James Buckley reveals wife Claire almost divorced him after he was caught with her sister’s sexy lingerie

His Inbetweeners character Jay was known for his far-fetched and bizarre stories.

And James Buckley revealed last week that life imitated art when he found himself at the center of a ridiculous mystery over a pair of sexy panties.

Speaking with wife Clair Meek on their podcast In sickness and in healththe duo revealed they had a falling out after a pair of women’s trousers ended up in his wash cycle.

Clair, 35, who married James in 2012, explained that she had emptied her husband’s belongings from the washing machine when she saw the offending item and immediately ‘went upstairs’ to confront him.

James, 36, recalls: ‘Your sister was staying with us recently and using the washing machine, so I said, “They’re obviously your sisters!” They were kind of sexy, which is something I hate to say about your sister! All silk and bows.”

Claire replied: ‘I said, “They’re not hers, I’ve never seen them before!” My sister stays with me a lot and we actually have the same underwear because our mom buys it for us for Christmas.”

A panicked James admitted he knew it “looked bad” but was unable to give Clair an explanation, prompting her to storm out of the room.

James admitted: “I sat in the room and thought, this is going to be it. She’s going to divorce me and I’ll spend the rest of my life thinking, “Where the hell did those pants come from!”

‘It was more than twenty minutes of my life, I could see my future as a 90-year-old man saying, “I don’t know where they come from!”

Clair revealed that after ten tense minutes, her sister responded to her text asking if the pants were hers, admitting: “I almost left James!” as James agreed, “YYou would!

“If there wasn’t an explanation for her to leave me, she’d be crazy not to.”

He later joked that he considered saying it was in fact his own pants, while Clair assured him she knew there would be an explanation eventually.

James and Clair, who share sons Harrison, 11, and Jude, 9, often talk about their family life on the podcast and recently discussed their upcoming family trip to Japan.

Oops: Clair, 35, who married James in 2012, explained that she had emptied the washing machine of her husband’s belongings when she saw the offending item (pictured in August)

James said, “Me and the boys have always said about this Buckley boys trip that we’re going to Japan because we like video games and technology and stuff like that.

“We’re going to Tokyo and that’s something we’ve always said we wanted to do.”

Clair, who apparently has no interest in going, insisted that she would like to stay home with the couple’s Rottweiler, but that the boys would have to be teenagers, prompting James to respond.: ‘Yes, I think that would be a good age for the brothels.’

Clair laughed in shock and replied: ‘F*****g, you’re an idiot. I’ve lost my train of thought now.’

On screen: His Inbetweeners character Jay was known for his far-fetched and bizarre stories and his life-imitating art when James found himself in the middle of the pants mystery