’ and ‘a comedy for people who clap when the plane lands’ — but Mrs Brown’s Boys still receives millions of views from its loyal fans.
The televised sitcom, created by and starring Brendan O’Carroll, follows foul-mouthed Agnes Brown as she interferes in the lives of her family and friends.
It adopts an informal production style, as characters can frequently be seen breaking the fourth wall, interacting with the crew and corpsing.
Its been described as ‘vulgar’ and ‘unfunny’ — using worn-out tropes and crude stereotypes — but despite this it has received multiple academy awards and has two festive specials coming up this year.
So, what do Brits really think of the sitcom Mrs Brown’s Boys?
In a bid to answer this question, took to the streets of London to find out the public’s reaction to classic scenes from the comedy series.
Friends Milla, Philly, Joanna and Helen, had conflicting views on what they thought of the TV show.
‘We think it’s funny but no one else does,’ Joanna said over a laugh.
Philly chimed in with: ‘I don’t think it’s funny. I don’t like it at all. I don’t like anything about it, I think it’s slapstick, I don’t like the content’. No, I really don’t like it.’
Milla agreed and said: ‘I found it a little bit try-hard,’ in reference to how it navigates political correctness.
The group then collectively agreed ‘everyone’s so PC’ and that the show was ‘outdated’.
But Helen added: ‘I think what’s funny is the accents and I think the slapstick is quite funny, but the content is a little bit dodgy.’
Steve, who was visiting the country from Seattle with his friend Phyllis, appeared to have a similar view.
He said: ‘They certainly made the gay guy seem a little bit overly prissy I think…I thought that was a little over the top’, referencing the character of Rory Brown.
But there were some members of the public who really enjoyed the clips and thought the show was ‘hilarious’.
Edward, 23, said: ‘Its been a long time since I’ve heard potty humour like that, but I think its hilarious. It reminds me of home, I grew up with a large Irish community in Birmingham, so it’s a nice throwback.’
Von and Natalie from South Africa also liked the show and mentioned its relatability and light-heartedness.
Natalie said: ‘It’s a bit of reality with humour because you can relate to what’s happening but she’s making it funny, so its not unrelatable…and there’s humour to it so yeah, funny.
Von added: ‘It’s funny, it’s lighthearted. It makes light of life I guess.’
Mrs Brown’s Boys reached its peak audience of 11million in 2012 and 2013, then in 2017 was the most-watched show on TV on Christmas Day with 6.8m viewers.
It may have slumped to 4million viewers last Christmas, but it remains unquestionably one of the BBC’s biggest comedy hits that has now graced (or haunted) or screens for well over a decade.