IT’S the reunion they said could never happen... even the members themselves admitted that they never thought it would happen.

But Busted have announced their return to the pop world!

Matt, James and Charlie are returning with a full UK tour and working on brand new material and Busted will be crashing into the Bournemouth International Centre on Wednesday 25 May 2016.

The reunion comes 11 years after Charlie Simpson left and the band imploded.

The rock-pop boyband sold five million records at the start of the millennium, scoring number one hits with Year 3000 and What I Go To School For.

But Simpson walked out after a record-breaking 12-night engagement at Wembley Arena, saying his time in the band was “like torture”.

Busted will pick up where they left off, playing Wembley on May 11, 2016 and including the BIC’s Windsor Hall on the 14-date arena tour. They promise to blow the roof off, with a mix of old hits, including What I go to school for, Year 3000, Crashed the Wedding and Air Hostess, plus brand new material.

Matt Willis said: “For me there is a huge sense of unfinished business... I always thought in my heart we’d do Busted again, but that it was just a matter of when and how.”

The reunion follows a trip to Philadelphia, where the trio – Simpson, Matt Willis and James Bourne – recorded “three or four” new songs.

“I was astounded to find out James had actually been listening to a lot of the same music I’d been listening to,” said Simpson. “When I left the band in 2005, we were worlds away creatively.

“It was quite poignant to think that we’d landed 10 years later and there was some creative common ground.”

“It was just a really fun time,” added Bourne. “It felt like we were just hanging out with old, good friends.”

Speaking at a London press conference to announce the reunion, Simpson said he was surprised as anyone by his return to the pop band – after carving out a successful rock career in Fightstar.

“I’ve lost count of the number of times where I’ve said publicly I wouldn’t do this again. But I have changed my mind.”

“We went to Philadelphia, we wrote new music and that changed everything. I was very ready to go to Philadelphia and come away thinking ‘it just doesn’t feel right’.

“The fact that it did feel right is just as much of a shock to me as it is to anyone sitting in this room today.”

The musicians were all in their teens at the height of Busted’s success When Busted split in 2005, they were one of the biggest bands in the UK, with two multi-platinum albums and two Brit Awards.

Simpson continued to make music, both with Fightstar and as a solo artist. Willis won the 2006 series of I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here and appeared in the West End production of Wicked, while Bourne wrote songs for Melanie C, The Jonas Brothers and his own band Son of Dork.

In 2014, Willis and Bourne formed the seven-piece “supergroup” McBusted with the members of fellow boy-band McFly, releasing a top 10 album and supporting One Direction on tour.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow (Friday 13 November) from 9am. Don’t miss out on a chance to see Busted live on stage – it may not happen again!