Brendan O’Carroll’s Mrs Brown’s Boys has been voted the best British sitcom of the 21st century, pipping Ricky Gervais’ The Office and Peter Kay’s Car Share to the number one spot in a poll conducted by the Radio Times.
“Breathtaking,” said O’Carroll. “Lost for words… and that doesn’t happen to me very often. Myself and Jenny [Jennifer Gibney, his wife and co-star] are dancing around the living room. I can die happy now… but I’ll take my time… It vindicates the fans’ belief in the show. They have kept us on the air — it certainly wasn’t the reviewers. There is an audience out there that comedy forgot — that Are You Being Served? audience has been left behind. Us winning this award proves that.”
The poll was conducted by readers of the Radio Times, who voted on a shortlist of 40 sitcoms selected by Radio Times critics and members of the British Film Institute. Here’s the top twenty in full…
1 – Mrs Brown’s Boys, BBC One
2 – The Office, BBC Two
3 – Peter Kay’s Car Share, BBC One
4 – Count Arthur Strong, BBC Two
5 – The IT Crowd, C4
6 – The Thick Of It, BBC Four
7 – Gavin & Stacey, BBC Three
8 – Miranda, BBC Two
9 – Raised By Wolves, C4
10 – Outnumbered, BBC One
11 – Peep Show, C4
12 – Black Books, C4
13 – Green Wing, C4
14 – The Inbetweeners, C4
15 – Bad Education, BBC Three
16 – Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights, C4
17 – Yonderland, Sky1
18 – Twenty Twelve/W1A, BBC Two
19 – Benidorm, ITV
20 – Detectorists, BBC Four
Does Mrs Brown’s Boys deserve top spot? What’s your favourite British sitcom of the 21st century? Let us know in the comments below…
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Originally published August 24, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
