It’s safe to say that without Erin Croft, the entire Brassic gang would fall into oblivion – literally, if the opportunity presented itself. A protective Mother Hen to the group, Erin’s heart of gold is only matched by her no-nonsense approach to life when it comes to those she loves.

Seven years on from when we first met her, Erin has now matured and is looking towards the future – but as Brassic comes to an end, what does that mean for her and her son, Tyler? And even more so, what will become of her unbreakable bond to Vinnie?

As the series comes to an end, leading lady Michelle Keegan reflects on Erin’s growth, her time on the series as a whole, and what Brassic truly means to her.

Absolutely! When I first got the job, I’d just finished on this series called Our Girl so I was having a break. It was a fabulous summer. I remember I was 31 years old when I got the Brassic script.

I remember reading it and genuinely laughing out loud, which is very rare when you read a script for the first time. I was like, properly laughing my head off. Brassic would have been the first comedy I’ve ever done, and I just knew I needed to do it. It just felt so organic right from the start.

We all met at the read through, and it was just so natural. Everyone got on straight away. There was this instant chemistry with the lads. You could feel it, even then right at the beginning, that the show was going to be something special.

Honestly, no. It’s so rare for a show to keep coming back like this. But I knew from day one, I had this feeling, you just knew it was going to be special. It was a feeling we all got on the set too when we started filming. I’m not surprised it’s lasted this long.

There are so many. We all break a lot on set, like, proper corpsing. There is loads of ad-libbing, and sometimes you just have to carry on even when something unexpected and funny happens, something that is not even scripted. If you look closely you can see in some of the scenes, when you watch them back, that the cast members are biting their lips or looking away because they’re trying not to laugh in the moment. There are lots of takes where you can tell someone is going to laugh.

There is a specific scene between me and Carl Rice. Carl plays Erin’s brother Ronnie Croft, where he is in prison, and he turns to Erin at visiting time and says he has become a Buddha. He just starts chanting saying OM, OM, OOOOM. I remember I couldn’t keep a straight face.

Erin always had to chastise Ronnie, but I remember I just had to keep staring at him, thinking to myself focus, focus, focus... but I kept on breaking each time we did it. I broke a lot with Carl because he’s just such a funny actor on set. I don’t know where he gets it from, it stayed with me all the way through the series…

It’s really sad. I love this show and for me, it felt like home. Every year, I’d go off and do other projects and then I’d come back home to Brassic as it was always at the same time every year. It was the nicest job to do because it was like seeing all your mates again. It’s going to hit me more this year when it’s not coming back, but part of me believes it is still coming back again.

I’m going to miss it. You got it a lot especially being back filming in Manchester where so many people would come up to you or stop in the street and ask about Brassic. People would come up and quote the famous lines or ask me what’s going to happen to Erin and Vinnie. It’s been great.

I’ve had so many favourite scenes so there are so many! I can’t choose one but my thing has been that I love that I get to shout at everyone. Whether it’s “TOMMO”, “RONNIE”, or “VINNIE”!! [Shouts] I have liked being the mother hen of the group, getting to tell them all off.

B Is for Brilliant
R is for Ridiculous
A is for Animals
S is for Stupidness
S is for Swearing!
I is for Idiots!
C is for Chaos!

That’s Brassic.