Why weren't three major Brassic stars in the show's finale?

Hit Sky comedy series Brassic has come to an end after seven seasons of mayhem from the Hawley gang of amateur thieves led by Joe Gilgun’s Vinnie O’Neill.

The final episode left some questions unanswered, such as who fired the shot in the woods that injured Vinnie, but the biggest mystery for many fans is why fan favourites Carol, Cardi and Erin weren’t in the finale at all.

The reason Michelle Keegan, who plays Erin, was absent for much of the season is that she was pregnant during production in late 2024 and early 2025. She filmed some early scenes – in the school reunion episode you can see she is wearing a big coat to hide her pregnancy bump – and then returned after giving birth to daughter Palma to make her final appearance.

Erin isn’t in the finale, but in the penultimate episode, she calls Vinnie and has a heartfelt chat with him when she gets stuck in a lift, leaving fans with a long awaited romantic moment between the pair, even if it is over the phone.

And while Keegan has other projects in the pipeline, including ITV crime drama The Blame, she doesn’t rule out a return for Erin in the future.

“I love this show and for me it’s felt like home,” she said before filming the final episodes of Brassic. “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.”

Also absent from the finale are Cardi and Carol (played by Tom Hanson and Bronagh Gallagher) and in fact they barely feature in the final season at all, and don’t reappear for the last episode. It is explained via a video call early on that they are in Ireland, working on their marriage, and the couple aren’t seen again.

Part of the reason for their absence is that both Hanson and Gallagher were committed to other projects that clashed with the filming of the final season of Brassic – Hanson was making a new Irish series called These Sacred Vows, while singer and actress Gallagher has filmed How to Get to Heaven from Belfast for Netflix, and has also been performing on tour with her band.

Read more:

• Brassic alternate ending revealed by star as closing scenes sparked big debate
• Brassic future teased by star Ryan Sampson as series comes to a close

In an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com, their co-star, Ryan Samson, who plays Tommo, revealed what it was like on set without them.

“We really missed them,” he said. “I love the pair of them so much, and it was really sad that they weren’t there. But I think they were just like, we've done it for seven years now, so enough's enough. But then, as it turned out, that was last series anyway. It was a bit sad for them not to be in it fully.

"And I think that's the thing about it doing something for ages, you can't go on forever, and there has to be a point when you start going, ‘okay, I wanna do something else.’”

Of course, many other favourites from the show did return for the final season, including Dominic West, who plays Dr Chris, Vinnie’s highly unethical GP. He joined the series after becoming friends with Joe Gilgun during the filming of the movie Pride in 2014, where he encouraged Joe to write down the stories from his life that would become the inspiration for Brassic.

“Joe is the funniest man I have ever met,” West said. “He is a brilliant actor and performer. I remember seeing him first in the opening scenes of This Is England as the character Woody. It’s one of the greatest scenes of all time. It’s all him, the whole time, he was improvising the whole thing.

“Brassic is like an extended version of that, he’s one of the great actors of this country. I would have done a lot better in Pride if I hadn’t been hanging around with him. He was just making me cry with laughter the whole time we filmed. But out of that film came our friendship and then came this!”

“I’m going to miss it,” he added. “I can’t quite believe it’s the last series. I’ve enjoyed every second and I hope you [the fans] have. Joe is a genius, and I hope we have shown the world that. The Gilgun genius!”

Brassic seasons 1-7 are available to stream now on Sky. Find out more about how to sign up for Sky TV.

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