Debra Stephenson has been cast in ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’.
Debra Stephenson has been cast in Mrs Brown's Boys
The former ‘Coronation Street’ star will reportedly play Anita in the upcoming series of the BBC One sitcom - which is created by and stars Brendan O’Carroll in the title role of the foul-mouthed Irish matriarch - as it returns to screens for its full run of episodes in more than a decade.
A telly insider told the Daily Star newspaper’s Hot TV column: “Debra is perfect for the ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’ because she is brilliant at comedy.
“Producers are confident viewers are going to absolutely love her.
Debra's character is rumoured to be the sister of Agnes Brown's daughter Cathy - who is played by Brendan’s real-life wife Jennifer Gibney- and teased that she will definitely be involved in "some brilliant storylines".
The source continued: “Debra is part of some brilliant storylines.
“There’s speculation she could be Cathy’s half-sister, so she could literally become part of the family.”
Debra - who famously starred as Frankie Baldwin on the ITV1 soap from 2004 until 2006 but has also acted in TV hits like 'Bad Girls' and has also carved out a second career as a comedy impressionist - recently gushed about her parents' role in fostering her comedy chops as a child.
She told the Yorkshire Post in June: “Mum used to make the costumes and get me the wigs and all of that sort of thing and then dad would always write material.
“They would both practise with me, hear me say my lines and everything, and my dad would help me with a tape recorder or a video cassette recorder (to) forensically listen for everything and watch everything to see how somebody was speaking and then copy. So it was a family thing, really, and it still is to a certain extent. My mum and my dad, to be fair, are my number one fans, and my cheerleaders if you like. My dad did impressions so it was like second nature to me in a way.”