BOYS BEHAVING BADLY

Cork’s teenage criminals Jock and Conor return for more fun, friendship and felony – and this time there’s a baby on board…

- ELAINE REILLY

Having a baby traditionally changes people’s lives. But it’s business as usual when teen tearaways Jock and Conor return this week with a new six-part series of The Young Offenders on BBC3 Online (episodes will also air weekly from Friday 24 July on BBC1 HD at 9.30pm).

When we last saw them, Jock and girlfriend Siobhan had become parents to baby Star, while Conor and Siobhan’s sister Linda had consummated their relationship in a car. But it seems nothing will stop the best pals with the bad haircuts from getting into trouble…

Still expelled from school, Jock and Conor’s spare time is devoted to their secret double life as masked bicycle thieves. And in the opening episode, they decide to take Star on a heist with local loon Billy Murphy. But can they stay one step ahead of local police officer Sergeant Healy?

And can Conor’s mum, Mairéad – who’s also Jock’s guardian – keep them on her idea of the straight and narrow?

‘The lads aren’t going to change their mischievous ways. They are still getting up to trouble, but now there’s a baby coming along with them,’ says Chris Walley, who plays Jock. ‘They could leave Star at home but that wouldn’t be any fun.’