DID YOU KNOW? Brendan O’Carroll

As Brendan, 63, presents another round of the light-hearted quiz For Facts Sake (9.30pm, BBC1), we look at some things you might not know about the creator of Mrs Brown’s Boys…

He was born in Dublin in 1955, the youngest of 11 children, and his father died when Brendan was just seven.

In 2015, Brendan was awarded the Irish Film and Television Academy Lifetime Achievement Award.

He left school at the age of 12, and before finding fame, he worked at a number of jobs, including being a waiter and a milkman.

His big break came when he became wellknown as a comedy guest on Irish chat show The Late Late Show. He went on to release four stand-up videos, titled How’s Your Jolly Roger, How’s Your Wibbly Wobbly Wonder, How’s Your Raspberry Ripple and How’s Your Snowballs.

Brendan created his most famous character, Mrs Brown, in 1992 for a radio play, and he featured her in three popular books he wrote: The Mammy, The Chisellers and The Granny.

In 1999, the movie Agnes Browne (the ‘e’ was dropped for the TV series), directed by and starring Anjelica Huston, was released, based on The Mammy. Following the success of the film, Brendan put together his own family theatre company, and took on the role of Agnes himself when the actress he had hired for the role failed to turn up.

His wife is Jennifer Gibney, who had a role in Agnes Browne, and who actually plays Mrs Brown’s daughter, Cathy, in the hit BBC comedy.