Because we had to give it more of an emotional depth, there are a lot of scenes that aren’t as joke heavy as the series. When we rehearsed those scenes, it was terrifying for us, but it was really important that we didn’t just try to cram more jokes in there. That’s what we’ve learnt about writing film scripts.We’re very lucky to have Ben (Palmer) because there are a lot of jokes that are based on action sequences, and it’s very difficult to realise those even if it’s funny on the page. Ben’s done an incredible job, giving it a sense of scale that’s different to the television series. The ending in particular, as well as the scene on the party boat, we’re very lucky to have him and we’re delighted that it turned out so well.We always had a lot of those big set pieces throughout the series but it feels like in the films there’s just one after the other.

DB: I am surprised we have such a strong female following, I thought it wouldn’t have. We’ve done some testing with the film, and girls just really seem to enjoy the show, as well as the film so far. I think it’s because it’s gratifying the thought that boys are idiots, and I’d imagine that’s really brilliant to watch. I think we were really lucky because we wrote it for ourselves, and because it was about teenagers, E4 were really hands off. We’ve been charmed.

IM: If we generally thought it would be successful, we probably wouldn’t have set it in a sixth form with actors who were getting older the whole time. We could have had it going for 100 series.

DB: I think it’s inevitable because it’s how we write. When you look back, it does seem like an awful lot of embarrassing things have happened to Iain and me over the years.