Brassic, Series 5 - AD Introduction

Brassic is a comedy-drama set in the fictional small town of Hawley and the surrounding moorland area in the north of England.  Hawley looks like a once-prosperous mill-town that seems to have fallen on leaner times. Among its attractions are ‘The Crow’s Nest’, a traditonal boozer that sometimes hosts entertainment nights and ‘The Rat and Cutter’, a self-styled ‘Gentlemen’s Club’ featuring loud music and pole-dancing. Another location of note is ‘The Shack’ - an old railway carriage converted into a living space for Vinny who lives alone. Just outside of town, The Shack stands isolated in an area of woodland.

The main characters are a gang of lads and lasses who although now largely in their 30s, are still game for a laugh, regularly getting embroiled in unlikely adventures mostly with the aim of generating money. They usually dress in trackies and trainers or casual shirts and jeans. Most of them are either unemployed or in precarious jobs and have a complicated web of relationships with each other and the law. One of their long-running money-making schemes is a weed-farm which they have discreetly set up in an underground bunker on Farmer Jim’s land. Their main mode of transport is a tiny Bedford Rascal van.

The main characters who are generally referred to by their first names or nicknames are as follows:

Vinny is the leader of the gang and lives alone in the Shack. Thin to the point of being gaunt, he is white with severely short hair, matching stubble, tattoos and a mournful expression. He’s been known to dye his hair and its been both dark and peroxide blonde. He usually dresses in unspectacular casuals but occasionally rocks a hot pink puffa jacket or canary yellow tracksuit. With a history of emotional issues for which he is regularly consulting Dr Chris, he is prone to dark moods and self—doubt; but he is also the ‘ideas-man’ for the gang and is the originator of many of the escapades in which they get involved. Vinny’s childhood was unhappy and is sometimes referred to in flashbacks. His mother left the family when he was a child; his father is an alcoholic. Although a complete rogue, Vinny has a big heart and is constantly helping those less fortunate than himself. Dylan is his best friend.

Erin is white with long flowing dark hair, full lips, dark eyes and a perfect figure. Often wearing a casual trackie, she can also dress to impress if the occasion demands and has a wardrobe of smart clothes. She is the mother of 8 year old Tyler with whom she lives in a council house on an estate and she has gone back to college in an attempt to improve their quality of life.  Erin does not suffer fools and is one of the few gang members with ambition and a firm grasp on common sense.

Dylan might be the cleverest member of the gang. He is white, tall with short thick dirty-fair hair which he combs to the side. Having passed up an opportunity to attend university, he works as a part-time barman in The Crow’s Nest and is a talented poker-player. He’s in a relationship with Erin and lives with her and Tyler.

Short of stature, Tommo is white with a moustache and short dark hair styled in a quiff. Of all the gang members he seems to be the one most interested in clothes and often dresses in loud shirts and/or track-suits or smart bomber jackets and chinos. A free spirit: he does what he wants, when he wants and usually has a cigarette in his hand and drugs in his pocket. He subsidises his lifestyle by running a sex-dungeon for upstanding members of the local community.

Ash is a musclebound mixed race man with closely cropped dark hair and piercing blue eyes. He is from a family of Irish travellers and is a former boxer who knows how to look after himself. He is openly gay with his friends but has not come out to his family. He is Carol’s younger cousin.

Cardi is white with short brown hair and carries a bit of excess weight, a result of his fondness for junk food.  Big-hearted but not the brightest, he stammers when he’s nervous and, in the gang, is usually given jobs he can’t mess up. He lives with his pet pigeon Nigel in a flat above a kebab shop in Hawley on the front door of which someone has spray-painted a large penis.

Carol is in her forties - petite and white with dark hair which she often wears tied-back in a pony-tail accentuating her extremely expressive face. From a family of travellers, she is straight talking with an earthy sense of humour and is Ash’s cousin.

JJ is of South Asian heritage. Tall and slim with short black hair, dark eyes, an aquiline nose and a dusting of stubble, he runs his own car-mechanic’s business in Hawley. He has a wealth of knowledge on many subjects and a sensible head on his shoulders except when it comes to the law. Happy to accept dubiously acquired vehicles from Vinny and the gang, he returns the favour when needed, providing them with technical know-how and transport. 

In his 60s, Farmer Jim is white with unkempt curly white hair, a bushy beard and worn-out working clothes that usually include a moth-eaten sweater, weatherbeaten beanie-hat and a pair of wellies. With politically incorrect views on pretty much everything, he is a foul-mouthed malcontent who lives alone on a farm just outside Hawley. He is fond of his beer and conducts a bitter war of attrition with the neighbouring farmer Paslowski aka Goldilocks aka Shirley.

White and in his forties Dr Chris is a GP in the Hawley practice. He is tall and handsome with short dark hair,  a charming smile and is a big ladies-man.

Brassic, Series 5 is available on Sky Max from Thursday 28th September.

Introduction narrated and and written by Ciaran McLaughlin