Drifters Star Jessica Knappett Tells Us It’s A OK To Have No Idea Where Our 20s Are Going

Which is rather a relief, we think you'll agree

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by Delphine Chui |
Published on

If you’re an avid E4 viewer, you’ll already know all about the truly ace Jessica Knappett. The comedian first popped up on our radar in 2011 in the first Inbetweeners film, in which she played gormless Neil’s equally adorable girlfriend Lisa. Then, last year her first full-length TV series Drifters hit E4. Now the show’s back for season 2.

In case you missed it first time around, Drifters is often billed as the UK’s answer to Girls. Following the lives of three 20-something girls in Leeds post-graduation, pre-‘real’ life, it’s a hilarious look at what all our lives are really like. In season 1 alone, Jessica – who plays Meg – deals with dead end (and humiliating) jobs, sex droughts and paying the rent –stuff we can all relate to then.

We caught up with Jessica earlier this week to talk about the second series of Drifters, and found she was excellent company to chat quarter-life crises with. But seriously Jessica, where *are *we going with our lives?

**Hiya, Jess! ****Right, so how autobiographical is Drifters really?

It is semi-autobiographical, tragically. I tend to give my most embarrassing stories to my other characters so I don’t have to re-live them. There was a whole load of stuff in the first series where Laura got scabies and that was a true story. It’s not an STD! This is what I was trying to explain. It can be sexually transmitted, but it’s also transmitted through touching, bedding and clothes. Apparently, I may have gotten it from a yoga mat. I tried to do something good with my life, tried to become physically healthy and the universe gave me goddamn scabies.

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Scabies, by the way, looks a lot like a heat rash at first, so I didn’t know and I spread it. I was couch-surfing at the time and I spread it all around London, I was staying in my friends’ parents’ spare rooms, I was staying in my friend’s loft and I was staying on my brother’s couch. And, basically I had to phone everyone up and it’s sort of like the STD trail, but without any of the fun. I gave Laura the line, ‘Hi, it’s Laura. You’ve got scabies. Bye’ because I thought it would be fun for her to have to list all the people she’d shared a bed with.

Sometimes life feels like one long game that we’re not winning. Have you ever had those moments?

Yep, loads of those moments all the time. With acting and writing, you have so many moments where you’re waiting for a decision to be made or to find out if you’ve got a part or whatever. It’s all about keeping your spirits up when that happens.

When you’re going through those sorts of moments, it’s about keeping yourself occupied and making sure you’re doing something productive every day. Just do one productive thing every day, even if it’s just sending an email to somebody saying ‘Can I come and meet you for a coffee?’ Just keep going because it’s hard if you get stuck in a rut. And if the thing you’re doing most in the day is sleeping, then that’s bad.

So is it OK that we still have no idea what we’re doing in our 20s?

YES! It’s definitely OK and we’re all in it together and everything is going to be fine. You’re going to figure it out and you’re going to have a lot of fun doing it.

Do you have any regrets?

No! I don’t do regrets. I don’t approve of regret. I think you can always learn something even if you made a bad decision. There’s no point in regretting stuff. My bad decisions are mainly to do with men! But, it’s good to do these things, try things, try people. Try people on just so you know that you don’t want to go there in the future!

Actually, I say I have no regrets, but I regret not putting the effort into learning guitar. I’ve got back into guitar again recently because I love guitar. I started learning it when I was 18 and everyone says it takes 10 years to get good, so I remember thinking, ‘I’ll be 28 by the time I’m good at the guitar. What’s the point!?’ and that’s honestly what put me off. I’ve just learnt a song called *Cathy’s Clown *by the Everly Brothers. Learning an instrument is such a great thing to do and having a hobby that isn’t just drinking is great!

What’s the weirdest fan encounter you’ve ever had?

Someone came up to me the other day and went, ‘Are you that bird from The Inbetweeners?’ and I was like, ‘Oh, yes, yes I am. That’s me.’ and he said, ‘Omg. That’s so crazy!’ and then he got his mate over and said, ‘Look, look, look! It’s Neil’s bird from The Inbetweeners.’ And he went, ‘Don’t be ridiculous! That’s not her! She’s minging and you’re well older.’ So what had started as something nice took such a dark turn and I walked away with no self-esteem in tact. Literally went ‘Yay’ and then ‘Aaahhhh’.

**OK. We’re going to throw some quickfire questions at you now. Ready?

Yes...

If your life was a film, what would it be called?**

Oh! That’s such a hard question. Probably... How did this happen?

Can you tell us a joke?

Two dragons walk into a bar, one turns to the other one and says: ‘It’s a bit hot in here.’ The other one says: ‘Shut your mouth!’

What’s the app you couldn’t live without?

Uber! I’m like ‘I’m just going to see how much it is’ and then I’ve ordered it, it’s done. I’m always really worried I’m going to scroll it all the way to the right and end up with a helicopter.

Can you give us some life advice?

It’s never too late to do something you love. It takes time. All cool jobs are difficult to get into but it’s worth persisting. You spend so much of your life working – nearly all of it – so you might as well do something you love.

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What would you bring to Mars?

I’d bring a book. I’m finishing The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, it’s a big ’un so I’d bring something as hefty as that. If it was a one-way trip, I’d bring something pretentious like The Complete Works Of Shakespeare.

**What topic would you own in Trivia?

**Probably television sitcoms of the 1990s. Yep, my topic would be British comedy.

What one thing would you tell your younger self?

I wish I knew that it was OK to not be good at stuff. You don’t have to be good at everything. I gave up on things because I wasn’t good at them straight away.

If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Passionfruit!

Who would you most like to have a coffee with?

Tina Fey.

What are you most excited about in life right now?

The holiday I’m about to go on, I’m going to Los Angeles!

What’s the geekiest thing about me?

My stupid laugh!

If you could moonlight in another profession, what would it be?

Psychotherapy.

**If someone said they had no idea what being a feminist meant, how would you describe it?

**Well to me, you’re either a feminist or a sexist and it’s as simple as that really. If you’re a feminist, you want equality; you want equal opportunities for men and women so unless you’re insane, you’re a feminist.

Thanks, Jess!

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Drifters returns on Thursday, 9pm, E4

Follow Delphine on Twitter: @delphinechui

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.

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