Alice Lee talks about the fun of filming Gap Year, and tells the story about a cab ride the cast took.

Can you introduce your character?

So my character is May. I think in the beginning of the show she wants to meet her relatives - her extended family. I think that's the main reason for her travelling - she wants to connect to her roots.

I guess, from what I've gathered, she doesn't know much about them, she's just been with her mum. She wants to connect with her family, kind of become more independent, find herself. But then she's stuck with this friend, and these group of travellers, who kind of ruin it for her.

When we first meet her, her and Ashley have already been on the road...

Yeah, I guess they've been travelling... I guess prepping to go to the wedding, because that's the main purpose. They don't really know each other from college but she's kind of stuck with her as her mum wouldn't let her go alone on this trip. I think they misunderstand each other. And eventually they like each other!

Tell us about May's character - what's she like to you?

Initially she comes across as uptight, very anal, very controlling. She needs everything to be done her way. She might be on her high horse, she feels like she knows a lot.

She speaks a little bit of Chinese and Mandarin.

Yeah but it's really bad!

She's trying so hard to learn Mandarin, but it's just awful. It's not clicking for her. But she's almost sometimes too confident when she says things. People ask her 'could you translate' and she's like 'YEAH! Of course!' but she's just saying 'dogs butt' or something random!

It's funny that she's so bad at it. It's like she wants to connect so bad with her culture but she never learned. If you don't learn since you were little it's hard to catch up and learn when you're older.

Although you'd imagine your character would be the one who connects most with SE Asia, May is as lost as the others here in this foreign land.

Yeah, totally! I'm sure she's read some books and seen some movies about China and stuff, but she's an American! So to go to China, you'd think she'd fit right in, but people can just tell that you're not part of the original homeland, or something.

What's interesting is the other side of this is not just about coming into these foreign lands of being very much strangers in this environment, but they're foreign to each other.

Yeah I think they're so different. I mean all the characters are so different. I think that May and Ashley, they're supposed to be travelling together but they're completely foreign from each other. I don't really understand her, she doesn't know why I'm the way I am.

And then there are the three Brits: we're all just trying to travel together, and travelling together is already such a hard thing, unless you're travelling with the right people.

And also the British/America relationship is just fascinating.

Yeah I think it's so interesting. Even in the language and culture, yeah!

Have you personally travelled before?

I haven't back-packed, but I've gone around different places, yeah. But not like full-blown hostel life. Yeah I love it!

Tell us about these locations, they are amazing when you think you've done six countries in three months! Can you talk us through the journey?

Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, Langkawi, China, Vietnam, Nepal. In Malaysia we also went to the jungle. It's really cool to see all these different places. It's like they're all so different but, life is always the same. It's also hard when you're working, because you feel like you're not a tourist. You're just there. I didn't actually go see all the tourist stuff.

What made the biggest impact for you as a location?

I mean The Great Wall, but that's like a Classic. Shooting on The Great Wall is insane! Literally being on it and shooting is surreal and really, really beautiful. I also loved Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam - the food was so good! The culture there is breath-taking. Everywhere has got its charm though.

Do you think that it's important that the show is a comedy and not just a drama? What does the comedy add to this show?

I think you need the humour, it needs to be funny. Life is funny, you can't take it too deep, you know? Life is not that deep, you know. You have to laugh at yourself, right?

Does it help to emphasise the serious moments a little bit more as well?

I think everyone has some deep emotional moments in the show. Definitely. But it's kind of balanced by the 'Oh they're making a joke and laughing'. I think they balance each other out. You need to have the heaviness, or the lightness, to be able to do the happiness.

How far removed do you think you are from May?

I think that's one of the things when I first got the role! It's like 'Oh shit, I have to execute now!' Because once you audition it's just the audition, and then when you get the role it's another thing entirely. I think we're very different. I think May is like me when I was like 17. She would kind of be my opposite maybe. But I think there's a little bit of May in me, that's why I'm able to do it and bring her out.

You recognise her?

Yeah I definitely do! In myself, or like my younger self, or others. Like 'Oh yeah, I know what it's like to be anal and kind of a bitch' [laughs]

When we look at all five of them, we all know people like that don't we?

Yeah, of course. I think they've got to be relatable. They've got to be people that you'd know in real life. Maybe we're slightly exaggerated versions of it, but maybe yeah.

You've managed to stay very much offline during the filming process. How was that?

Yeah but it's also like you still can't escape it though! It's like you feel like you've gone rogue, but like I'm still on Instagram, and you're thinking 'what shall I post? I need to let people know what I'm doing, but it's like 'no-one fucking cares!' [LAUGHS] I feel a little removed, I read about some stuff that's happening in the States, y'know, Trump and that shit. I'm glad I'm not over there!

We were talking about the time you all got together... Tim Key says he was sat there thinking: 'Ok, it's alright, I actually do like them!' Did you feel that?

Yeah for sure, everyone is so chilled. I think we work well together. We play well together, but we can also, just give each other our space. We're like in a summer camp, we're in a bubble stuck together for five months, and like, we're it. We have no outside friends; this is it. But luckily everyone's so great to work with. We're really, really lucky.

Have you had any incidences of miscommunication?

Well there's one time when we were in a cab in China and none of us speak Chinese. So we get in the cab and say, 'Can we go here?' But the cab driver just kept talking to us in Mandarin, like at us, and we're like 'we have no idea what you're saying!' And they just keep going! It was funny. It was actually pretty sweet, because we were all laughing together, we were like 'what's going on?!'