34 expletives in 30 minutes

A new BBC One sitcom has caused a storm over bad language before it has even been broadcast – for containing the F-word more than once a minute.

Mrs Brown’s Boys, by Irish comedian Brendan O’Carroll, will use the word 34 times in 30 minutes, the Sunday Express has counted.

The six-part series, based on O’Carroll’s successful stage show,will go out at 10.35pm – well after the watershed.

And the BBC said: ‘The language within it is very much part of Mrs Brown’s vernacular… and the content will be clearly signposted for viewers.’

Producer Stephen McCrum, who also brought Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps to the BBC, said it ‘hasn’t been the easiest thing’ to get the language past executives.

But he added: ‘I don’t think people are going to be sitting at home counting the swear words.

‘It is refreshing for the BBC to find something that is so blue collar. BBC One controller Danny Cohen has been talking about the non-middle class sitcom and the need to find them.’

Mrs Brown is described a foul-mouthed Dublin matriarch who interferes in the lives of her children and friends.

Here are a couple of clips from the series, which starts on February 21”

Published: 13 Feb 2011