A mathematical model is presented and solved for the fluid flow within the coating bead of a tri-helical gravure roll coater, operating in reverse mode. A variety of rolls etched circumferentially with grooves of different cross-sectional shape and aligned at non-zero angles of pitch are investigated. Predictions of fluid pick-out from the grooves are compared with complementary experimental data. Quantitative agreement between the two is found to be very good, showing a linear increase in pickout as a function of web-to-roll speed ratio and groove depths up to the point at which streaking, as observed experimentally, occurs and beyond which the model is no longer valid. In regions of parameter space for which there is no experimental data available for comparison purposes the model predicts that: (i) fluid pick-out decreases with increasing groove depth while the film thickness tends to increase and (ii) an increase in groove aspect ratio leads to a reduction in both pick-out and film thickness for a given land width and groove cross-sectional shape. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.