Mrs Brown's Boys voted best sitcom of 21st century

BBC1 show has failed to wow critics but takes top spot in Radio Times online poll

BBC1 comedy Mrs Brown’s Boys has been voted the best sitcom of the 21st century so far in an online poll of 14,000 people.

Ricky Gervais’s The Office came second in the poll, conducted by the Radio Times.

Mrs Brown’s Boys has failed to wow critics and has been described as “the worst sitcom ever made”. But creator and star Brendan O’Carroll said the vote underlined its continued popularity in the face of poor reviews.

He said: “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.”

In third place was Peter Kay’s Car Share, which debuted on iPlayer last year before moving to BBC1 and winning a Bafta for best scripted comedy. A second series is due next year.

The top 20 list was compiled from a shortlist of 40 chosen by Radio Times critics and experts from the British Film Institute.

Perhaps the most critically acclaimed sitcom of the bunch, The Thick of It, came in at number six, and Caitlin Moran’s Raised by Wolves, recently axed by Channel 4 after two series, was voted the ninth best of the 21st century.

Mrs Brown’s Boys stars O’Carroll as the titular Mrs Brown, with some of the show’s characters played by O’Carroll’s family members.

It is one of the BBC’s most reliable ratings hits. A Christmas day special in 2013 beat the Queen’s speech and EastEnders to the day’s most watched show, and the following year consolidated viewing figures put the show again at the top for Christmas.

Last Christmas it was only beaten into second place in consolidated viewing by the final ever episode of ITV’s Downton Abbey, but still drew 9.5 million viewers.

A live special in July, used to kickstart the BBC’s landmark comedy series of revivals of old sitcoms, attracted 4.5 million viewers.

It has also spawned a spin-off movie – 2014’s Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie, which topped the UK and Ireland box office for two weeks following its release.

O’Carroll has said the film was the first in a planned trilogy. But earlier this month he revealed that a sequel had been delayed because of uncertainty over funding in the wake of the Brexit vote.