(Photo: BBC)

The popular Irish sitcom Mrs. Brown's Boys is to return for its first "mini-series" in a decade.

Four new episodes of the comedy created by and starring Brendan O'Carroll will be filmed this spring for a premiere later in 2023, the BBC has announced.

O'Carroll said in a media release: "This mini-series was actually planned for 2021. Having been thwarted twice, firstly by Covid-19 and then by a post-Covid shortage of studios, it's fantastic to, at last, have the chance to make it happen. Fasten your seatbelts and hold onto your hats!"

This is the largest number of new episodes of Mrs. Brown's Boys that have been produced in succession since 2013. More recently, the show has typically returned each year for a pair of holiday specials, including episodes that premiered on BBC One on Christmas Day 2022 and New Year's Day 2023.

The sitcom, produced by BBC Scotland in tandem with Irish network RTE, debuted in 2011. Several past episodes have aired in the U.S. on BBC America.

Mrs. Brown's Boys follows the title character – Irish "mammy" Mrs. Brown, played by O'Carroll – as she presides over a large extended family of children, grandchildren, sons and daughters-in-law. Many of the characters are played by real-life members of O'Carroll's family. For example, the creator's wife, Jennifer Gibney, appears in the show as Mrs. Brown's daughter, Cathy Brown.

Are you looking forward to the return of Mrs. Brown's Boys?