Michelle Keegan might be the star of army drama Our Girl but in the last few years it’s been a case of ‘our boys’ as far as her career is concerned.
‘It’s weird,’ she says.
‘In the past few years I just seem to be working with lads.
'I’ve spent so much of my time working on Our Girl, which was pretty much all guys, so Brassic didn’t feel that different, to be honest.
‘I’m used to being one of the only girls on set.
'I think it must be in my contract!
'I’m a bit of a tomboy, anyway.’
This earthy comedy about a bunch of working-class friends in the countryside of Lancashire, getting by on the outskirts of the law, is co-created and written by This Is England actor Joe Gilgun and writer Danny Brocklehurst.
It’s loosely based on Joe himself and incidents in his life.
He plays gang leader Vinnie, who has bipolar disorder, lives in a shack in the woods and regularly visits his self-obsessed doctor, played by Dominic West.
Vinnie is inseparable from best mate Dylan, whose girlfriend is Erin.
She wants to move away to start a ‘normal’ life with Dylan and her five-year-old son, Tyler.
Can Dylan leave Vinnie behind?
The gang includes champion kebab eater Cardi, hard-man Ash, and Tommo, who makes money holding S&M nights for local businessmen!
‘I’ve never really done comedy before, apart from an episode of Plebs [set in ancient Rome], but I enjoyed it,’ says Michelle.
‘I loved the character of Erin.
'She is a role model for single mums.
'She’s fiercely independent and fiery but also emotional.’
Joe Gilgun says that the show would never have been written if it had not been for Dominic West, who he met while filming the movie Pride.
‘I was telling him about the crazy stuff I used to get up to as a kid and the people I used to knock about with,’ he recalls.
Dominic said, “This is hysterical. You should do a show about it.
'He promised that if I got it off the ground he would be in it.
'And I thought, “Right, well I better do it then.”
‘There is a lot of me in Vinnie. We’re both bipolar.
'I suffer and get depressed a lot.
'Vinnie’s a lot cooler than I am, but mental health is a big part of both of us.’
- Brassic is on Thursday 10pm Sky One
