The Inbetweeners cast talk sequels & on-set banter

In 2011, The Inbetweeners Movie shocked critics when it cleaned up at the box office. On its opening weekend, it bagged £13.2m and smashed the record for the biggest ever opening weekend for a comedy film in the UK. Fast-forward three years and despite what's been said about the future of the show, there's now a sequel to the phenomenon.

Joe Thomas, who plays hopeless romantic Simon Cooper, explains the drive behind making a second instalment; “Frankly, since the first series, we've thought; 'Oh, that was fun but we won't get to do this again' and it's always surprised us how well it's done. We didn't want to keep going unless we got hold of an idea that was strong enough. Eventually we got a script that we thought was fantastic.”

Playing a gang of awkward teenagers is hard enough, but for Will (Simon Bird), Jay (James Buckley), Simon (Joe Thomas) and Neil (Blake Harrison), it's quite a task, considering the average age of the bunch is 28. “Once we're back together, we regress,” says Joe (30). “It's a bit like when you go home to your parents and you start behaving like a teenager again. Frankly, we should be more professional.”

Read the full cast interview in the new issue of Hot Press, on sale tomorrow.