Brassic A Look At Show Star S Joe Gilgun S Amazing Tattoos

Leo Migdal

-Dec 14, 2025, 4:55 AM

brassic a look at show star s joe gilgun s amazing tattoos

Brassic, the series taking Netflix by storm, features Joe Gilgun as Vinnie O’Neil. Known for his extensive collection of tattoos, Gilgun’s character sports a range of ink, but are these tattoos real? And what do they signify? We’ve delved into it and here’s what we found… Yes, Vinnie’s tattoos are real! Joe Gilgun, known for his roles in Misfits and Preacher, is adorned with over 33 tattoos, including those on his neck, forehead, and hands.

Discussing his passion for tattoos, Gilgun told The Guardian, “I don’t have a fancy car. I have two bikes, I like trainers, tattoos, and gold teeth… I might even get some gold teeth made. I had a bit of a breakthrough. “[My therapist] asked, ‘Why don’t you have a girlfriend or a house? You’ve got all this money. Do something with it.’ […] Once I have a girlfriend whom I truly love, and who loves me, that’s when I’ll do it.

“I’ll get a house, learn to drive, and become a regular person, get a golden retriever and a [expletive] dishwasher. I’ll give it everything I have. I’ve never experienced that kind of love before.” One notable tattoo is ‘ATHAIR’ on his neck, which means ‘father’ in Celtic. Another is ‘Lol’, written on his hand as a tribute to his on-screen partner Vicky McClure from This is England. It takes about an hour in actor Joe Gilgun’s company to learn he’s had an intimate, bodily relationship with almost every corner of his hometown.

We’re there – Rivington, Lancashire – and he’s hovering near a reservoir, beaming, as his PR, his good friend Dave, our photographer and I look on. “I’m doing a piss in it!” Joe says, pretending to do just that into the water. Everyone laughs, because he’s always excelled at being the class clown. “Have you done that before, in there?” I ask. “Piss in it? Yeah!” A pause.

“I shouldn’t say that.” In ten minutes, he’ll have run down a sharp bank, and taken an actual piss up a tree, suggesting our photographer document that. Five minutes after that, his publicist will ask we not include the piss photos. But piss is, and I can’t stress this enough, the least of a PR’s worries when it comes to Joe, someone who breathes mischief into every minor event, is completely incapable of using a... That’s why you’ll not find many interviews with him, beyond group junkets. He has bipolar II – the disorder type that involves more frequent cycling of moods and depressive periods – and he’ll later tell me he’s having a depressive day today.

This went completely unnoticed: he’s entertaining and forthcoming, steamrolling through story after story in his thick Lancashire accent. Enjoy six months of Radio Times magazine for only £55 - why not treat yourself or gift a subscription? If you’re a homeowner aged 55 or over and your property’s worth at least £70,000, equity release might be an option to help boost your income. One lucky reader will win two tickets to see STARLIGHT EXPRESS, a pre-theatre meal at Studio Five, plus an overnight stay at the Hilton London Wembley! How proud are you of the world you've created with Brassic? For me, it's everything.

It's loosely stories about my life, it's my dad, it's my mental health, it's the pills I'm on. You know, it means a lot. And the big fear for me always is, are people going to fucking understand this, or do I just come across as a twat? You can't control what people think of you. And it's one of the worst feelings as a human being, it's that thing of just wanting to be liked. I just want people to like me even though I'm messed up.

Do you know what I mean? It's an ego thing! Even with your success it seems there's an element of imposter syndrome? Oh, fucking right there is! I mean, it's bad for me. Really, really bad.

Like, I assume that every single person I meet is much, much older and wiser. Miles more experienced. The mad thing is, and I'm going to sound like a right idiot, but I've made my money now. I could disappear back to the woods, not do anything, and you know, just go and be homeless again. Which I enjoyed doing, you know. I was happy doing that.

But I still feel like an imposter even then. You know, if you're sat firmly in your comfort zone, you then start panicking that it's all going to be taken away from you, but then when you're out of your comfort zone you're... I think part of being human is just that constant struggle. The good thing is you've got a team on Brassic, both cast and crew, who love it and will do whatever it takes to make it brilliant every series... Joe Gilgun is a force of nature when he bursts into the room following the Manchester premiere of his new show Brassic. “I’m so intense, I drive myself mad,” he says, grasping a beer and relaying, in an unfiltered stream of consciousness, how he had to panic buy an outfit for the screening.

“I bought […] Joe Gilgun is a force of nature when he bursts into the room following the Manchester premiere of his new show Brassic. “I’m so intense, I drive myself mad,” he says, grasping a beer and relaying, in an unfiltered stream of consciousness, how he had to panic buy an outfit for the screening. “I bought all the s**t off a mannequin in Zara. Pissed out my head, baked cos I can’t handle this s**t, and then I had to stand in front of an audience. Thank god I took some Xanax, know what I mean,” says the 35-year-old actor who co-created Brassic based on his own experiences growing up in Chorley.

“I’ve got so many ideas, tons of stuff I want to talk about, I never stop thinking. My head never rests, I wish it would. Folks tell me to rest all the time but f**k me, I have no idea how people do that. I’ve not eaten a single thing all day. I forget to eat. I forget you need to fuel yourself.”

Brassic is your own creation. Why did you want to tell this story? This show is based on where I grew up as a young lad. I grew up in the countryside near Manchester. As a young lad, I suppose my social network wasn't massive. I had few friends and you'd have to walk for miles to go and see them.

Of course, as you get a little bit older, you start venturing into town, you meet new people, you get new friends. I think more than anything Brassic is about a group of people we don't usually see on our TV. We've seen what it is to be working class, we understand that people who are working class don't have the things that the middle classes and the upper classes have, right? We're told on television to feel sorry for them and for me, that is a bad thing. The majority of working class men and women that I know are the happiest people I know. They're content with what they've got.

They're happy and they don't want to leave. They don't want to live in a giant house. They don't want to have two cars in the driveway. They're content with their lot. Not everybody is, of course. You'll always hear people saying, "I wish I could win.

What would you do if you won the lottery?". The truth is if they did, they won't know what the fuck to do! At the heart of the show is a group of lads who, as you say, are more than happy with where they are and what they are doing... Yeah, totally. I play a character called Vinnie, who's kind of based on me. Him and his mates are totally happy with where they are in the world and what they're doing.

You can still be working class, happy and not desperate to want to leave. They are very much of the mindset, 'Well, if it ain't broke, why fix it?'. I mean, they're getting by. I know a lot of people like that, particularly young men. They don't really know another life, they've never been shown another option but they're still fucking happy. Ultimately, is that not what's important?

Brassic A Look At Show Star S Joe Gilgun S Amazing Tattoos

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