Mrs Brown's Brendan O'Carroll pledges £10,000 to RNLI

Comedian Brendan O'Carroll's female alter-ego is Agnes Brown

Comedy star Brendan O'Carroll, star of the BBC sitcom Mrs Brown's Boys, has made a £10,000 donation to the RNLI.

O'Carroll had just finished performing his stage show Good Mourning Mrs Brown in Rhyl on Saturday when he pledged the money for the lifeboat charity.

The 61-year-old, who plays Agnes Brown in the hit TV show, also collected £600 from the audience at Rhyl Pavilion.

"The RNLI would like to thank Brendan O'Carroll for his generous donation to Rhyl RNLI," said an RNLI spokesperson.

O'Carroll, whose female alter-ego helped him win the 2016 National Television Award for best comedy, was in Wales doing a preview of his stage show before a year-long UK arena tour.

Rhyl's £2.2m Shannon class lifeboat is the first modern all-weather lifeboat to be propelled by water jets instead of traditional propellers

He had offered Rhyl RNLI the chance to collect donations at his Saturday night show and, following the performance, he told the sell-out audience at the theatre that he would make a £10,000 contribution.

A Rhyl Pavilion spokesman said "there was a massive round of applause from the audience" and added "it was fantastic and showed great support for our local volunteers".

The donation from the Irish comedian, who fronts the new BBC One Saturday night TV show All Round to Mrs Brown's, is expected to go towards Rhyl RNLI's new £2.2m Shannon class lifeboat.