{"id":5210,"date":"2021-10-02T10:00:23","date_gmt":"2021-10-02T08:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1354612"},"modified":"2021-10-02T10:46:09","modified_gmt":"2021-10-02T08:46:09","slug":"michelle-keegan-on-the-return-of-brassic-and-a-future-for-our-girls-georgie","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/michelle-keegan-on-the-return-of-brassic-and-a-future-for-our-girls-georgie\/","title":{"rendered":"Michelle Keegan on the return of Brassic and a future for Our Girl\u2019s Georgie"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michelle Keegan talks about the latest season of Sky comedy series Brassic, starting off in Corrie and whether she\u2019d return to Our Girl. <\/p>

By Jo Berry\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Saturday, 02 October 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Comedy drama series Brassic<\/a> may get much of its rude humour from the mildly criminal adventures of a group of working class male friends, but the heart and tough soul of the show is Erin, the strong-minded, independent single mum played by Michelle Keegan.<\/p>\n

In the first two seasons, Erin had to disapprovingly watch as Vinnie (played by Brassic co-creator Joe Gilgun) and his mates got involved in various ill-advised schemes (including the theft of an antique sex toy, a circus lion, a Shetland pony and even an entire wedding), but in season three she finally gets her own adventure, and it\u2019s just as darkly silly as theirs.<\/p>\n

\u201cErin never usually gets involved in the antics, so for me this episode was so much fun,\u201d Keegan says via Zoom during a break in filming the fourth season of the show. The plot for the Thelma And Louise-style episode in question involves Erin, pals Carol (Bronagh Gallagher) and Sugar (Joanna Higson), a car accident, a wheelie bin and a night-time trip to the woods, all filmed during the middle of winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a week and a half of night shoots, so we were on the moors at 2am in the morning \u2013 which was terrifying, by the way,\u201d she says. \u201cWe just had such a laugh, and I look back and that was my favourite time of filming, with the girls, doing those antics, and just having fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThere was frost on the ground as we were filming, and it was wet and damp so your feet were soaking wet, and it was bitterly cold so we just carried hot water bottles around the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new season also includes an outing on a small boat that proved just as challenging to film. \u201cWe went to Wales and were filming out at sea. It was the smallest boat ever and it had all the lads on there, me, Jude Riordan (who plays Erin\u2019s young son Tyler) and a few other characters on there, and it was cramped and freezing,\u201d she says. \u201cA couple of the lads were seasick, and I had to walk around the side of the boat and there was no harness on me, and it was rocking. I thought if I go in that water right now \u2013 and there were seals everywhere \u2013 I don\u2019t know what I\u2019d do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keegan, who was previously best known for her dramatic roles as Tina in Coronation Street<\/a> and Georgie in Our Girl<\/a>, originally accepted the role of Erin in Brassic because it was so different to anything she had done before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI read the script and I remember laughing out loud,\u201d she says. \u201cI wanted to do a comedy for a long time, and I love playing strong women, so it had all the elements that I wanted out of a role and a TV series. As soon as I finished reading that first episode, I just knew straight away that it was something I wanted to be part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

As fans of Brassic will remember, viewers first meet Erin in a scene where she is loudly having sex with her boyfriend Dylan (Damien Molony) at the start of the first episode. \u201cThat first episode, I didn\u2019t let my family watch until 15 minutes in, and we all know why!\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI did a family message to everyone when that episode first came out saying \u2018it starts now at quarter past, so please don\u2019t put the TV on before then, I\u2019m not going to explain why but don\u2019t\u2019 and they promised me that they didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the end of Brassic\u2019s second season (broadcast in 2020), Erin and Dylan had split up, Vinnie had learned he was the father of Tyler, and Erin had whispered something in Vinnie\u2019s ear just as he was taken away by police as a result of one of the boys\u2019 adventures. So does Keegan think Erin should end up in a relationship with Vinnie?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you should follow your heart and I believe that Erin\u2019s heart is with Vinnie, but there is a lot of history there, and because of Dylan it is quite confusing for them because they are all still a group of friends and there is a child involved,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not that easy them getting together and living happily ever after, there are lots of elements there, but I think Erin and Vinnie should end up together in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone that approaches me about Brassic, they always say \u2018when are Vinnie and Erin getting together\u2019 and \u2018what did Erin whisper into Vinnie\u2019s ear\u2019 \u2013 and we do find out what she said to him in this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hit adult series, which has skilfully tackled tough subjects like bipolar disorder, homophobia and abortion in its more serious moments, is certainly very different from Coronation Street, where Keegan got her start at the age of 20 playing the role of Tina McIntyre.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t tell anyone that I went for the audition for Corrie, because in my heart I didn\u2019t think I was going to get the role, so I didn\u2019t want to put loads of pressure on me and for my mum to be calling me every few minutes asking how it went,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen I went for the role, I picked my dad up from work afterwards and gave him the script in the car and he started crying because he is a massive Corrie fan. We got home and my mum was at the top of the stairs, and I don\u2019t know whether it is mother\u2019s instinct but she somehow knew I went for an audition that day and she said \u2018did you get the job?\u2019 and I just said \u2018yes\u2019 and she ran down the stairs screaming in her underwear!\u201d<\/p>\n

\""Brassic"\"<\/div>\n

The soap gave Keegan her first taste of fame \u2013 \u201cI still remember the day I walked out of the gates of Corrie and someone asked for my autograph, and I asked the PR lady with me \u2018what do I write?\u2019 as I hadn\u2019t ever practiced doing an autograph\u201d \u2013 but she remains as grounded as she was when she first stepped on those famous cobbles in 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy life honestly is really normal,\u201d she says. \u201cI still have the same friends, I still go to the same areas, I still meet my mum for a coffee in the Trafford Centre. We [Michelle and husband Mark Wright] never feel like we can\u2019t go places and do things and I think it is the same for Mark as well. We live very normal lives, it\u2019s just that everyone sees what we do from time to time, that\u2019s how we see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michelle stayed on Coronation Street for six years until Tina was brutally murdered (pushed from a balcony and then beaten with a lead pipe) in 2014. \u201cJulie [Hesmondhalgh], who played Hayley, said being killed off was the best thing that could ever happen. I asked why and she said, \u2018because now, no one can ask you if you will ever go back, and you\u2019ll fight for roles because you haven\u2019t got a safety net anymore.\u2019 And that was the truest thing anyone has ever said to me. It\u2019s so true, otherwise in every interview and press junket that I did, someone would say \u2018when are you going back to Corrie?\u2019 but no one can ask that question now.\u201d<\/p>\n

She followed Coronation Street with a lead role in the BBC series Ordinary Lies (written by Brassic writer and co-creator Danny Brocklehurst) and then won the part of Lance Corporal Georgie Lane in the much-loved military drama series Our Girl in 2016. The series ended in 2020, but the actress hasn\u2019t ruled out a return to the role in the future.<\/p>\n

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