The Inbetweeners (U

''The Inbetweeners'' is a British coming-of-age television teen sitcom, which originally aired on E4 from 2008 to 2010 and was created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris. The series follows the misadventures of suburban teenager William McKenzie (Simon Bird) and his friends Simon Cooper ( Joe Thomas), Neil Sutherland ( Blake Harrison) and Jay Cartwright ( James Buckley) at the fictional Rudge Park Comprehensive. The programme involves situations of school life, uncaring school staff, friendship, male bonding, lad culture and adolescent sexuality. Despite receiving an initially lukewarm reception, it is now widely regarded as a classic amongst the most successful British sitcoms of the 21st century.

The programme was nominated for Best Situation Comedy at BAFTA twice, in 2009 and 2010. At the British Academy Television Awards 2010, it won the Audience Award, the only category voted for by the public. In the 2011 British Comedy Awards, the programme also won the award for Outstanding Contribution to British Comedy.

''The Inbetweeners Movie'' was released on 17 August 2011 to box office success, and a sequel followed on 6 August 2014. An American version was broadcast on MTV, but was quickly axed after low ratings and poor critical reception.

History

Damon Beesley and Iain Morris met as producers on Channel 4's ''The 11 O'Clock Show''. Following posts as commissioners at Channel 4, where Morris shepherded ''Peep Show'', the two launched their own company, Bwark Productions, in 2004 and landed their first series with ''The Inbetweeners''. A pilot for the programme was produced in 2006 under the direction of James Bobin titled "Baggy Trousers".

E4 originally aired the first series in May 2008, and Channel 4 also broadcast it in November that year. The second series began screening in the UK on 2 April 2009 and finished on 7 May 2009. A third series was commissioned by E4, commencing on 13 September 2010 and ending on 18 October 2010. The first episode of the third series had the highest-ever audience for an E4 original commission. Following the conclusion of the third series, the cast and crew of the programme indicated that there would be no fourth series as the programme had run its course, but that an ''Inbetweeners'' movie would be produced, set some time after the third series and following the cast on a holiday in Malia, Crete, Greece.

For Red Nose Day 2011, the stars of the programme travelled around the UK in the yellow Fiat Cinquecento Hawaii featured in the programme in a special named ''The Inbetweeners: Rude Road Trip''. The aim was to try to find the 50 rudest place names in the country.

In November 2018, it was announced that a special retrospective programme featuring the cast would be aired to mark the 10th anniversary of the programme's first airing in 2008. It was called ''Fwends Reunited'' and was broadcast on 1 January 2019; it was poorly received by critics and fans of the series, leading to James Buckley making a public apology.

In June 2020, the content on its YouTube channel was removed, due to the licensing rights changing owners.

Cast

Main cast

The four main characters are seen in every episode as well as the 2011 and 2014 films. They consist of:
* Will McKenzie (Simon Bird) is the programme's central character, with his voiceover narrating each episode. In the first episode, he has been transferred from a private school, following his parents' divorce, to Rudge Park Comprehensive, where he eventually befriends the others. Will is the most intelligent and studious of the group, but despite his sensible nature often gives in to peer pressure to carry out questionable acts and suffers the most humiliation for it.
** For his portrayal as Will, Bird has won the 2008 British Comedy Award for "Best Male Newcomer" and the 2009 British Comedy Award for "Best Actor". He was also nominated for "Best Comedy Performance" at the 2008 Royal Television Society Awards, and "Best Male Performance" in a Comedy Programme at the 2009 BAFTA Awards. ''The Inbetweeners Movie'' received mixed reviews from American critics, but Bird's performance was met with praise. Steve Rose praised Bird's performance.
* Simon Cooper ( Joe Thomas) is the most cynical and hot-headed of the group, being prone to bouts of hysterical swearing at the slightest provocation; his on-off relationship with Carli propels many of the plots.
**Simon is described as the most normal of the group who leaves "fans feeling sorry for him over and over again".
* Jay Cartwright ( James Buckley) is the most immature and arrogant of the boys. He is also the most vulgar and harbours a generally misogynistic outlook. He is obsessed with sex, and is a compulsive liar.
** Buckley was a nominee for the BAFTA for Best Male Performance in a Comedy Role (2011), a nominee for British Comedy Award for best comedy actor and a nominee for the Royal Television Society for best comedy performance
* Neil Sutherland ( Blake Harrison) is gentle and gullible, and the most sexually experienced member of the group.

