Brilliantly conceived, written and acted': farewell to Brassic, the raucous sitcom with real heart

"Blame Brassic on Dominic West. While filming Pride, the rousing 2014 film about gay Londoners finding solidarity with a hardscrabble Welsh community during the miners' strike, West was acting alongside lanky live wire Joseph Gilgun, who would regale him with wild tales of growing up in Chorley in Lancashire. Tickled by anecdotes like the theft of a shetland pony, West encouraged Gilgun to mine his formative years for material that could become a TV show."

"Gilgun teamed up with screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst, no stranger to authentic northern humour after working on Channel 4's Shameless. The result was Brassic, a headlong comedy about a rowdy gang of scallywags, chancers and wheeler-dealers trying to stay one step ahead of the law and local heavies in the fictional northern town of Hawley. As well as repurposing the ducking and diving of his youth, the autobiographical elements extended to Gilgun's likable ringleader Vinnie O'Neill coping with being bipolar."

"That key character detail also meant a recurring role for the plummy West as Vinnie's relentlessly inappropriate GP Dr Chris. When Brassic debuted on Sky in August 2019, it was a raucous word-of-mouth hit that became the broadcaster's biggest comedy launch in years. Now, after seven seasons (placing it alongside Trollied as Sky's longest-running homegrown sitcom) co-creators Gilgun and Brocklehurst are calling time with its 50th episode, a surprisingly tidy numerical capstone for a series that has always embraced chaos."

Brassic is a headlong comedy about a rowdy gang of scallywags, chancers and wheeler-dealers in the fictional northern town of Hawley. Joseph Gilgun and screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst created the series from Gilgun's childhood anecdotes, repurposing ducking-and-diving capers and autobiographical detail. The central figure is Vinnie O'Neill, a likable ringleader coping with bipolar disorder, with Dominic West recurring as Vinnie's inappropriately forthright GP, Dr Chris. The show debuted on Sky in August 2019, became a word-of-mouth hit and grew to seven seasons and 50 episodes. Brassic balances escalating farce—outlandish heists and corpse mix-ups—with warm, boisterous characters and emotional depth.

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