Mrs Brown’s Boys voted best UK sitcom, beating The Office, Peter Kay’s Car Share, and The IT Crowd

The show was once labeled "the worst comedy ever made”

Grace Dent may have called Mrs Brown's Boys Christmas special “the worst comedy ever made” but that hasn’t affected the UK public’s love for the show.

In a new poll by Radio Times, Brendan O’Carroll’s creation was voted the best sitcom of the 20th Century so far by 14,000 people, beating the likes of The Office, Peter Kay’s Car Share, and Count Arthur Strong.

Despite negative reviews, the show has been a huge success, O’Carroll saying the vote “vindicates the fans’ belief in the show. They have kept us on the air – it certainly wasn’t the reviewers.”

He added: “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.”

Coming in second is Rickey Gervais’s The Office, a spin-off from which - David Brent: Life on the Road - recently hit cinemas.

Coming in third is Peter Kay’s Car Share, which won a Bafta for best scripted comedy. Here’s the list in full.

1. Mrs Brown’s Boys

2. The Office

3. Peter Kay’s Car Share

4. Count Arthur Strong

5. The IT Crowd

6. The Thick of It

7. Gavin & Stacey

8. Miranda

9. Raised by Wolves

10. Outnumbered

11. Peep Show

12. Black Books

13. Green Wing

14. The Inbetweeners

15. Bad Education

16. Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights

17. Yonderland

18. Twenty Twelve/W1A

19. Benidorm

20. Detectorists

O’Carroll has previously said he hopes Mrs Brown’s Boys will become a filmed trilogy, yet the sequel to the first film has been delayed thanks to the Brexit vote.