Monday night saw the first episode in the third series of Fresh Meat premiere on 4oD, a week before it airs on Channel 4.
Watching the first episode reminded me one thing - that Fresh Meat is awesome. Funny, witty and three series in I now feel like I know the characters inside out.Fresh Meat is created by Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, the same people behind Peep Show and with any luck will run for just as long. So what's in store for the new series then?
There's a lot going on; rekindled relationships; a new housemate; sex; drugs; and a dry-slope skiing society. (No, really.) It's great to have the gang back together again after what feels like an age since the end of series two, but a lot's changed.
Probably the biggest change is that they are no longer Freshers, except for Josie (Kimberley Nixon), who is now studying in Southampton, living life as a Fresher once more.
But that's not to say she's no longer part of the gang. Far from it, wherever this lot go they take Josie with them, so to speak.
Basically there's an iPad that's connected to Skype where they can watch Josie whenever want and interact with her as if she was there. There's even a scene where Vod and Oregon go to the pub and sat perched on the table is Josie on the iPad screen. Fed up of looking at her through a screen though, the group decides to head to Southampton to visit Josie.
The group find Josie at a traffic-light party, which is not a celebration of traffic lights. Basically, if you're wearing a red badge, you're either in a relationship, dating, or just ready for a bit of fun with a stranger. An amber badge means you may hop into bed with someone, but at the same time you might not. And if you're wearing a green badge, it means that, well, you're anybody's basically.)
What could possibly go wrong? Oh yeah, Josie and Kingsley may end up having sex in the same bed as Oregon as she sleeps, yep they're back together. And JP may ask the group if they'd like to take part in an orgy as this is "what this has all been leading up to!" - has it? 'Cos I thought this was Fresh Meat, not Geordie Shore. Anyway JP, the character that made everybody love Jack Whitehall and realise that he can act, and is very funny, is more cooky and more confident than ever.
Now in second year, it's only right that the one thing he wants to do is get with as many Freshers as possible. But how does he bring a group of females over to the house without it seeing suspicious?
Oh I know, set up a female-only dry-slope skiing society. And he's got his right-hand man right beside him, Howard.
God love Howard (Greg McHugh), it seems that one night of passion has turned him into a bit of a sex symbol, stud - if you will. In fact, his opening line of the series, is "You know how I had sex last year? Well, I've thought about it, and I liked it. I would like to do it again."
So whilst the dry-slope skiing society may not be going too well for JP, Howard takes no time to pull a girl, and arrange to go for a drink with "hottie", Sam.
When I interviewed Greg about his role in Dates back in June, I did manage to squeeze this out of him about the new series of Fresh Meat: "I think Howard, slowly but surely, is becoming more confident. Him and JP have become kind of better friends, but JP's still a bit of an arse. But there is a kind of friendship between the two so that's quite nice. And as the series progresses, although I've not seen all the scripts yet, I do believe Howard forms a kind of relationship with someone new. That's all I can say!”
No matter how many times Kingsley (Joe Thomas), tells himself and others that he is over Josie, the signs to say otherwise are clear for all to see. "I miss her as a present, not as a being." - No? Me neither.
So despite his best efforts to assure everyone that Josie not being here is totally cool with him, Kingsley will always be checking in with Josie over Skype, and gets 'worried' about her heading to a Traffic Light party so decides to round up the house and head to Southampton.
But, it seems Kinglsey was right to not completely erase her from his memory as it's not long before they're back together and quietly having sex each other whilst Oregon is asleep in their bed. And a certain kiss in the café the day after shows that they're back in a relationship, although as Josie prefers to refer to it - "A serious commitment to a series of rolling dates." - same thing right?
But I've only seen the first episode, so whether or not this relationship, sorry, series of rolling dates, will continue right through to episode 8, only time will tell. But my money's on no.
Vod's back, and my god am I pleased she's still here. Played by the brilliant Zawe Ashton, Vod continues to be my favourite character. I'm yet to think of an episode of Fresh Meat where she hasn't made me laugh.
So she's back and this series she's not alone, as her summer fling from Mexico, Javier, turns up rather unexpectedly and is met with Vod's reaction of - "Oh my fucking life."
Let's just say things are a little bit awkward between the two, and an awkward Vod is a very funny Vod. But at least he'll be flying back home soon, or will he? Poor Vod, things never really do go right for her do they?
Oregon (Charlotte Ritchie), becomes a bit of a Spanish translator in the first episode as Vod's Summer fling can't speak English.
Whilst we're on the subject of Javier, something tells me something happened between Vod, Oregon and Javier out in Mexico as whenever the trip is brought up, things get awkward,
The awkwardness continues, when new girl Candice asks Oregon how long she was in Mexico with Javier before Vod got together with him, to which she replies rather vaguely - "Oh ages. A week. Three days."
That's right, I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but there's a new addition to the group, Candice (Faye Marsay). She's a Fresher, and their new housemate. Something tells me she doesn't quite know what she's let herself in for moving in with this lot.
That said, she seems to be settling in quickly and appears to be getting on well with Oregon, who after losing Josie, and not really speaking to Vod, (what happened in Mexico?!), needs a new alibi.
And let's just say it's not long before she's smoking a spliff, snorting cocaine and spending most of her time in the toilets being sick. But how long will she stick around for?
My feeling is that Josie is going to come back to live with Kingsley and the rest of the gang after realising that heading got Southampton was a big mistake. Again, just a theory. I don't actually know. But we'll find out soon enough.