Filming In A Circus Was Crazy Joe Gilgun Reveals What S In Store As

Leo Migdal

-Dec 14, 2025, 7:46 AM

filming in a circus was crazy joe gilgun reveals what s in store as

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Joe Gilgun is back with a new series of his Lancashire-based comedy drama featuring the exploits of a close-knit gang of mates. Here Joe talks clowns, chaos and why the series means so much to him... This is England and former Emmerdale star, Joe Gilgun is back with a second series of his hit comedy drama Brassic which co-stars Michelle Keegan (Our Girl) and Damien Molony (Ripper Street, The Split). Joe, who is bi-polar and has talked openly about his struggles with mental health in the past, stars as bi-polar Vinnie who is consistently embroiled in madcap money-making scams with his close knit group...

The debut series was a big hit for Sky and became their most watched comedy in seven years. As it returns and promises even crazier and wilder escapades, Dominic West (The Wire, The Affair), resumes his role as Vinnie's hapless GP Dr Chris Cox, while joining the cast this time are Cold... Brassic is a British comedy-drama television series created by Joe Gilgun and Danny Brocklehurst for Sky One. It premiered on 22 August 2019 and concluded on 30 October 2025, after seven series consisting of 50 episodes. Starting with the third series, following the shutdown of Sky One, the show was moved to Sky Max. It is the joint longest-running scripted series on Sky alongside Trollied.

Primary cast members include Gilgun, Michelle Keegan, Damien Molony, Tom Hanson, Aaron Heffernan, Ryan Sampson, Parth Thakerar, and Steve Evets. The title is an alternative spelling of "boracic" as in boracic lint, a medical dressing, the name of which is rhyming slang for "skint" (having no money).[1] The series follows the lives of Vinnie O'Neill and his gang of friends in the fictional English town of Hawley. The group commits various petty crimes to earn money, but as they grow older, some of them start to wonder if there is more to life outside their hometown and if they can put... Joseph Gilgun and Danny Brocklehurst devised a new comedy television series for Sky One, entitled Brassic, in which Gilgun would portray the lead role, whereas Brocklehurst would write the episodes' stories and scripts.[3] After... On 24 April 2020, Sky released the second series' trailer, confirming that it would begin broadcasting on 7 May that year.[10] It was confirmed that it would also broadcast six episodes with all of...

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. Sky's new show Brassic is the hot topic on everyone's lips. Already receiving rave reviews, the dark-as-night comedy is one that's sure to pull at your heartstrings from start to finish. Set against a backdrop of bleakness and no hope, but showing love and friendship wins through despite these things, this show has a heck of a lot of heart. This show was co-created Joe Gilgun, who has the same mental condition as the character he plays.

So it's easy to wonder is Brassic based on a true story? Although the show isn't specifically based on a true story, The Sun reports that, during a radio interview with Chris Evans, Gilgun revealed that his character Vinnie is definitely inspired by him. Citing his bipolar disorder, which he has always been very open about. Gilgun told Evans: During the interview, the actor spoke about the importance of raising awareness about the issue of men's mental health and the communication issues felt by many. He said:

However, when speaking to Evans about how similar he and Vinnie are, Gilgun pointed out that there is one particular difference in them. And that's in terms of their coolness levels, and their careers: The show, based in Lancashire, has already received rave reviews including Evans saying, "It's the funniest thing I've ever seen". As someone who suffers with bipolar, dyslexia and ADHD, when Joe Gilgun began writing his new TV series Brassic, he did it his way – as he always does. Having been encouraged by friend Dominic West to compile the wild stories from his days growing up in Chorley, Lancashire – from nicking horses to selling weed – Gilgun found an output that focused... The resulting six-part series is an ode to Chorley and its colourful characters.

