Mrs Brown’s Boys has beaten The Office and Gavin & Stacey to be named best British sitcom of the 21st century.
The BBC One show, starring creator Brendan O’Carroll as foul-mouthed Irish matriarch Agnes Brown, attracts millions of viewers and has spawned a successful movie despite being dismissed by critics.
Brendan deemed the result of the poll “breathtaking…”
Mrs Brown’s Boys featuring Brendan O’Carroll (BBC)
“Lost for words… and that doesn’t happen to me very often,” said Brendan, whose wife Jennifer Gibney also stars in the sitcom.
“Myself and Jenny are dancing around the living room. I can die happy now… but I’ll take my time…”
A live episode last month attracted 8.82 million viewers but Mrs Brown’s Boys has struggled to win over critics.
Brendan O’Carroll and wife Jennifer Gibney play mother and daughter in Mrs Brown’s Boys (Artur Widak/PA)
Brendan said of the result: “It vindicates the fans’ belief in the show. They have kept us on the air – it certainly wasn’t the reviewers.”
He told Radio Times magazine, which carried out the poll, that much of today’s comedy output had left behind many viewers.
“There is an audience out there that comedy forgot – that Are You Being Served? audience has been left behind. Us winning this award proves that.”
Ricky Gervais as David Brent (BBC)
The Office, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, is second in the poll.
Peter Kay’s Car Share, the comic’s TV comeback last year, is third, above another of his shows, Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights in 16th place.
Peter Kay (Ian West/PA)
The top 10 also features Count Arthur Strong, which transferred Steve Delaney’s cult Radio 4 hit to TV, in fourth place, followed by Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd and Armando Iannucci’s political satire The Thick Of It.
James Corden and Ruth Jones’s hit Gavin & Stacey is seventh, followed by Miranda Hart’s sitcom Miranda, and Raised By Wolves by Caitlin Moran, which was recently axed by Channel 4 after its second series.
Miranda stars Tom Ellis and Miranda Hart (Ian West/PA Archive)
Outnumbered, the BBC hit about family life starring Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner, is tenth.
The cast of Outnumbered Tyger Drew-Honey, Hugh Dennis, Ramona Marquez, Daniel Roche and Claire Skinner (Anthony Devlin / PA Archive/PA Images)
Benidorm is 19th, the only sitcom from ITV in the poll cast from 14,000 votes from a shortlist compiled by Radio Times critics and experts from the British Film Institute.
The top 20:
1. Mrs Brown’s Boys, BBC1 (started 2011)
2. The Office, BBC2 (2001)
3. Peter Kay’s Car Share, BBC1 (2015)
4. Count Arthur Strong, BBC2 (2013)
5. The IT Crowd, C4 (2006)
6. The Thick Of It, BBC4 (2005)
7. Gavin & Stacey, BBC3 (2007)
8. Miranda, BBC2 (2009)
9. Raised By Wolves, C4 (2015)
10. Outnumbered, BBC1 (2007)
11. Peep Show, C4 (2003)
12. Black Books, C4 (2000)
13. Green Wing, C4 (2003)
14. The Inbetweeners, C4 (2008)
15. Bad Education, BBC3 (2012)
16. Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights, C4 (2001)
17. Yonderland, Sky1 (2013)
18. Twenty Twelve/W1A, BBC2 (2011)
19. Benidorm, ITV (2007)
20. Detectorists, BBC4 (2014)
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel