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MRS BROWN'S BOOS
Brendan O’Carroll hits back after accusations his Mrs Brown’s Boys co-stars and family dodged tax
HE’S the potty-mouthed comic who became the BBC’s go-to man for ratings – even beating the Queen on Christmas Day.
But Brendan O'Carroll the writer and star of Mrs Brown’s Boys, found himself in the headlines for the wrong reasons last year.
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His co-stars were accused of putting more than £2million into an offshore tax-avoidance scheme. But in an exclusive chat with me, Brendan put up a robust defence.
His daughter Fiona Delany, her husband Martin and their Mrs Brown’s Boys co-star Paddy Houlihan were turned over by the BBC’s own investigations team, Panorama, for using a legal scheme to pay less tax on their earnings for the series.
Brendan said: “It was just three actors. They did nothing illegal. They did absolutely nothing illegal.
“Here’s the big thing: Close the f*****g loophole. It’s that simple. Close the f*****g loophole. It must be facilitating something.”
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The revelations didn’t appear to faze Brendan, whose hit programme has spawned spin-offs which include a talk show and a movie.
He joked: “We went back out on stage a week after and the audience stood up and f*****g clapped, thinking we were out dodging tax! We hadn’t. We pay a f*****g fortune in tax.
“We live in America. So we pay tax in New Zealand, Australia, America, Canada, UK and Ireland. We pay a lot of tax. But we prefer to pay tax because we do use the roads, we do educate our kids in the schools. We don’t mind paying our way.”
The scheme was revealed as part of the so-called Paradise Papers, a series of millions of leaked documents detailing offshore investments.
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The complicated process saw the trio using a web of companies to avoid paying tax on their earnings.
The scheme is similar to the kind used by comedian Jimmy Carr — and appears to have saved them thousands of pounds in income tax.
The list of those involved was far-reaching, even including the Queen.
Brendan added: “One of the things they pointed out was about the Queen having £10million invested in some island off-shore.
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“She’s the f*****g queen of the Commonwealth. She’s the queen of that f*****g island! She’s entitled to invest her money in the Commonwealth, regardless of what breaks are there.
“They didn’t know anything about Paradise, or whatever the f*** it was. They certainly weren’t driving a £20million jet into the Isle of Man to skip the VAT.”
The BBC’s main concern with Brendan now is not his finances but whether he can deliver another hit.
Mrs Brown’s Boys is now only rolled out for festive specials but the talk show All Round To Mrs Brown’s, in which celebs visit Agnes’ house with their mums, is also hugely successful.
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The new series starts this Saturday, with guests including Danny Dyer, Andrew Flintoff and Sting.
Now Brendan’s thoughts are turning to the sitcom’s Christmas special, which he said has yet to be written.
He said: “The BBC will be ringing in about four weeks’ time. ‘How we doing? How we looking? We just want to know what design the Christmas tree is going to be, what extra stuff we’ll need’. I’ll go, ‘Yeah, well, I’m working on it’.”
Though loved by millions, the show — which first aired in 2011 — is often panned by critics. And even Brendan can’t believe how things have panned out.
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He said: “I thought I’d be signing on again. I thought I’d be f*****g collecting my dole. I don’t realise the impact that this has had.”
And Brendan insists he isn’t worried about offending snowflakes by wearing a dress.
He joked: “Mrs Brown’s answer to that would be, ‘Well, I have always been well supported by the LGBT-LMNOP community’.”
bizbit
SIR ANTHONY HOPKINS was mistaken for a tramp while filming a modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear for the BBC in Stevenage. A local resident even directed him to a nearby homeless shelter.
Victoria slashed in half
THE BBC is slashing Victoria Derbyshire’s award-winning show in half as part of a package to save £80million.
Her two-hour current affairs programme will move to a later 10am slot from the autumn and run for just 60 minutes.
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Corporation bosses quietly made the decision last year.
A Beeb insider said: “BBC news has to make £80million of cuts so, like other radio and TV news programmes, Victoria Derbyshire is doing its bit.
“This means it can carry on doing exclusive interviews and original stories while saving on studio costs.”
The move is a surprise as Victoria won a Bafta last year and two Royal Television Society awards in March for her work on the programme.
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Panorama – the Beebs flagship current affairs show – is also likely to be hit by cuts.
I’m all for the BBC making savings, but surely endless episodes of programmes such as Homes Under The Hammer are a better place to start.
Victoria Derbyshire reveals she wrote goodbye letters to her sons during cancer treatment
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