AN ACCLAIMED ‘mockumentary’ sending up small town life in a Cotswold village is returning to screens with Swindon College in its sights.

This Country, ostensibly set in South Cerney, will reprise the parochial escapades of cousins Kerry and Kurtan Mucklowe when it returns to BBC3.

The new series shows Kerry pursuing a fresh start while Kurtan faces up to his decision not to go to Swindon College to take a GNVQ in Health and Social Care.

Drawing on the layabout aspects of modern village life for its inspiration, the BBC3 show is returning for its second run of six episodes. Monday’s episode sees Lee ‘Kurtan’ Mucklowe distracted from a possible career path by his new girlfriend Sophie in scenes that are far from the bright new start image of Swindon College’s publicity material.

The pair are played by real-life siblings Daisy and Charlie Cooper, from Cirencester, who were pupils at Powell’s Primary School and then Deer Park.

The last series attracted five million views on BBC3 via iPlayer and was bumped up to a slot on BBC One. Shot in Northleach, the second series has already attracted glowing previews ahead of its return to the internet-only channel on Monday.

The Independent’s previewer wrote: “I'm most heartened of all to hear that Kerry's mum is still yelling obscenities from her semi-bed ridden existence somewhere upstairs in her council house.”

Daisy has said that she never thought the comedy, which is written by the siblings, would end up being cult viewing. “We were actually more worried that people wouldn’t get it, and people locally might think we were taking the micky, but we actually weren’t at all,” she said.

“But people actually loved it and responded to it, and it’s so nice because I get stopped in Cirencester all the time, with people saying, ‘that storyline in that episode reminded me of something that happened to me', and it’s so nice.”

The pair sill live in Cirencester but have had to adapt to newfound fame.

“To begin with it was absolutely surreal, especially in your local town because someone would say Daisy and I would think I knew them because we’re in the same place, but it’s because they recognised me from the show,” Daisy said.

“The first time I got stopped I was in Costa in Cirencester, and a woman came up to me and asked me for a selfie, and I remembered thinking why on earth would you want a selfie with me, and that was the first time, and it was really surreal.”

However Swindon College might not be welcome the cast in any time soon – a member of staff in the marketing department said on Friday that she had never heard of the show.

'This Country' starts on BBC3 on the iPlayer at 10am on Monday 26 February, and will be repeated on BBC1 starting Tuesday, March 6.