Recurring characters

* Carli D'Amato (Emily Head) is Simon's main love interest. She demonstrates a good deal of influence over her peers, including school bullies. Although Carli expresses interest in Simon romantically on a few occasions, she seems aware that he is far more interested in her than she is in him.
* Mr Phil Gilbert (Greg Davies) is a comprehensive school teacher and head of the sixth form making him the most prominent member of staff in the series. Misanthropic and authoritarian, he has little interest in his work and treats his pupils with ambivalence or disdain.
* Charlotte Hinchcliffe (Emily Atack) is the most attractive and popular girl in the school. She is very confident and a year above the four boys. Unlike most of the popular girls, Charlotte is kind-hearted and genuinely likes Will and most other classmates. She mentions to Will that she has had "eleven lovers already", and is held in very high regard by the boys.
* Mark Donovan (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) is Will's nemesis, often picking on him to fulfill his role as the school bully. Like many bullies, Donovan displays the persona of being friendly and patient in front of parents or teachers. However, he occasionally reveals his sensitive side to Will, though threatens him with death if he speaks of it.
* Polly McKenzie (Belinda Stewart-Wilson) is Will's Mum. She is attractive and a principal object of Will's friends' desires, who often crudely mention her sexually. Neil has often asked Will if he can ask her out, with Will always saying no. Aside from her appearance, Polly is kind and mostly understanding of Will's concerns.
* Pamela Cooper ( Robin Weaver) is Simon's Mum. She is caring and supportive to him, but her efforts to help are often met by embarrassment and surliness from Simon.
* Alan Cooper (Martin Trenaman) is Simon's loving and protective Dad, though he often embarrasses him when talking about his sexual adventures with his mother.
* Terry Cartwright ( David Schaal) is Jay's Dad. He regularly insults and embarrasses Jay in front of his peers, and does not take him seriously, or his false reports of sexual exploits.
* Kevin Sutherland (Alex Macqueen) is Neil's Dad. He is divorced and is often portrayed as a closeted gay man, which he denies. The boys frequently make fun of Neil because of this.
* Big John (John Seaward) is a fellow student. John is one of the new kids who start school on the same day as Will. He is often referred to as one of the freaks and is often seen as an overweight social outcast whom the boys try to avoid. Nevertheless, during season 1, he comes to the defence of Will, tries to boost Jay's confidence and speaks to him about the frustration of wanting to be noticed.
* Tara Brown (Hannah Tointon) is Simon's girlfriend for half of Series 3. She is mostly ambivalent towards the other three, wanting to spend time with Simon alone. She does try however to set-up Will with her friend Kerry via a 'double-date' but this does not end well. Her relationship with Simon ends abruptly when she runs into her sister's arms in Warwick, after Simon repeatedly slaps his genitals in front of her.

Episodes

The three series can be viewed in many countries through Netflix or Amazon Prime Video. Channel 4's catch-up service All 4 also carries it in the UK and Ireland, alongside featurettes "Top Ten Inbetweeners Moments" and "Fwends Reunited".

Music

The opening theme tune to ''The Inbetweeners'' is an instrumental version of " Gone Up in Flames" by English rock band Morning Runner. The first series also features music by Rachel Stevens, Tellison, Paolo Nutini, The Maccabees, Air Traffic, Calvin Harris, The Ting Tings, Arctic Monkeys, Theaudience, The Fratellis, Vampire Weekend, The Drums, Two Door Cinema Club, Take That, Mystery Jets, Kid British, Phoenix, General Fiasco, Gorillaz, Hot Chip, Belle & Sebastian, Field Music, Jamie T, The Libertines, Rihanna, Oasis, Jack Peñate, Guillemots, The Feeling, Kate Nash, The Wombats, The Jam, The Cure, Lily Allen, Mumm-Ra, Kylie Minogue and Feist. The second series also featured instrumentals of Adele, Supergrass, Biffy Clyro, Passion Pit, Royworld, MGMT, Maxïmo Park, and The Cribs and the third series also featured instrumentals of Ludacris and ''Mr Understanding'' by Pete and the Pirates. A full list can be found on th
E4 website

A soundtrack album, '' The Inbetweeners Soundtrack'', was released in 2009.

The music was chosen by the music supervisor and then Xfm DJ, Marsha Shandur.

Reception

Critical reception

''The Inbetweeners'' has received generally positive reviews from television critics. At Metacritic, the first season earned a score of 73 out of 100, based on 7 reviews, indicating "Generally favorable reviews".

Joe McNally, writing for ''The Independent'', commends an "exquisitely accurate dialogue, capturing the feel of adolescence perfectly" and Will Dean of ''The Guardian'' comments that the programme "captures the pathetic sixth-form male experience quite splendidly". The series is often contrasted with E4's successful teen drama, '' Skins''; commentators have offered that "''The Inbetweeners'' portrayal of dull suburbia is closer han ''Skins''to the drab teen years most of us spent, rather than the decadent time we wished we spent."

Ratings

The first series began on 1 May 2008, with the pilot episode garnering 238,000 viewers. The series averaged 459,000 viewers, with 474,000 viewers watching the series finale. ''The Inbetweeners'' received two nominations at the British Comedy Awards; the programme was nominated for "Best New British Television Comedy (Scripted)" and Simon Bird was nominated for "Best Male Comedy Newcomer". Both won their respective categories. The programme was also voted by the British Comedy Guide website as the "Best New British TV Sitcom 2008". It was nominated for "Best Situation Comedy" at the British Academy Television Awards 2009, ultimately losing out to '' The IT Crowd''. It then won the Audience Award at the British Academy Television Awards 2010.

The first episode of series two, which aired on E4 at 10 pm ( BST) 2 April 2009, averaged 958,000 viewers, with another 234,000 viewers watching at 11 pm on the time-shift channel E4 +1 meaning it was watched by 1.2 million, the highest audience of 2009 for E4.

Episode one of series three aired on 13 September 2010 on UK digital terrestrial network E4, attracting a record breaking overnight average audience of 2.6m viewers (12.5% audience share) in its 10 pm slot, the highest ever viewing figure for a programme screened on the channel until 2011 when ''Glee'' beat the record. For this series, it was moved to Monday instead of Thursday but kept its 10pm slot.

Awards

* Best New TV Comedy, British Comedy Awards 2008
* Best Male Comedy Newcomer (Simon Bird), British Comedy Awards 2008
* Best New British TV Sitcom, The Comedy.co.uk Awards 2008
* Best Comedy Show, TV Quick & TV Choice

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