What’s in store for Oregon this series? Well, this series she gets quite serious. There’s no romance or love triangles - and Tony’s definitely out of the picture. She wants to be a writer and her focus is now her career. I like how she’s quite ambitious and puts her heart into everything.
Behind-the-scenes, do you all get on?
There’s a lot of waiting around on set. But we’ve all become good friends to the point where I’m happy to sit with them for 12 hours a day, and then go for a drink with them all for three hours in the evening. Though it probably helps that we’re stuck in Manchester and we don’t know that many people there!
Who’s the funniest?
Generally they’re all really funny people, but Greg (McHugh, who plays Howard) makes us laugh by doing impersonation of our characters, and Joe Thomas (Kingsley) and I sometimes make up songs. There’s a lot of telling anecdotes and joke telling. I don’t know how we fill the time!
I was really boring at university!
What kind of reaction do you get when you all go down the pub together?
It’s still quite minimal; but people are always really encouraging about Fresh Meat and really into it. But they don’t rush straight over – our fans tend to be quite cool!
What do you think of Oregon’s interesting (ahem) outfits?
I think she’s quite sad to be so focused on her image, but at the same time I love the way she’s always changing her look. And the make-up and hair and costume departments are incredible on the show; they’re really subtle with their changes and it’s nice she’s got quite an unusual fashion sense. In this new series she goes quite military and slightly Communist-looking, but obviously all from Zara.
Is there an outfit of Oregon’s you’ve point blank refused to wear?
No, I’ve never said no, because I trust them (the costume department). Though I’m glad to have seen the back of those tight PVC, fake leather trousers! They were horrid, especially when we were filming in a hot studio -which can get to 40 degrees when we’re filming in the summer.
Do you have to do anything special diet-wise to make sure you look good in Oregon’s sometimes unforgiving outfits?
Well, I have a naturally quite high metabolism and I eat healthily, but luckily most of the costumes are not designed to be figure-hugging, apart from the trousers…
What was the wildest thing you got up to when you were a student?
Oh gosh, I was really boring at university! I never went completely crazy, I think once I tried to climb on the roof of the college building but that was about it. And even then I got about two inches up the drainpipe, got scared and fell back down; literally from no height at all.
You use to sing in a girl group…
Yes, I was a bit of a swot but I sang in (group) All Angels, and I still do a bit of singing with my brother, Luke. We wound the group down when I started on Fresh Meat but my brother’s a solo artist and he released an album last year – Luke Ritchie: The Water’s Edge. We’ve started collaborating together and right at the moment I’m actually sorting out making a music video with him.
What kind of things do you really enjoy watching on the TV?
I really like watching dramas; things like Utopia on Channel 4; I thought that was really stylish and cool.
Anything you don’t like?
I want to say I don’t like scripted reality, but whenever I happen to come across programmes like Made In Chelsea I can’t help but get sucked in. There was one thing I didn’t get though; The Great British Bake Off. I haven’t got into it at all. I wonder if I did any baking whether I would be more inclined to watch it…?
And with that, the lovely Charlotte says ‘Bye’ to Closer and heads off to find her pinny and rolling pin…
Fresh Meat returns to Channel 4 on Mon 4 Nov at 10pm