Michelle Williams has praised ‘Dawson’s Creek’ for “reaching” young people during an impressionable time of their lives. The 37-year-old actress starred as Jen Lindley in the hugely popular teen drama which ran from 1998 to 2003, and after reconnecting with her former cast mates for a special cover shoot for Entertainment Weekly magazine to mark the 20th anniversary of the show, she has revealed its continued success is down to how relatable it is to “permeable” young people.

She said: “I loved that we were able to get in there in those formative years for people. That’s why people, I think, are so connected to it. When something affects you while you were growing up, it kind of stays in there forever. When you’re so permeable and open and trying to figure out who you are and what’s going on, whatever reaches you in those moments really becomes part of you.” Many of the cast were teenagers themselves when they starred in the show, and fellow actress Katie Holmes, who played Joey Potter, admitted she enjoyed reading a script that spoke to her at that age. She added: “I think, especially when we first started, I was still a teenager and it was nice to read a script that felt like it expressed things that I was still trying to understand for myself.”

Joshua Jackson – who played Pacey Witter – meanwhile praised creator Kevin Williamson for creating characters who hadn’t been “dumbed down” for the sake of television stereotypes. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly magazine, he said: “I enjoyed the fact that, being a kid at that time, I was playing a kid that wasn’t an idiot or like, the precocious one. Kevin never insulted the audience by dumbing us down in order to be ‘believable teenagers’. I loved that part.”