Jacko and his boss lional in the BBC sitcom Brush Strokes

Brush Strokes

Brush Strokes, 1986

Another sitcom put to the back of people’s minds, but in it’s day it really caught on.  However if you’ve ever seen it all the way through you might be of the same opinion as this writer – it started well, but went on too long, the joke wore thin.

It had all the right ingredients, a catchy theme tune from Dexy’s Midnight Runners, highly respected writers in the form of John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, who wrote seventies gem – The Good Life, but at forty episodes over five series the plot was wearing thin.  This little gem might have been regarded as one of the better sitcoms had it only ran for two series.

The real star of the show was slow off the mark, pub landlord Elmo Putney, truly a great comedy character.

These days you can catch re-runs on UKTV Drama check your EPG for details.

Summary

Jacko is the original ladies man, he has the gift of the gab and the charm to go with it.  The humour in the show came from four different streams.

There’s the constant attempts to pick up women whilst working around the town on painting jobs,  much to the disdain of his sister, his boss, and his boss’ secretary.  The constant run ins with his boss Lionel.  In the early series there’s the relentless pursuit from his boss’ daughter Lesley who at the start of the series is actually Jacko’s girlfriend, until she finds herself an ex girlfriend.  The high point in the early series are the pub scenes with Elmo.

Clips

 

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Cast

Karl Howman
Gary Waldhorn
Mike Walling
Howard Lew Lewis
Kim Thomson (series one and two)
Erika Hoffman (series two – five)

Details

Channel: BBC1
Written By: John Esmonde and Bob Larbey
Original Transmission Dates: 1st September 1986 – 7th April 1991

 

Brushstrokes apears reguarly in UK Drama’s schedules