'Thrilled' Carroll leads Irish Bafta charge

COMEDIAN Brendan O’Carroll leads the list of Irish nominees for next month’s British Academy of Film and Television Awards (Baftas).

O’Carroll confessed to being “gobsmacked but thrilled” that Mrs Brown’s Boys had secured two Bafta nominations while the director Ben Kellett has been nominated for a Bafta craft award.

The comedy show, which got one nomination last year, is again up for best situation comedy, while O’Carroll is nominated for best male performance in a comedy programme.

Mrs Brown’s Boys has built on the success of its first series on BBC. The last episode of the second series peaked at 8.3 million viewers in Britain, despite being up against Jonathan Ross.

It has been sold to The Comedy Channel in the US and is now been shown in Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Iceland.

The sitcom, which features the foul-mouthed Dublin matriarch Agnes Brown, has been given the green light by Universal Studios for a feature film, which will be made next summer.

O’Carroll said the Bafta nominations were the results of 20 years of hard work, especially at the beginning when the show struggled for acceptance.

“It is nice to see the critics finally catching up,” he said.

Irish comedian and television presenter Dara Ó Briain will find himself in a dual role at the Baftas which take place on May 27th. He is presenting the show and is also nominated in the best entertainment performance for Mock the Week.

Graham Norton is nominated in the same category for The Graham Norton Show.

Irish actor Stephen Rea is nominated in the best supporting actor category for his part in the BBC Two crime drama The Shadow Line. He he will be up against Dublin-born actor Andrew Scott for his role as Moriarty in the BBC drama Sherlock.