Brassic

Available on NOW TV and Sky

The fourth season of Danny Brocklehurst and Joe Gilgun’s crime caper does little to dispel the notion that Brassic is one of the most curious shows on British television today.

An undeniably Northern homage to the works of Ritchie and Tarantino, the show has an unmistakable Marmite quality which means it is just as likely to repel viewers as it is entertain them.

As a long-term fan of Gilgun’s work, I’m mostly in the latter camp but did find aspects of this season a little difficult to grasp. For starters, the small-town setting means the show is self-contained to a point where its events begin to feel a little repetitive and, at worst, redundant. There are very little stakes involved when protagonists have an almost Houdini-like ability to evade their comeuppance.

That being said, Brocklehurst and Gilgun’s penchant for razor-sharp dialogue means Brassic always maintains a cheeky charm that is difficult to ignore. It’s a bit like when you bump into the larger-than-life football lad from your school year – you know that fundamentally they’re a bit of a plank, but ultimately their heart is (probably) in the right place.

Gilgun is also a real USP for the show. Fans of his work in This is England will already be aware of his innate ability to blend comedy with introspection, but Brassic gives him the star status needed to really flex his dramatic muscles. His character’s arc is undoubtedly the most interesting thing about this show, even though the zany nature of its goings-on sometimes mean that the underlying theme of mental health is skirted around.

Whether another season will be warranted after Brassic returns for a fifth run remains to be seen, but this remains an easy and entertaining watch in the most part.