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Brassic is slang for the Cockney rhyming term ‘boracic lint’, meaning ‘skint’. So, we have a comedy/drama series about a bunch of young men who want to participate in endless ‘get rich quick’ schemes which you can guarantee are going to end in disaster.
The two leads are best friends Vinnie (Joseph Gilgun – Lockout), a self-declared “bi-polar thief who lives in the woods”, and Dylan (Damien Molony – Marcella’s driving instructor in Gameface), who’s addicted to online poker, with the latter having moved in together with Erin (Michelle Keegan – Tina And Bobby), who used to sleep around but changed her ways after having a child when she was young.
In the first of six episodes, the story revolves around Ash and Cardi (the latter bringing along a pigeon because its sister died after getting decapitated in a folding deckchair – don’t worry, you don’t see that) going off to steal a Shetland pony for Jim (Steve Evets) by chloroforming it, then putting it in their tiny van… as long as they don’t drop the bottle of chloroform!
Meanwhile, Tommo has an ‘erotic dungeon’ and pleasures whoever will pay for a service, regardless of gender, and from time to time, Vinnie heads over to his doctor (Dominic West) for a top up on his antidepressants, only to find that the doc is too busy using a new dating site a great deal to the point where he declares “My todger looks like a dog’s been at it!”
So far, I’ve seen the first two episodes of Brassic, but the fact is gets more preposterous as the more it goes on, that does mean that it lessons the interest. The problem is that there’s no real clear direction for the plot, as it’s just a random bunch of storylines strung together.
Also, some of the dialogue is very fast-talking, so subtitles will be handy, although they’re not available on the preview I saw.
Oddly, the series has been filmed in a cinematic-style widescreen ratio of approx 2.35:1, although as the lads drive through a field early on, I like how the title is CGI’d onto the field as they drive along.
Episodes 1 and 2: 5/10
Brassic begins on Thursday August 22nd on Sky 1 at 10pm with a double episode, and it’s also available to pre-order on DVD, ahead of its release on September 30th.
If you enjoyed it more than me, then you’ll be pleased to know that all episodes are available from August 22nd.
Director: Daniel O’Hara
Producer: Juliet Charlesworth
Writers: Alex Ganley, Daniel Brocklehurst
Based on an original idea by: Rob Ellis, Mike Challander, Kathleen Beedles, Joseph Gilgun
Cast:
Vinnie: Joseph Gilgun
Dylan: Damien Molony
Erin: Michelle Keegan
Ralph: Dennis Blanch
Cardi: Tom Hanson
Ash: Aaron Heffernan
Jim: Steve Evets
JJ: Parth Thakerar
PC Carl Slater: John Weaver
Dr Chris Cox: Dominic West
Tommo: Ryan Sampson
Big Sandy: Sharran Alexander
Kath: Ruth Sheen
Specky Sid: Tony Nyland
Voodoo Ray: Leon Delroy Williams
Jake: Anthony Welsh
Gunman: Craig Cheetham
Geoff: Daniel Coll
Tyler: Jude Riordan
Grabbe: John McGrellis
Young Vinnie: Zack Pierce
Vinnie’s Dad: Tim Dantay
Goldilocks: Archie Kelly
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.