James Buckley has recalled the moment he was mistaken for a drug smuggler after he attempted to bring OXO cubes into America.

The actor, 37, who portrayed foul-mouthed Jay Cartwright in hit E4 show The Inbetweeners, had been travelling to visit his wife Clair’s aunt Dora when he was stopped by US Airport Security.

And the contents of his suitcase very nearly landed him in hot water after officials discovered the small stock cubes, used to make gravy, wrapped in silver foil among his belongings. 

Speaking on the couple’s podcast, The Buckleys, James told how as a result of the incident, he is now ‘flagged straight away’ anytime he tries to enter North America.

He explained: ‘Anytime that I go to America, I have to, at the other end, open my suitcase up and show them everything that’s in the suitcase.

‘Not because I was smuggling drugs or anything cool like that. No, it was because I tried to get some OXO cubes into the country. And that was a big problem.

James Buckley has recalled the moment he was mistaken for a drug smuggler after he attempted to bring OXO cubes into America

‘When I go to America, I stay with your family. They’re Scottish.’

Clair chimed in, saying: ‘My Auntie Dora wanted some OXO.’ 

Her husband continued: ‘She was like, “Can you get us some OXO and some Bisto and bring that with you?”, ‘I was like, “Yeah, absolutely”.

‘To be fair, OXO cubes are tiny little powder cubes wrapped up in tin foil, and they were like, “What is that?”

‘And I was like, “Oh, it’s gravy.” And they took them from me.’

James, whose character Jay is known for his farfetched and outlandish tales, went on to say that despite US security satisfied that he was not smuggling drugs, the beef OXO cubes were still confiscated from him due to strict due to import laws that prohibit meat products being brought into the United States.

Explaining the situation, he remarked: ‘I wasn’t allowed to take them because it’s like beef, isn’t it? It’s a beef extract.

‘So it’s like meat and veg, certain meat and vegetables you can’t take from one country to another.

The Inbetweeners actor, 37, had been travelling to visit his wife Clair’s aunt Dora when he was stopped by US Airport Security [pictured in 2024]

Speaking on the couple’s podcast, The Buckleys , James told how as a result of the incident, he is now ‘flagged straight away’ anytime he tries to enter North America [pictured with wife Clair]

‘Not because I was smuggling drugs or anything cool like that. No, it was because I tried to get some OXO cubes into the country. And that was a big problem’ [pictured as Jay, left ,with his Inbetweeners cast mates]

‘So now, anytime I go to America, I’m flagged straight away. I can’t just go straight through. I have to have this whole thing at the other end.’

The couple, who share sons Harrison, 13, and Jude, 11, then went on to recall how they were forced to put the suitcases under Clair’s name when they later took a family trip to Florida.

Clair, 37, who married the comedy actor in 2012, shared: ‘And then don’t you remember the last time when we went to Florida, you put everything in my name?’

To which James replied: ‘I put all the suitcases under you.’