If the ITV marketing team have done their job correctly, chances are that you'll already be familiar with the innovative concept linking new series Moving Wallpaper and Echo Beach. The latter is a new drama in the vein of The O.C., starring Jason Donovan, Martine McCutcheon and Hugo Speer alongside a cast of sexy young newcomers. Moving Wallpaper, on the other hand, is a comedy set behind-the-scenes of Echo Beach, following the writers and production crew as they deal with the challenges of making ITV's new hit series.

DS meets the six talented youngsters hoping to make Ryan, Marissa and Seth nothing more than faded memories.

Jimmy Penwarden (Ed Speleers)

The stud. Son to Mark (Hugo Speer) and Susan (Martine McCutcheon). Likes his rides fast. Finds instant attraction with new girl Abi but promises his lovestruck best friend Charlie that he won't try it on with her.

Moving Wallpaper and Echo Beach is quite an interesting idea. How would you describe the concept?
"Basically you've got Moving Wallpaper, which is a mockumentary, fly-on-the-wall, The Office-style show about writers and producers putting together a drama called Echo Beach. I steer clear of using the word 'soap'; that's what people are using, but I call it a continuing drama. That obviously has its crossovers with Echo Beach, which actually airs straight afterwards."

And in Echo Beach you play Jimmy Penwarden. What's he like?
"He's alright. He's a bit of a ladies man, into his motorbiking, a man of the beach. But he has this big conflict in the fact that his dad, played by Hugo Speer, is very money-driven and all about success. Jimmy's not really interested in that, he just wants a good lifestyle and good fun. This unravels throughout the series, as relationships develop and relationships fall apart within the families. I think Jimmy also goes through quite a hard time dealing with whether he can get with [Abi] or not. He ends up in a bit of a sorry state."

How was it filming the more racy scenes?
"I wasn't daunted. If you think about it too much it's not going to look natural. The best thing to do is just get on with it, do it, and enjoy what you're doing. This is what you do for a living and you know you're going to come up against sex scenes. By the end of the day you start to feel comfortable. You know the crew aren't up to antics and everyone's on your side."

As you mentioned there are crossovers between the two shows. In the second episode of Moving Wallpaper the executive producer says that your character should put a shirt on because your nipples are "too feminine". Does that bother you?
"As long as people don't dwell on my nipples that's fine. These references are going to be there and that's half the game as well. The only possible fear is whether it's looking like Moving Wallpaper is taking the piss out of Echo Beach. If yes, they wouldn't put the two shows together. Nobody's out to take the piss out of anyone else."

Abi Marrack (Hannah Lederer-Alton)

Daughter to Daniel Marrack (Jason Donvan). Moves to Polnarren after the death of her mother. Hits it off with Jimmy and finds a friend in Narinder.

Could you introduce us to Abi?
"Abi is a London girl come to Cornwall and finds it all a bit amusing. She finds it all a bit different and a bit strange that the people are quite traditional. But then she sees the young lad and it all gets a bit exciting!"

How does her relationship with Jimmy develop?
"I think it's a Romeo and Juliet style relationship. She doesn't know about the family rivalry between the Marracks and the Penwardens, so she doesn't understand why her and Jimmy shouldn't be together. She also doesn't know that he's made a pact with Charlie not to be with her. All these things get in the way of their relationship for quite a long time."

What was it like to have Jason Donavan as your dad?
"Jason's just amazing! He lifted everyone up if we were a bit down, he's got energy, and he never complains. We just had so much fun."

Brae Marrack (Christian Cooke)

Brother of Abi. The strong, silent type with a strong sense of loyalty to his father. Develops a crush on an older woman. Has a ridiculous goatee.

How does Brae fit into the group?
"Brae is a bit of a free spirit, a bit of a surfer dude I guess. He's a bit of a loner but not in a sad, feel-sorry-for-him kind of way. He's separate from the rest of the cast and doesn't really get too involved with Charlie and Jimmy, or anyone for that matter. He's concentrating mainly on getting the surf shop and the café up and running. When he arrives in Polnarren, it's a fresh start for him. His mother just died a couple of months ago, so moving to Polnarren is a chance not only to get over the loss of his mum but to try to move on from that."