Centred around the story of Vinnie, a character loosely based on Gilgun – both bipolar, both hugely charismatic and witty – we’re taken through kink basements, weed sheds and illegal boxing spots as Vinnie... Alex James Taylor: Congrats on the show, it’s such a great watch and really nails that sweet spot between comedy and drama. Joe Gilgun: So happy you like it. We try not to hit the rules, we just let the story naturally flow. We have a healthy awareness of when and where we don’t want the comedy, and what we learned in the first series was that we need to be a bit more confident with our... Some of that stuff is the most relatable.

It’s great having a laugh and turning off after a long day, but you need to be able to connect with these characters. AJT: When did the idea for the show first pop into your head? JG: I’d been toying around with the idea for many years. I knew that my stories were funny and I knew that the people I know and the place I come from is colourful. More than anything it started with me embellishing a lot of stories. I’d do it on film sets with middle-class people from London who just love hearing about my escapades, they think you’re fucking hilarious, you know?

[laughs] You’ve lived a pretty miserable life stealing fucking horses and selling weed, but they’re finding it hysterically funny. So I began realising that there’s a fucking window here and it’s the perfect size to get through. I end up getting a part in Pride, which is a bloody brilliant film, and I’m with Dominic West a lot. Him and I sort of latched onto each other, two very different people from very different backgrounds, but fuck me, I honestly love that guy, I think the world of him. I’m telling him these stories about getting up to no good and he’s like, [impersonates Dominic West] “These stories are fantastic, you have to turn them into something. You must talk to David Livingstone, I’ll put you in touch with him.” So I said, “If I write it will you be in it?” and he went, “Of course.” So I thought, “I’ve...

I go to talk to David and he’s much the same, loves the stories, however he says he needs to see something on paper. But I can’t write, I’m dyslexic, so I’ve not idea what I’m gonna do. I told my best mate Quayle and I think at first he thought it was another bipolar moment, me inventing this thing – I’ve brought him on a lot of bipolar journeys in the... But anyway, we ended up writing this hybrid book. We didn’t know how to format it, neither of us can type, I can barely write at all. What I didn’t realise at the time was we were finding the process.

So we took this hybrid book to David and he was like, “What the fuck is this?” It was pages sellotaped, post-it notes with drawings on, just madness. It was like this big [gestures the size], you can’t shut the fucking thing. It’s all out of order and I’m having to show him, “No, no, no, that page is wrong,” because of the way my fucking dyslexic brain works, it’s a jumble. But that process allowed me to really teach myself the stories, in real detail – to the point of what hair characters have. Because honestly dude, my brain never fucking stops. It’s not always good, it’s very troubled, but it’s constantly going.

“There’s a lot of me in it. How I deal with my problems, my anger issues, my emotional ups and downs. Even down to the name of the drugs I’m on.” Brassic's filming locations are spread over the north of England across country estates and city pubs Hit Sky comedy Brassic starring and created by Joe Gilgun is based on his experience growing up in the north. Although he has changed some details, you can still see many of the filming locations in real life.

Gilgun’s real hometown of Chorley, Lancashire has been fictionalised to become Hawley. The series star and creator said many of the episodes’ events had deep roots in his own story, however, he had to change some details. He said: “I can’t really go into it too much because I’m going to get in trouble in Chorley! “All I’ll say is some of it happened, some of it is loosely based on reality and some of it we made up. You’ll have to guess what’s what!” Joe Gilgun was born in Chorley, Lancashire, to Judith and Andrew Joe Gilgun.

Joe Gilgun grew up in Rivington, Lancashire, as part of a working-class family with his two younger sisters, Jennie Seddon and Rosie Thomson. Joe Gilgun attended Rivington VA Primary School and Southlands High School. Joe Gilgun has dyslexia and ADHD, which he describes as the "biggest pain of [his] life" and in interviews has openly discussed depression and anxiety. Joe Gilgun started drama workshops at the age of eight, following advice from an educational psychologist, and was described as having "exceptional talent".

Filming In A Circus Was Crazy Joe Gilgun Reveals What S In Store As

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