YOU know a writer's done a good job when you've binge-watched six series in under a month and fallen in love with every single character along the way.
Brassic - a British comedy-drama set up North and the creation of actor Joe Gilgun and writer Danny Brocklehurst - has done just that.
I binge-watched the entire six series in under a month - and for someone with a crap memory like mine, there are so many memorable moments I just love about the series.
I love the mix of crazy storylines - the utter ridiculousness of them - with comedy that doesn't have to underline its funny moments. Gone are the formulaic pay offs - set the joke up, let it play out three times stuff. Instead, it's whatever works best at the time. Sometimes a joke comes in threes, sometimes in continues throughout the whole series. But sometimes it plays out just once - but has you shaking with laughter well into the next scene. Which is way beyond clever!
And yes some of the characters border on caricatures but the actors play them so well you end up relishing the chance to roll around in their familiarity and lap them up as they turn on the charm offensive! Ryan Sampson's 'Tommo' for one; Dominic West's corrupt but funny Dr Cox for another and Steve Evet's Jim, the ranting farmer with a broken heart (oh Beatrice, why did you break his heart?!).
I know I shouldn't pull out individual names - because honestly I love every single character the same - but if we're talking crazy characters bordering on caricature, I can't not mention Davey MacDonagh, the incredibly scary psychopathic crim (played by actor Neil Ashton) who somehow makes terrifying seem funny.
But the sign of a really good comedy writer is someone who is equally good at comedy as they are as drama - which, of course, most comedians usually are. Because after all, it's their ability to laugh at the painful moments in life that trigger the comedy in all of us. And that's where Danny, and the band of writers on Brassic, have really proved they're top of their game.
I love the stupid things that Vinnie and his mates get up to. But I also love the moments when the world stops for a minute and someone has a heartfelt moment with another human being.
There are so many funny moments in each and every episode, but some of the ones that have stuck in my head and made me belly laugh include the tricky burial where Vinnie and his mates decide to give their vulnerable friend's mum a good send off but have to dig up someone else's grave to get her a coffin - only to find out she wanted a sea burial after all... the scene where Vinnie and the gang are chasing a bunch of criminals and one of them is leaning out the van shooting at them until his head is taken off by a sign (and sorry, I know this shouldn't be funny but honestly I think it's the shock and sheer unexpectedness of it that makes it so funny)... and the scene in the Christmas wonderland where the gang rob the owner's Christmas decorations (played by comedian Greg Davies) to give Vinnie's son, Tyler, the Christmas nativity he so badly wants. Having seen JJ running around as a Christmas bauble trying to pick up things to nick, but failing miserably 'cause he's just too - well, round - Vinnie sits down at the bedside of Edie, an old lady he's befriended for a heart to heart - and right at the end of it, (still dressed in his Olaf snowman outfit), he tells her, oh so casually - "I feel quite hot for a snowman". Seriously, best line ever!
But after the comedy, comes the heart to hearts. Some so heart warming they bring depth to your life. When Vinnie and his gang stop to help someone in need, adopting the underdog and helping other people along the way.
Again, one of the most poignant, thought-provoking moments... when Cardi's mum returns years after abandoning him, with a fiancé in tow and asking him to plan her wedding for her. She tries to excuse her absence and what a shit mum she's been by telling him, "All that stuff's in the past."
And something about the way the usually tongue-tied Cardi lets it all out in a torrent of anger and screams at her, "The past **cking matters! It matters to me! It's my life! All of it!
Something about his anguish and his group of mates, sat in a pool of silence as they watch their friend's heart break, something about it makes that simple line so incredibly special. Lingering long after the scene has finished.
Because it's true.
The past does matter.
It's why adults revert to childhood in the drop of a hat at a trigger they weren't even aware they had. It's why power-obsessed business tycoons cling to power long after their family have left - because somewhere along the way they weren't given the love they needed to know that none of it really matters. Just love. That's all.
Thank you Brassic for the delight that you are. And for Joe Gilgun for sharing his vulnerability to bring us such a cracking series. And whilst I'm still licking tears off my face from some of the lines, I absolutely cannot wait for Series Seven....
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