Simon Bird recalls 8 Euros a night hotel stay while making Inbetweeners film

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Simon Bird says making the first Inbetweeners movie was essentially like going on a "massive" lads' holiday, with the cast and crew gathering at "Bar Knappett" and staying in a bargain basement hotel costing eight Euros a night.

The 40-year-old star shot to fame as geeky Will McKenzie in the hit C4 series and in 2011 the sitcom was turned into a hugely successful movie.

The plot of the movie saw Will, Jay (James Buckley), Neil (Blake Harrison) and Simon (Joe Thomas) head on a lads' holiday to Crete. While there they meet a group of women including Lisa (Jessica Knappett), Lucy (Tamla Kari) and Alison (Laura Haddock).

Simon says everyone had a great time in the cheap accommodation and they'd meet up in Jessica Knappett’s room, which became known as "Bar Knappett".

He told The Times: "We shot the first Inbetweeners film in Magaluf, and at no point was I conscious I was working. It always felt like a massive holiday. We were filming off-season, in 2010, so the bars and clubs were empty and it was a ghost town, but otherwise it was almost like we were living the premise of the film. During filming we stayed at a two-star hotel, where the rooms cost precisely — and I'll always remember this — eight euros, 25 cents a night. That was with breakfast included; an indication of the level of luxury.

"All the crew and cast stayed together, and we were very close. The central hub was the actress Jessica Knappett’s room, which we referred to as Bar Knappett."

The movie proved a box office smash, so it was inevitable The Inbetweeners 2 would follow in 2014. This time the boys headed to Australia to meet up with Jay, who claimed to be having the time of his life Down Under.

Simon recalls the makers having a much bigger budget for the second outing, which also proved a hit at the box office.

"Our filming set-up was upgraded for the second Inbetweeners movie, which was shot in Australia. We were treated like kings — over Christmas we had a week off and they put us up in the Lord Byron hotel, in Byron Bay, which was just heaven on earth — private beach, infinity pool, subtropical rainforest on your doorstep, the works."

Meanwhile, there have been rumors that the cast might one day reunite for more episodes. But Simon recently said there were no current plans for a reunion.

But at least if you are into The Inbetweeners you can currently watch all the series and the two movies on channel4.com.