Brendan O'Carroll talks everything Blackpool, why Mrs Brown is such a nightmare and what’s next for her...
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00:00 We played Blackpool for the very first time last year.
00:02 And we went, "Oh, we've got to come back here."
00:05 Because we only played for three days.
00:09 Because there's only three days available.
00:10 Everybody's looking for venues.
00:12 As soon as COVID finished, everybody was looking for venues.
00:14 There's only three days available.
00:17 We knew the three days.
00:18 And it just sold out.
00:20 And there were so many people who didn't get to the show.
00:24 So we said, "Okay, the new show, we'll come back to Blackpool."
00:28 So we're back again in Blackpool.
00:30 And I can't wait to get back there.
00:31 It's just a fabulous theatre.
00:33 It's just beautiful, the opera house.
00:35 We're constantly touring.
00:37 But there's something different about getting to Blackpool
00:40 for the very first time last year.
00:42 It was just a completely different vibe.
00:45 The last time I was in Blackpool, I was 12.
00:48 And it was with a football club.
00:50 We went over to play a mini competition.
00:52 And I had never seen amusements like it.
00:54 I'd never seen anything like this place.
00:57 It was lit up and the trams going up and down the car.
00:59 It was just magical.
01:01 And I got that feeling all over again.
01:03 And it's funny, the song that was big at that time,
01:07 that was number one in the British charts at that time,
01:09 was a song called "Puppet on a String."
01:13 And every time I hear "Puppet on a String,"
01:16 every time I hear the intro,
01:17 ♪ Mm-mm, do-do, mm-mm, do-do ♪
01:19 I go, "You know what? It reminds me of Blackpool.
01:22 And it reminds me of Blackpool rock.
01:24 I have to bring back rock for everybody."
01:26 You brought back a stick of rock.
01:29 And I didn't realize also that all those beachfront shops
01:33 that had those naughty postcards,
01:36 that I would end up being a live version
01:39 of the naughty postcards.
01:40 (laughs)
01:42 - Very full circle.
01:44 - Yeah.
01:45 - Yeah.
01:46 When you went last year,
01:47 did you get a chance to go to the amusements,
01:49 try Blackpool rock?
01:50 If not, will you do it this time?
01:52 - I got Blackpool rock,
01:54 and I got, in Blackpool,
01:57 no matter what ship you go in,
01:58 you get the best fish and chips.
02:01 So we had Blackpool rock,
02:02 which we brought home for the grandsons.
02:05 And we got our fish and chips there as well.
02:09 It was just absolutely gorgeous.
02:11 Just gorgeous.
02:12 Well, we didn't get to the amusements, no.
02:16 - You didn't get what, sorry?
02:17 - We didn't get to the amusements.
02:19 - No? Well, this time? - No.
02:21 Gonna try.
02:22 Definitely gonna try.
02:24 - Mrs. Brown rides again?
02:26 Rides a green?
02:27 - Mrs. Brown, no, Mrs. Brown rides anything.
02:30 - Oh, okay.
02:31 (laughs)
02:32 Is she hard to control, would you say?
02:35 - Oh, God, yeah.
02:36 - Yeah. - She's just,
02:38 you see, Mrs. Brown gets away with stuff
02:39 that I'd never get away with.
02:42 And I think it's because she's, you know,
02:43 a mid-70s old dear.
02:45 She doesn't care.
02:47 You know, you get to that age, you know,
02:49 when you get to, they don't care.
02:52 And, you know, you'll be canceled.
02:55 Canceled from what?
02:56 I don't do Twitter.
02:57 I don't do social media, you know.
02:59 And so those people have a certain amount of freedom,
03:03 but also a lot of wisdom.
03:05 So I think, you know, Agnes is,
03:08 she's very wise when it comes to her family,
03:10 particularly her family.
03:12 Now, she can tell them that they're brats,
03:14 but she won't have anybody else tell them that they're brats.
03:17 And she's that kind of mother that would, you know,
03:20 if one of the sons killed somebody,
03:22 she'd be so disappointed with them,
03:24 but she'd have them hide the body.
03:28 I was going to say, I'm sure most people will relate
03:29 to this character, and then you brought in the murder cover-up,
03:31 and I was like, oh, maybe not so widespread, but yeah.
03:37 But you know what I mean?
03:38 She, it's about her kids.
03:40 Life for her is about her family.
03:41 That's it.
03:42 She doesn't, she doesn't think beyond looking after the family.
03:47 And being of, and interfering in the family.
03:51 The people who already know the character,
03:53 they'll recognize all the same elements this time around.
03:56 I get letters from, from Mumbai in India,
04:01 who tell me that Mrs. Brown lives just down the road.
04:04 You know, everybody seems to know a Mrs. Brown.
04:06 She's kind of that, that wild aunt,
04:09 or that wild grandmother that, you know,
04:11 turns up at the wedding all dressed to the nines,
04:13 but you know, after three or four vodkas,
04:16 she's standing on the table waving her knickers in the air,
04:18 and everybody expects that from her.
04:21 So she's kind of like that.
04:22 - She's obviously getting on a bit.
04:25 - Yes. - This isn't her last hurrah, is it?
04:27 Are we, do you think there's more to come from Mrs. Brown's after this talk?
04:30 You're not really discussed. - Oh, oh God, yes.
04:34 You know, I want to do a Tommy Cooper.
04:35 I want to be dragged off the stage,
04:38 and have the audience laugh, and just think it's part of the show.
04:41 - You're going to go to the very end of it.
04:43 - Oh, absolutely.
04:45 You'd have to drag me up.
04:46 You'd have to shoot me.