Brendan O'Carroll 'never wanted to play Mrs Brown'

Brendan O’Carroll “never wanted to play" Agnes in ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’.

The 67-year-old comedian has admitted he initially planned to get someone else to play matriarch Agnes Brown in the BBC comedy series that began in 2011.

In an extract shared exclusively in The Sun newspaper, he wrote in his new memoir, ‘The Real Mrs Brown’: “I never wanted to play Mrs Brown. When I first wrote Mrs Brown’s Boys as a radio play for RTÉ 2FM in 1990, I had an actress in mind to voice Mrs Brown.

"But on the day of the first recording, I got word that she had a kidney infection so I decided that, as the studio was booked, I would read her lines and when she was well I would dub her voice in.To give it a bit of a lift I did a voice I often used in stand-up if I was imitating an older Dublin woman.

"The next morning, I was back at the studio to meet Jonathan McEvoy, the edit engineer. He asked a question that made me smile.'Who’s the actress playing Mrs. Brown?' I realised he was serious, and I laughed. 'Jonathan, that’s me.'

"He was aghast. 'You are kidding me?' I explained that I would be overdubbing the lines with an actress. 'No way, Brendan, you have to keep that voice. It’s – it’s Mrs Brown. That’s the widow who I really believe is head of that family.' "

While speaking to The Sun, Brendan poo-pooed claims of “cultural appropriation” and him being “transphobic” from critics who think he shouldn’t be playing a woman.

He said: “I don’t think about them, I write the show I write. I don’t ever think of myself as being a man playing a woman, when Mrs Brown goes out on that stage she is a woman.

“Where do you draw the line? Is it okay for Leonardo DiCaprio to play a carpenter or do we get a carpenter? Shouldn’t we get the best person for the job?”

Meanwhile, the show’s creator joked that as he ages he needs “less padding” to step into the role.

He quipped: “I find as I get older the less padding I need.”