Jack Whitehall

Fresh Meat 2.1: Taut, sharp and perfectly paced

Jack Whitehall and the gang returned for a second season, and the dysfunctional house is still as hilarious as ever...

Jack Whitehall, Joe Thomas, Greg McHugh interview

Posh comic Jack Whitehall turned rugged action man for his latest role - hanging 40ft in the air from a rocky precipice with only a thin wire and a crash mat for protection.

One of the things that makes Fresh Meat work so well is that it's actually a soppy sitcom - with more than a hint of romcom - with the comedy stemming from the characters gauche attempts to project themselves as hard and knowing when the reality is they are anything but.

All the characters are much as we left them. Kingsley has grown an apology for a goatee, but otherwise his and Josie's on-off relationship is still on-off, Vod is still on the scrounge, Oregon is still trying not to be posh and JP is still ... Jack Whitehall. I'm not convinced there's a difference between Whitehall and any of the characters he plays, but for the time being that doesn't really matter as he is rather good at being whoever he is. Writers Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong also appear to have written out the show's major weakness - geology lecturer Dan - and introduced Giles and Sabine to make sure the meat stays fresh. A comedy that's actually funny. It could catch on.

Satire for youngsters, nostalgia for oldsters: Channel 4's unromantic comedy has something for everyone. The first series also had the odd wobble but was saved by the fact that our student heroes (mismatched tenants in a Manchester house-share) were fleshed out and believable enough that we cared what became of them, even when they weren't spouting jaggedly funny dialogue.

Series two opens with posh berk JP (Jack Whitehall, note perfect) introducing a friend to the North ("The northerner is trusting and loyal like a gun-dog"), before hearing news that makes him seize up hilariously. Scheming nerd Howard has a job at an abbatoir, and Kingsley has grown a tiny beard.

Jack Whitehall: John Bishop saved my student comic nite

"The first night we did it our headliner pulled out so I frantically called round to find a replacement. Someone gave me the name of a stand-up based up north that I'd never heard of..."

Fresh Meat: Series 2 Episode 1 review

Joe Thomas & Jack Whitehall shine in the return of this hilarious Channel 4 drama.

The award-winning comedy about a university flatshare returns for a second run. The six housemates are back in their squalid Manchester digs, with Jack Whitehall's posh boy JP in the limelight tonight in a plotline about his public school days. Adeptly combining sharp humour with a well crafted cast of characters and a surprising poignancy, this is one of the best comedies in recent memory.

Jack Whitehall: a class act

He's made his name playing insufferable public school toffs. But is that the real Jack Whitehall?

Greg McHugh interview

As anticipation for the second series of Fresh Meat reaches dangerous levels, Digital Spy caught up with Greg McHugh to ask what's coming up in the new episodes, whether he's a fan of The Inbetweeners and how the success of Jack Whitehall's Bad Education has gone down with the team...