Brassic (Season 5)

Available on Sky Max and NOW TV

There’s a certain roguish charm to Danny Brocklehurst and Joe Gilgun’s long-running comedy series that defies its rather obvious limitations and ensures that it remains one of the most quietly entertaining shows on British television.

Indeed, Brassic is a little bit like your school year’s most feared tearaway, the sort that you might now occasionally bump into in your local pub and, despite their problematic worldviews and egregious braggadocio, can’t help but be amused by. There is a certain charm to ‘lad culture’ that Brocklehurst and Gilgun are unafraid to tap into without necessarily glamourising it, and their show is all the better for it.

While the premise of each episode continues to be mostly formulaic, the fifth series of Brassic demonstrates an admirable willingness to explore the vital topic of mental health, as we see lead character Vinnie (Gilgun) begin to explore his childhood trauma with the help of a therapist. There is also some welcome development for comedy relief characters such as Tommo (Ryan Sampson), courtesy of a side story which sees him discover that he has a teenage son who hails from Germany.

Perhaps most interesting is the show’s fleeting attempts to toy with its well-established form, as can be seen in an episode where lovebirds Cardi (Tom Hanson) and Carol (Bronagh Gallager) have a short-lived disagreement that the latter attempts to resolve by means of an unexpected musical number. Such quirks only serve to make this unusual show all the more endearing, although one does wonder how much mileage it has left as we approach its sixth season.