Brendan O'Carroll, who plays Mrs Brown in the BBC sitcom, has hit back at the BBC over the way they have investigated the tax affairs of his real-life daughter, Fiona Delaney.
In news reports about the Paradise Papers and on Panorama, the BBC reporter confronted Delaney as she arrived at the studios in Scotland.
According to a report in the Irish Sun, O'Carroll (pictured as Mrs Brown in the sitcom) said: “They scared the life out of her. Obviously I was angry. Fiona was in tears. I spent the whole day comforting her."
O'Carroll has written a strongly worded letter to Panorama which he released to the newspaper. He told the Irish Sun: “None of the Mrs Brown people have a Rolls Royce or a yacht. Yet there seems to be an effort going on to tarnish the name of the show. But I’m sure the viewers know us better, that we are upfront, and always have been. I can’t understand why the Panorama programme, instead of concentrating on individuals, why didn’t they push politicians to close the f***ing loopholes? If politicians close the loopholes, none of these things would exist.”
It has been reported by the BBC that Fiona Delaney, who plays Maria in the show, her husband, Martin Delaney, who stars as Trevor, and Paddy Houlihan, who plays Dermot, have used a web of offshore companies and trusts to avoid paying tax on their earnings. It has been emphasised throughout that nothing they have done is illegal.
