Premiering this week to TV screens is a new comedy from ITV2. Whilst recent British comedies have been more contemporary and reflecting the trials and tribulations of modern British life, Plebs opts for something different: the location of Ancient Rome as its main backdrop. WhatCulture managed to speak to one of the stars of the new sitcom, Lydia Rose Bewley, who gained attention for starring in 2011s The Inbetweeners Movie. So, what is Plebs? Well its set in ancient Rome centred around three boys who live in a mudhut. I play their slave called Metella, who sorts of gets dragged into a lot of their escapades. Tell us a bit more about your character and how shes involved overall in the story? As I said, my characters called Metella and shes a slave, but really has a lot more going on in her head than most of the other characters do. She gets on very well with Cynthia (Sophie Colquhoun) too, as well as being very dry and saying how it is and being very honest. She finds Marcus a bit of a knob and doesnt get on with him at first, but does change as the series goes on. How did you first come across Plebs? Was it offered to you or did you have to audition? I heard about Plebs a year ago, and really wanted to audition it. I got the audition whilst doing promotion for The Inbetweeners Movie in LA, so I had to send in a tape of me auditioning rather than go back to the UK to do it, and did it in a garage with two of my brothers. It went really well and a week later I started rehearsing for Plebs. I was thrilled because I really wanted that audition and had been going for it for ages. You shot the series in Bulgaria, what was it like filming there? It was brilliant. It was really cool and I really loved the country. The only place Ive been to was Magaluf for The Inbetweeners. It was a very peculiar city and took some adjusting to. But the people were lovely and it was very different in a refreshing type of way. Did you learn anything about the time period at all when filming Plebs? Well I knew a lot of ancient Rome anyway because I was obsessed with it when I was younger, which was part of the reason why I wanted to do Plebs. I learnt that knitting didnt exist during Ancient Rome. Usually I research a lot of my roles, but I didnt as much for this because I knew a lot about Ancient Rome already. What is different about Plebs to a lot of other comedies right now that are on TV? The fact that its set completely in a different time period. There are so many opportunities to provide comedy with the roman times. I wont give anything away but some of the storylines done on this show would be stuff you could never get away with on a present day comedy. Youve also got Drifters coming up for E4. Hows that coming along? Its coming along fine. My good friend Jessica Knappett is in it and weve become good friends since first meeting on The Inbetweeners Movie. It was really the only thing in my mindset until Plebs came along. I really expected to be out of work until Drifters came around, but then Plebs popped up. Could you tell us a bit more about Drifters in general? Its centred around three girls in their mid twenties and when they get to 25-26, youve supposed to achieve all that you set out to do and its set around these three girls after they graduate from uni and trying to find a way to make money. My character is very well spoken but quite ridiculous. But Im really proud to be apart of Drifters. Would you say this is the UK equivalent of Girls, the famous HBO series? Dont think so. I love Girls, but I think while there are similarities to the two series, I think Girls is on another level. What Drifters has is a lot more fun and warmth to it. Its a very different series to Girls. With Drifters coming up, do you feel there is more female comedy coming into the forefront of British TV with such others such as Anna & Katy and Miranda too? Definitely, I think its already happening isnt it with Miranda Hart. I guess its now opening the door for more female comedians to get in. I wasnt really part of the comedy world until The Inbetweeners, so its a bit eye opening coming in to this new ball park because really Im not a comedienne where as people like Anna & Katy are brilliant at it. I would like to see more female comedy come out, but Im more into Comedy Drama. I have to ask you about The Inbetweeners because of how well it did in the UK, Would you like to be involved in a second Inbetweeners? Id love to do an Inbetweeners 2. Its pretty magical what happened with the first film and I loved the character, so Id love to play her again. All I know is that the writers are working on a second script, but I dont know anything else apart from that. But I hope they do. I would love to see the boys again. Did you watch the first episode of Plebs? Did you enjoy it? Share your thoughts below.