Actor had played Agnes's gay son for 26 years

Rory Cowan has quit Mrs Brown's Boys after 26 years.

The actor played Agnes's gay son, also called Rory, for the last time at London's O2 on Sunday night.

And he told the Irish Daily Mail he hadn't been happy working on the show for the last couple of years and handed in his notice to creator Brendan O'Carroll last month.

'"I was supposed to leave at the end of that week, but Brendan said that would be impossible and asked if I'd stay on until the end of the London O2 gigs. So I agreed to that,' he said.

He said he would not go into details about why he was unhappy, but added: 'I did the final show [in London], packed my stuff into a small Waitrose plastic bag and just left the venue.'

Cowan, 57, later tweeted a picture of himself at dinner with fellow cast member Gary Hollwyood and EastEnders star Adam Woodyatt and confirmed the news he was quitting.

With @mrgaryhollywood @AvriCitron @BevWoodyatt +@AdamWoodyatt who kindly took me 4 dinner after I left #MrsBrownsBoys pic.twitter.com/n4ARQTnYtr

— Rory Cowan (@1rorycowan) July 10, 2017

In a statement, O'Carroll described Cowan as 'a legend'.

He said: 'To all of us it feels like Ronaldo leaving Manchester United. But Ronaldo went on to amazing success which I know Rory will too.

'I can't even quantify the contribution Rory has made to our success and the well-being of me and my family, not just on screen or stage but way before that as a friend and a driving force in getting us here.'

A former marketing manager for EMI Records, Cowan was O'Carroll's publicist but joined the Mrs Brown's Boys cast when an actor dropped out during a tour. He is one of the few members of the core Mrs Brown's cast not to be related to O'Carroll.

He said he had no plans for what to do next, saying: 'I'd love to do something like a weekend radio show but we'll see what comes down the line. For now I'm going to take a little time off.'

Published: 10 Jul 2017