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Brush Strokes is a British television sitcom broadcast on BBC One from 1986 to 1991. Written by Esmonde and Larbey and set in South London, it depicted the (mostly) amorous adventures of a wisecracking house painter, Jacko (Karl Howman). There were 40 episodes spread over five series.
Gary Waldhorn played Lionel, and Elizabeth Counsell played his wife, Veronica, who had a crush on Jacko. The Bainbridges had a daughter called Lesley who is a spoiled daddy's girl and became Jacko's girlfriend during series one. She was played by two actresses during the life of the show: Kim Thomson in the first series and Erika Hoffman from series two onwards. In series one it was hinted that Jacko was somehow indebted to Lionel and working for him after the pair had become involved with some unlawful money making wheeling-dealing some years prior, for which Jacko almost got caught and was set to stand trial until Lionel used his "respectable business reputation" to fabricate a story and get him acquitted, leaving Jacko "indebted" and working for him, against his better wishes, as a result. This history between the pair was several times hinted at during the first series but was never mentioned from series two onwards.
Jacko is a lothario. Much of the humour comes from his attempts at picking up women whilst around town on painting jobs – much to the disdain of his sister, his boss, and his boss's secretary.
Jackie Lye played Sandra, the secretary at work who became Jacko's fiancée in series two (they never actually married but still went on their honeymoon because they had paid for it). Other familiar faces that have appeared in episodes include Janine Duvitski, Tracie Bennett and Pippa Haywood.
The show is remembered by many for the slow-off-the-mark pub landlord, Elmo Putney (Howard Lew Lewis), who runs the pub where Jacko and friends take their lunch breaks. Elmo's catchphrase instead of swearing was "Chisel". In later episodes, Jacko unsuccessfully starts his own company, Splosh. Later Elmo leaves for Australia to set up another business in Alice Springs, which because of its name he thinks must be near a very large body of water. He becomes a rich man after his dog discovers opals in Australia, before returning to London, buying Jacko's failing company and turning it into a wine bar where everything is decorated in pink. Jacko returns to Bainbridge's, where Veronica is now in charge after Lionel's death. Veronica subsequently begins a new romance and remarries in the final series. The end of the series sees Jacko walking down the street and flipping a coin to decide who he should end up with, while Sandra and Lesley wait in the wine bar.
Brush Strokes is also repeatedly referred to as a running joke in Diane Morgan’s 2018 show Cunk On Britain.
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