How do you feel about the comparisons between Echo Beach and The O.C.?
"Pretty ridiculous to be honest, if I can speak bluntly. I think they're just saying that because it's set on a beach and there are young attractive people in it. I don't think it's anything like it, really. It's just caught on as a way of marketing I guess."

Were you glad to get rid of your mini goatee from the first episode?
"Delighted, especially because it wasn't my own. It was articifical! Beacuse we were shooting out of sequence, I couldn't grow my own facial hair, so they had to stick it on, which I was so unhappy with. Brae wanted to keep it in the storyline, but Christian definitely didn't want to keep it!"

Grace Penwarden (Laura Greenwood)

Sister of Jimmy. Dresses provocatively and loves to cause trouble. Tries to start an affair with a married man.

Grace isn't very nice, is she?
"She's a nasty, nasty piece of work. I don't know if there are much good things I can say about her as a person. If I met her in a dark alley I would not want to mess with her. She's one of those people whose lives are somewhat based on making other people slightly more miserable. [Eventually] we do show why Grace is being like that, and it's all [her mother's] fault.

I heard you were not happy that you had no sex scenes.
"Well Grace is the most suggestively dressed person ever - if you look at the promo pictures, you can see my bits quite clearly - but I get the least amount of nookie. No nookie! I don't mind, it's just that after all this dressing like a tart, none of it followed through."

I also heard that your character blows up a caravan. Is that true?
"Oh, so you know about that. Well yeah, gosh, there was a bit of a blowing up thing going on there. It was quite fun because I got to do a Die Hard run. I actually went flying and unfortunately for me, all the Echo Beach cast were watching. I kind of got teased by Ed, Christian and John for looking a little bit like an idiot. Apparently Bruce Willis would do it better."

Charlie Morgan (Jonathan Readwin)

Best friend of Jimmy. Slightly geeky and timid. Has a huge crush on new girl Abi.

What's Charlie like?
"Charlie is Jimmy’s best mate and one of the locals who have always been there. He moved in with Fin when he was about twelve, because his mother didn’t want him, so he has ended up helping his granddad to run the caravan park. Then he gets himself into a spot of trouble with the love triangle going on between him, his best friend and his best friend’s girl."

How do you feel about Moving Wallpaper?
“When I learned about what was going on in Moving Wallpaper, I thought it was a fantastic concept. The whole way through we are having the mickey taken out of us and we are taking the mickey out of ourselves. But taking something like [Echo Beach] seriously, and playing it seriously, is just going to add to the realism of Moving Wallpaper. That is going to make it that extra bit special, I think."

Narinder Gurai (Chandeep Uppal)

Has escaped an arrange marriage to move to Polnarren. Strikes up a friendship with fellow newcomer Abi.

We don't learn much about Narinder in the first couple episodes. What can you tell us about her?
"She's left her home to move to Polnarren. She's living with Ivy above the local pub, which Ivy runs. Ivy doesn't really pay her very much but she lets her stay with her, and she works really hard for Ivy. She's the only one in the village without any family, or links to Cornwall, or anything like that, so she's on her own. That's why she gets on really well with Abi, because they're both newcomers and she knows how it feels to be isolated. But she's not as marooned as she seems."

Does Narinder have a love interest at any point?
"As you get to see more of Narinder, it becomes clear that she likes Charlie. She thinks that she's being really obvious just by saying hello to him, and thinks he must know that she really likes him. But bless her, she's not very good at that side of life. She's not very good at knowing how to talk to boys and to get them to understand that she likes them. But whether it's done very well or not, she is trying to get in there with Charlie."

Finally, it's not long now until Echo Beach is seen until the great British public. Are you daunted by that?
"No, it's one of those things. You never know how well something's going to do, you just hope for the best. It'll be a case of seeing how it goes and seeing how all the viewers react to it!"
Moving Wallpaper and Echo Beach begin Thursday, January 10 at 9pm on ITV1.