Critical Condition: All Round to Mrs Brown’s

All Round to Mrs Brown’s (TVNZ 1, 8.40 Thursday)

➢ “Where Dame Edna and Mrs Merton boldly ventured Agnes Brown has inevitably followed. Having conquered British comedy with a fusillade of feck bombs, Brendan O’Carroll’s potty-mouthed Dublin mammy has been granted the ultimate BBC light entertainment honour of her own Saturday-night chat show … O’Carroll agnostics will decry further airtime for the comedian as yet another indication that humanity has outlived its usefulness. But, in addition to a dirty mind, All Round to Mrs Brown’s had a big heart and that made it just about tolerable.” — The Telegraph.

➢ “I am not allergic to Brendan O’Carroll’s Mrs Brown’s Boys, but its degradation on Saturday from bawdy post-modern sitcom to bawdy post-modern variety show was a mess … The premise of All Round to Mrs Brown’s, as unoriginal as The Kumars at No 42, was that a chat show was being hosted in the lounge by the daughter. Mrs B sits in and asks inappropriate questions having conducted loose pre-interviews in the kitchen. It looked to me more like the format for a theatrical tour than the television.” — The Times.

➢ “Everyone thought that chat show entertainment couldn’t get any worse than the flailing disaster that has usurped the News At Ten. But that was before panto dame Brendan O’Carroll in his cardie and nylon knickers popped up with All Round To Mrs Brown’s. He took the Saturday night variety format and slammed it into the ground so hard they’ll be sweeping up the wreckage for weeks. Everything that’s fun about family variety turned to mud in the hands of Mrs Brown and her brood.” — Daily Mail.

➢ “The guests (including Pamela Anderson and Judy Murray) seemed game and in on the joke. But whether you like this will depend entirely on your view of Brendan O’Carroll’s Marmite creation. If you think (as millions clearly do) that it’s the funniest thing on telly for ages, this will be another slice of heaven. If you don’t, you’d probably prefer to spend the hour catching up on a bit of root canal work.” — The i.