One of the biggest success stories of 2010 in terms of TV shows was university-based comedy drama Fresh Meat which was written by Peep Show scribes Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong. When it first aired most critics believed it to be a new Inbetweeners but set at a university, especially as it starred Inbetweeners actor Joe Thomas, however over time people grew to see it as a deeper show with well-drawn characters and a relatable story.

Since it aired, the programme has gone on to win a plethora of awards including a British Comedy Award and two accolades from The Royal Society of Television. Tonight all six actors return for series two which is set in a brand new term, however they are still learning to deal with life away from home and new problems emerge with the search for a seventh housemate.

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This weekend, Channel 4 have announced their drama schedule for the rest of 2012 and the beginning of 2013, with the biggest revelation being that there will be more Homeland starting in October. The conspiracy drama, starring Claire Danes and Damien Lewis, did so well in the ratings for Channel 4 that they’re airing it only a few weeks after it debuts in the US on the 30th September. In addition, the channel are bringing back some of their biggest homegrown hits from last year including university-based comedy drama Fresh Meat, Ashley Walters starring in the gritty Top Boy, and E4′s Beaver Falls which despite mixed reviews, found a large fanbase. Misfits is also returning to E4 before the year is out, however it remains to be see if the show will be well-received now most of the original cast have the left the series. Read more & comment »

Earlier today it was announced that six programmes had been nominated by a panel of TV critics, to compete for this year’s BAFTA Audience Award in which we, the general public decide the winner.

Of course we don’t always get it right as last year The Only Way is Essex beat The Killing, Sherlock and Downton Abbey to the prize so to ensure that doesn’t happen again here’s a closer look at your options before you vote.

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Fresh Meat stars Jack Whitehall and James Buckley have both hit out at the BBC’s decision to axe long running show, Shooting Stars, while their co-star Zawe Ashton has revealed that he’d be “excited” by a movie spin-off of the show.

Beginning with what Jack and James had to say over the BBC ditching Shooting Stars, Jack began by telling the Sun, “I’m really upset, I love that show.

“I’m really annoyed shows like that don’t get more commitment”.

And The Inbetweeners star Simon Bird also waded in with his view about the show being axed, saying, “Shooting Stars was one of my favourite shows when I was growing up and it’s been brilliant since it came back.”

James Buckley, who was once a guest on Shooting Stars added, “It’s the only panel show I’ve ever done… Read more & comment »

Greg McHugh, who stars in new Channel 4 comedy Fresh Meat, has revealed that filming the show’s opening scenes was “the worst day” of his life!

Greg, who plays eccentric student Howard on the show, explained to the PA that in the first few scenes he filmed, he had to bare his bottom half “while drying dead ducks with a hairdryer.”

He said, “The ducks were real and they absolutely stank. We were in a hot room with lights so the combination of my bare a*** and smelly ducks is not glamorous; being on a TV set is not glamorous.

Greg went on to say that plans to shoot the scenes quickly ended up being foiled, and all the while, he was very uncomfortable.

He added, “What you can’t see on the screen is the temperature in the room was unbelievable… Read more & comment »

Joe Thomas, who stars in hit E4 comedy The Inbetweeners, has revealed that he lands roles playing youngsters because even though he’s 27 years old, he looks “like a virgin.”

Speaking to The Sun, Joe – who plays Simon in Inbetweeners and will play Kingsley in new comedy Fresh Meat – said, “I think I stopped maturing quite a long time ago, physically at least.

“I’ve never been cast as someone who has sex.

“This face screams ‘virgin’ apparently — which is good to know.” Read more & comment »

Comedian Jack Whitehall has vowed to hit the gym if his new comedy ‘Fresh Meat’ gets a second series.

Jack, who plays the role of uni student JP in the E4 comedy – which was written by the Peep Show’s Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong – made the pledge because he’s spent a good deal of the first series appearing naked.

He told the PA, “Well, I didn’t go to the gym. I thought it would be all right, I don’t have that bad a body, but then you see it on the screen and you think, ‘Oh my God, what are those chicken legs and hairy a***?’

“It’s not good; I definitely don’t think I’m going to be ‘Torso of the Week’ anytime soon… Read more & comment »

Joe Thomas, star of hit comedy The Inbetweeners, has revealed that in the course of getting to know the cast of his new comedy Fresh Meat, he and his co-stars got “horribly drunk”.

In Channel 4’s new comedy, Fresh Meat, Joe will star alongside comedian Jack Whitehall, and the pair did a spot of liquid “bonding” during filming for the show in Manchester.

Joe said, “We were all there together, living in the same apartment building and there is that sense of having a semi-student experience.

“There is always a kind of common-room atmosphere on set, sitting together and talking about work, and then going out and getting horribly drunk… Read more & comment »

Comedian Jack Whitehall has reportedly asked TV bosses to take out a scene in his new comedy show which depicts him taking drugs.

As fans of Jack’s may know, last year, he apologised to his fans after a picture leaked to the newspapers showed him snorting cocaine.

The Sun adds, “So he was stunned when he was asked to relive the scandal with Joe Thomas – who plays Simon in The Inbetweeners – for university farce Fresh Meat.”

Jack apparently even asked if the drug shown could be switched to horse tranquilliser ketamine so that last year’s scandal would be dragged up again.

He told TV Biz, “There was a discussion about that. I said, ‘Can we make it ketamine?’. But they said it wouldn’t work… Read more & comment »

TX: September

Meet today’s best talent in a brand-new comedy drama series about the hilarious and painful truths of being a student. The latest creation from Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, Fresh Meat follows a group of six students about to embark on the most exciting period of their lives so far: university!

Shipping up as freshers at their shared house are: JP (Jack Whitehall, in his first dramatic role), a public school boy with good teeth and an inflated sense of entitlement; Kingsley (Joe Thomas. Inbetweeners), charming and crushingly insecure; Josie (Kimberley Nixon, Cranford), determined to experience ‘new things’; socially-awkward know-it-all Howard (Greg McHugh, Gary: Tank Commander); hard-living Vod (Zawe Ashton, Case Histories); and Oregon (Charlotte Ritchie), desperate to be cool and terrified of being boring.

Away from home for the first time, on the brink of adult life, they are about to discover who they really are. From the moment they first meet, their lives are destined to collide, overlap and run the whole gamut of appalling behaviour and terrible errors of judgment familiar to anyone who’s ever experienced one of life’s great rites of passage… Read more & comment »