‘Mrs. Brown’s Boys’ has been named as the Best British Sitcom.
The belly-laughing show – which stars 60-year-old Brendan O’Carroll as the titular character Mrs. Brown – took the impressive crown in a recent audience poll conducted by the Radio Times magazine that amassed more than 14,000 votes after beating the likes of ‘The IT Crowd’ and ‘The Office’.
Speaking to the publication, Brendan – who is also the creator of the show – said: "[I’m] Lost for words… and that doesn’t happen to me very often. Myself and Jenny [Gibney, his wife and co-star] are dancing around the living room. I can die happy now … but I’ll take my time. It vindicates the fans’ belief in the show. They have kept us on the air — it certainly wasn’t the reviewers. 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."
The sitcom follows the antics of Mrs. Brown a matriarch who interferes in the lives of those close to her – most of whom are played by Brendan’s real life friends and family.
The show has been so popular with viewers that a recent live episode of the show attracted almost nine million viewers, with regular episodes frequently getting millions of people tuning in.
‘The Office’ – created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant – came in second place in the poll, with BAFTA award winning ‘Peter Kay’s Car Share’ completing the top three.
The full list of top 20 British comedies:
1. ‘Mrs. Brown’s Boys’
2. ‘The Office’
3. ‘Peter Kay’s Car Share’
4. ‘Count Arthur Strong’
5. ‘The IT Crowd’
6. ‘The Thick Of It’
7. ‘Gavin & Stacey’
8. ‘Miranda’
9. ‘Raised By Wolves’
10. ‘Outnumbered’
11. ‘Peep Show’
12. ‘Black Books’
13. ‘Green Wing’
14. ‘The Inbetweeners’
15. ‘Bad Education’
16. ‘Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights’
17. ‘Yonderland’
18. ‘Twenty Twelve’ & ‘W1A’
19. ‘Benidorm’
20. ‘Detectorists’