Kimberley Nixon says playing Josie helped her learn to stand up for herself 

Fresh Meat's Kimberley Nixon says playing Josie helped her learn to stand up for herself

Ynysybwl actress Kimberley Nixon gets emotional as the Channel 4 drama comes to an end after its long-awaited fourth series

The Fresh Meat team holds a special place in the hearts of the university-dwelling (and experiencing) British public - but it was the fresh faced, fish-out-of water and off the rails, Welsh girl Josie who struck a chord with many students who experienced their first taste of freedom.

Actress Kimberley Nixon, who is from Ynysybwl near Pontypridd, portrayed the wayward dentistry student with a convincing mix of naivety and bull-headedness. She spoke about saying goodbye to Josie, as well as the sadness of parting ways with her co-stars and their popular characters - Jack Whitehalls\' JP, Zawe Ashton\'s Vod, Charlotte Ritchie\'s Oregon, Joe Thomas\' Kingsley and Greg McHugh\'s Howard.

Kimberley with her Fresh Meat co-stars Zawe Ashton, Greg McHugh, Charlotte Ritchie, Joe Thomas and Jack Whitehall

Kimberley said that filming was an emotional experience and she\'s going to miss the character, she added: "It was a strange filming experience, because obviously it was lovely to all be back together, but there was a real sadness knowing we wouldn’t do it again.

"But I think we all felt it was good to be able to go back and say goodbye to our characters. I feel really fond of Josie, like she’s my wayward little sister who is unbelievably embarrassing and makes incredibly bad choices.

"But you can’t help but admire her tenacity. I’m really sad that I won’t get to play her again. She’s one of the most freeing characters I’ve ever done. I think partly because I get to do her in my own accent, which I don’t get to do in a lot of shows.

"That freed me up slightly. I think Josie taught me a few things about standing up for yourself and not letting people walk all over you. I took that away from her."

Related: Jack Whitehall was the perfect gent during Fresh Meat love scenes

So what kind of ending will we see for Josie - who is now a year behind the rest of her gang and split up from on/off boyfriend Kingsley.

"She’d kind of gone off the rails slightly," said the actress who has also starred in Sky One drama Critical and brilliat BBC Two comedy Hebburn, with Chris Ramsey.

"But Sabine had allowed her to come back and do pharmacology," she continued. "I think she’d done the kindest thing she’d ever done – she broke up with Kingsley.

"As she says to him, she wanted to know him for the rest of her life, because he’s awesome and she loves him, but she knows that if they stay a couple that will never happen. I like to think of Kingsley and Josie as becoming really old friends who laugh at the fact that they used to sleep together.

"She’s feeling quite isolated in the fourth series. Everyone else is gearing up to leave, to have the safety blanket of uni stripped away from them. They have to find jobs and actually pass their exams. She’s in second year, so she’s half smug while they’re all freaking out about finals, but there’s a sadness to it because she knows she’s being left behind."

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And the Fresh Meat experience has given Kimberley, now 30, a second chance at the university experience, as attending the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama meant long days and little socialising.

She explained: "Well, it sort of sets you up for filming. It’s not such a massive leap. If I’d been doing two lectures-a-day for three years, and then going into a world where I was being picked up for work at 5:30 every morning, that would have been pretty tough.

"So in some respects, for me and for some of the others, our time doing Fresh Meat felt like a second chance at uni.

"We got to do the social side that I never got to do in drama school. Especially in the first series – we went out a lot! The days are so long, and can be pretty brutal, and it gets to 7:30pm, and we’d wrap, and then go and let off a bit of steam. Over the series that quietened down slightly as we got older and couldn’t handle it. We’re all much older than we’re playing."

Fresh Meat starts on February 22, 10pm, on Channel 4

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