Fresh Meat

The last-but-one slice of cult student comedy. Kingsley (Joe Thomas) is forced to fulfil his idle daydreams about being a musician when his girlfriend signs him up for an open mic gig at the student union. Josie (Kimberley Nixon) tries to keep her gambling addiction a secret and Vod (the superb Zawe Ashto) joins a famous poet for an all-night bender - with unexpectedly tragic results.

I hope Channel 4's executives are being kind to Jack Whitehall. Because their tale of Manchester undergraduates Fresh Meat is shaping up to be the best chance they have of establishing a long-running home-grown comedy hit. I'm not saying it wouldn't survive without Whitehall's obnoxious posh boy JP. It just wouldn't be as funny.

Fresh Meat series 2 episode 6 review

This episode pretty much encapsulated Fresh Meat's flaws. Inconsistent characters, reliance on cheap innuendo and contrived scenarios. A real down turn for what was up until now a gradually improving series.

Opinion: Why Fresh Meat is the best comedy on TV

We're six episodes into series two and each one has been funnier than the last. Let's hope this upward trend continues.

Robert Webb returns in specs and cardie as inept geology lecturer Dan, who this week masterminds a disastrous field trip to the Pennines. Back in so-called civilisation, Josie has been expelled from her course following last week's wince-inducing dentistry class and hatches a grisly plan to win back her place. Oregon cross-examines the man of her dreams, convinced he must have a flaw, while Howard is still trying to woo Sabine with all the subtlety of a steam train.

So far series two hasn't put a foot wrong - although JP does, and gets up close and personal with Mother Nature.

More tertiary education tomfoolery, with Kingsley at war with tutor Dan (Robert Webb) over the latter's sedimentary-rock-shaped knowledge gap. Cue an awkward field trip to the Pennines, where Howard's lust for Sabine and JP's thirst for adventure leave each stuck between a rock and a hard place (one metaphorically, one literally). Back home, Josie reckons she's discovered a fix for her entire future. Providing Heather doesn't mind taking a tiny risk, that is.

Charlotte Ritchie wants Fresh Meat film

Channel 4 hit Fresh Meat could follow The Inbetweeners on to the big screen - if gorgeous star Charlotte Ritchie has her way.

Fresh Meat series 2 episode 5 review

This week's Fresh Meat is enjoyable, but Jake Laverde can't shake the feeling the show's still not living up to its potential...

Tonight Howard plays at Poirot after the house is burgled, Kingsley is wobbly-lipped with jealousy because Josie is monopolising his girlfriend, and plummy JP almost bursts with pride when he makes friends with a real-life Mancunian. But it's Vod (played by the superb Zawe Ashton) who steals the show. We're used to her barking behaviour but tonight something is seriously amiss.

Gone are the usual military boots, leather trousers, black lipstick and spiky thatch; instead, she wears a dress, long curly locks and a pink flower in her hair. Even more astonishingly, she's lost for expletives. Could it be? Oh yes: Vod is head over heels in love - and the fallout is hilarious.

Josie coaxes Heather into a boozy girls' night out just before their first practical exam, and the resulting carnage results in the house getting burgled. Most things are replaceable, except JP's dad's ashes. There's worse to come for Josie whose hungover, shaking hands cause a horrific dentistry mishap. Elsewhere, Vod has designs on handyman Al, who comes to fix the locks and ends up becoming JP's "local" friend - and a suspect in Howard's investigation into the burglary.