Britain’s national broadcaster has received almost a thousand complaints for interrupting an Irish comedy show with news of Nelson Mandela’s death.

The BBC has confirmed that it has already received over 850 objections from members of the public for cutting into the "Mrs Brown’s Boys" show.

Fronted by Irish comedian Brendan O’Carroll, "Mrs Brown’s Boys" has become one of the Beeb’s most popular shows.

But the programme that featured the Mandela insert was a repeat.

And a top BBC director has been forced to apologize to viewers for the Mandela broadcast and the interruption to O’Carroll’s show.

BBC News Director James Harding apologized to viewers but insisted that Mandela’s passing was of ‘singular significance,’ according to a report in the Irish Independent.

He said, “The importance of his life and marking his death seems extremely clear to us.”

The report adds that the repeat episode of "Mrs. Brown’s Boys" averaged 2.8 million viewers. This figure jumped to 5.1 million during the channel’s 10pm news bulletin that followed.