Mrs Brown’s Boys star Brendan O’Carroll turned down iconic role on beloved show

MRS Brown’s Boys star Brendan O’Carroll revealed he turned down the part of milkman Pat Mustard in Father Ted.

He looked all set to take on the randy role after impressing writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews at an audition.

But when the time came to shoot the Speed 3 episode in 1998 he realised he was double booked — and reluctantly had to say no to Channel 4.

The 68-year-old told The Irish Sun from his Florida home: “I so wanted to do the gig, but c’est la vie.

“The writers were easy to audition for — they even laughed. I was just one day away from being available. ”.

So the show’s creators hired the late Pat Laffan to play the love interest of Mrs Doyle — actress Pauline McLynn — and he proved a smash hit.

Pat was already known to audiences as for his portrayal of Mr Burgess in Roddy Doyle’s 1993 film The Snapper.

In a new book, writer Mathews tells author Damian Corless: “Brendan auditioned for Pat Mustard. His audition was great.

“I think he must have turned it down, or he might not have been available when it was time to shoot it.”

Brendan might have feared he had blown his chance of TV fame.

But Mrs Brown’s Boys went on to pull in 11 million viewers at its height.

It has just been nominated for Best Comedy in the UK’s National Television Awards.

And it has already notched up five Baftas, four National Television Awards, three TV Choice Awards, four IFTA awards and three TV Times Awards.

It was voted the No1 Sitcom of the 21st Century.

But Brendan had to fight to make the show how he wanted after BBC bosses demanded all the bad language be removed.

It took ten drafts before Beeb executive Stephen McCrumm was happy with the pilot script — based on the touring stage show which he had seen in a Glasgow theatre.

Tax, Drugs and Rock ’n’ Roll by Damian Corless it out now