Bubble UK: Animated Mrs Brown’s Boys Series Green Lit

Award winning BBC sitcom, Mrs Brown’s Boys has announced a spin-off animated series, find out all the details after the break.

 

The British Comedy Guide is reporting that Brendan O’Carroll’s massively popular series, Mrs Brown’s Boys, is to get a cartoon sister show which has been green lit for production this summer. One of the stars of the sitcom, Rory Cowan, explains the thinking behind an animated version of Mrs Brown and her clan:

“It will be a mix of storylines we’ve seen on the main shows, as well as a few other things thrown in to make them different. The logic is that it can be sent to all English-speaking countries, and dubbed so it can be used across the world.” he said, before adding that the new spin-off will keep the original show’s studio audience laughter track: “Everything we’ve ever done has a live audience except for the movie. It makes the process enjoyable and it gives us instant feedback.”

The new cartoon will be produced by US based Power House Animations, the same company who created the animated title sequence seen at the beginning of the BBC series. Powerhouse created an animated pilot of Mrs Browns Boys way back in 2012 however previous commitments and a punishing recording schedule have meant a series could not be assured until now. A newspaper article back in 2012 saw the show’s creator and star, Brendan O’Carroll, discus the possibility of an animated venture:

“I always knew that if I could get(an animated version of) Mrs Brown on to BBC TV, it would explode. So about four years ago I started a project in Arizona where I put a team of animators together to turn Mrs Brown into a cartoon series. When you see the titles of Mrs Brown’s Boys, that’s from the animated series which we’re bringing out. The wonderful thing about doing a cartoon is that they translate it into any language.”

Normally I would be extremely encouraging of any new adult animated series coming to UK television but in this instance I can barely muster a smile. I can’t see the appeal of the enormously successful show. Since the series inception in 2011,Mrs Brown’s Boys has gone on to become a huge money making franchise; the seasonal specials alone generate viewing figures of over 10 million whilst the live tour sells out regularly around the globe, the cast and crew are in the middle of a sell-out Australian tour as we speak. So why can’t I get behind it?

I’m guessing, maybe, it’s a generational thing, I have friends who voice the same concerns after their mums or grandparents have raved about it; they sit in front of the TV confused and slightly angry. For my US cousins I feel I must clarify: Mrs Brown’s Boys is a show set around one gag- “Mrs Brown” is a guy. The previously mentioned creator and main star, Brendan O’Carroll is Mrs Brown. That’s right folks, it’s 2014 and the highest rating comedy show on British TV centers around laughing at a guy in a dress, and I’m not trying to say he’s transgender or genderqueer, he’s a hetero normative male who puts on a dress to get laughs and Rory Cowan up there plays his “camp” son. Please, please tell me how this joke is going to translate into animation.

Yet again this seems to be a staggering example of how UK mainstream media keep getting it wrong when it comes to adult animation. My talk with the excellent Wild Seed Studios over Christmas showed me that there are creative thinkers in the UK willing to embrace multi-media platforms and commissions shows from fresh and exciting local talents, it made me incredibly happy and positive about the state of cartoons in Britain now, and for the future. Then, we come back to the good old BBC and it’s bam! here, have a show made in the US about a guy dressed as a woman and her/his flaming stereotype son.

I am loathe to judge any animation before it even begins, I want to support this industry, but this show is neither home grown nor to my taste so on this one I’ll have to say no ta mate, thanks for asking.

You can expect to see the animated versions of Mrs Brown and her boys sometime in 2015.