Brendan O'Carroll donates €10,000 to Parkinson's UK at Symfunny No2

Brendan O’Carroll delighted the audience in The Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday when he announced he was donating €10,000 to Parkinson’s UK.

The ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’ actor joined an all-star performance including Katie Melua, Collabro and ‘The Who’s Pete Townshend for Symfunny No.2 and donned the outfit of his famous alter-ego character Agnes Brown.

The 61-year-old star told the crowd: “I struggled with moving from stage to TV. Writing for theatre was easy because you know what the audience wants because you have more of a relationship with them but I found it very difficult to write for TV.

“I kept sending the script and having it sent back with some feedback. I would try and try again and I sort of got there.

“They got me in touch with Paul Mayhew-Archer who lives in LA and he came over and worked on the first two series.

“He then got diagnosed with Parkinson’s (which is why I am here tonight) and I still call him for advice.”

Paul – best known for his work with ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’ and the ‘Vicar of Dibley’ – was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2011 and recently wrote and presented ‘Parkinson’s: The Funny Side’ for the BBC for which he won the Grierson Trust’s ‘Best Documentary Presenter’ award.

Other acts to perform were funnyman Josh Widdicombe, who guffawed about the wonder of contactless cards and plinkety-plonked on a typewriter along to the orchestra, and Rob Deering – who reworked Frozen’s Let It Go, turning it into a homage to the pain of stepping on Lego.

Text CURE56 £5 to 70070 to donate to Parkinson’s research.