Expect more fun, games and adult humour as All Round to Mrs Brown's returns for a new series this week. Here, its star Brendan O'Carroll lifts the lid on getting up close and personal with Danny Dyer - and his mum!
Brendan O'Carroll on the celebrities up for fun on the new series of All Round to Mrs Brown's…
It seems that whatever Brendan O’Carroll touches turns to gold. Having already enjoyed success as his alter ego Agnes Brown in the popular sitcom Mrs Brown’s Boys – which last year won the TV Times award for Best Comedy – he then scored another hit as everyone’s favourite foul-mouthed ‘Mammy’ with All Round to Mrs Brown’s. And fans can expect more fun, frolics and celebrity chat when that show returns for a second series this week.
"We're so thrilled we got a second series," says Brendan, 62. "In this business, you don't know until you put something out whether or not the audience are actually going to enjoy it, so it was great to get such a good reaction."
Among the famous faces popping round to Mrs Brown's this series are EastEnders’ favourite Danny Dyer, singer Sting and rapper Shaggy, boxing champ Amir Khan, and former Spice Girl Geri Horner. And, of course, lots of the celebs' own 'Mammys' will be there, too!
Here, Brendan reveals more about what's in store…
Our favourite part of All Round to Mrs Brown's is when the celebrities' mothers come on and dish the dirt on their famous offspring…
"I think the magic ingredient of this show has been the celebs’ mums. The star will come on and start telling some stories but, as soon as they realise their mother is coming on after them and is going to call them out on stuff, everything changes. Danny Dyer's mum Christine was hilarious!"
Ooh, tell us more…
"First of all, she's gorgeous and looks far too young to be Danny's mum. She was just amazing. At one point, it’s just Danny’s mum and Mrs Brown in the kitchen and Mrs Brown says to her: 'Danny must be exhausted having to keep up that Cockney accent, because we all know it’s put on and that he’s actually really posh'. Christine answers: ‘Is he f***!’ Straight from the hip as only a Mammy can!"
How did Danny react?
"Christine was telling all these stories about him and he was cringing. She says his hardman image is all a front and that he’s just a big softie really!"
You also have boxing champ Amir Khan on the first show...
"It turns out Amir is a huge fan of Mrs Brown, so he totally got stuck in. We were talking about his new baby daughter and, as Mrs Brown, I got him to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to a doll to practice putting the baby to sleep. Afterwards he asked: ‘Do you think the baby would be asleep now?’ and Mrs Brown replied: 'No, it would be traumatised!'"
Any sparring?
"No, no sparring… you wouldn't dare take him on, he's very good. Mrs Brown wouldn't last more than 40 seconds with him."
Sting and Shaggy are among the guests to appear later in the series. How does Mrs Brown have fun with them?
"Well, Chef Aly is back on the show again and his theme tune is Shaggy's hit song Mr Boombastic. We’d kept it a secret from Chef Aly that Shaggy was coming on. So when Chef Aly started doing his usual reggae dancing to Mr Boombastic, Shaggy came in the back door singing it live and Chef Aly was floored! Then Sting came in and started dancing with Chef Aly and Mrs Brown."
You must be thrilled when the celebrities throw themselves whole-heartedly into all the fun and games. We know Mrs Brown's 'kiss' with singer James Blunt last series wasn’t scripted…
"Oh, the James Blunt kiss really caught me by surprise. It was a bit of a shock but he's a really nice kisser! Then, about two weeks later, we had Ricky Wilson and his band the Kaiser Chiefs on and, as he was singing, he also leaned in and kissed Mrs Brown. After the show, I asked him: 'What made you do that?' and he replied: 'About 10 days ago, I was on holiday with James Blunt and he said to me, kiss Brendan, he's lovely!'"
Will Mrs Brown's daughter Cathy [played by Brendan's real-life wife Jennifer Gibney] get to interview the guests again in The Cathy Brown Show?
"Mrs Brown still thinks Cathy’s 'talk show' should be hers – she sits beside Cathy as she tries to do her star interviews and continuously interrupts her. Do me and Jenny ever bicker? Listen, we travel all over the world with sons, daughters and grandkids and, although I’d love to say we are, we’re not The Waltons!"
What can you tell us about Buster and Dermot's Celebrity Tours for this series?
"Buster and Dermot do a masterclass in business studies with Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden from Dragon’s Den, and an outdoor class for people who want to live in the wild with Ray Mears. Unfortunately, all the celebs that help them actually steal their money, so they end up broke, with no business venture and back at square one!"
Do you like getting to have fun with the audience in the Mammy of the Week segment?
"For me, comedy without an audience would be pointless, so to include the audience in the fun is just amazing. I love getting to give out prizes during the Mammy of the Week segment and I really enjoy watching the video of the family explaining why they’ve nominated their mum. When their kids say: ‘You do embarrass us mum but we'd be lost without you’, I'm thinking: 'I do hope my kids say that about me.'"
You’ll soon be ditching Mrs Brown’s bras soon to front your own BBC1 quiz. What can you tell us about that?
"It's called For Facts Sake. There are two teams and, each week, a different Mrs Brown 'regular' will act as captain on each team and will play alongside members of the public who’ve been picked out of the audience. We’ve filmed it already and it was really good fun. I'm appearing as myself, so I don't get to hide behind Mrs Brown's fat suit!"
Did you enjoy appearing on TV as yourself or as Mrs Brown?
"Well, I didn’t intend to host the quiz. When I came up with the idea, I thought somebody else would – but the BBC said: 'If we’re going to make a success of this, you have to present it'. I must admit it was difficult to just be 'me' on TV."
So, now you’re appearing on shows as yourself, does this mean Mrs Brown is retiring?
"Not a chance! That woman will go on and on. They'll be carrying her out in a wooden box!"
All Round to Mrs Brown’s, starring Brendan O'Carroll, starts on Saturday May 19 at 9.20pm on ITV.
Danny Dyer single pic: Doug Peters/EMPICS Entertainment
