The Inbetweeners

Updated on Dec 10, 2023

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British comedy awards 2011 the inbetweeners best sitcom

The Inbetweeners is a British sitcom television series originally aired on E4 from 2008-2010, created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris. The series followed the life of suburban teenager Will (Simon Bird) and his friends Simon (Joe Thomas), Neil (Blake Harrison), and Jay (James Buckley) at the fictional Rudge Park Comprehensive. The episodes involved situations of school bullying, broken family life, indifferent school staff, male bonding, and largely failed sexual encounters.

The show 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, and in 2010 the show won the Best Sitcom award at the British Comedy Awards. In the 2011 British Comedy Awards, the show 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.

A U.S. version of The Inbetweeners aired on MTV for one season in 2012, but was cancelled due to low ratings and poor reception.

The inbetweeners first day of school

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 show 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 1 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 show indicated that there would be no fourth series as the show 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 show travelled around the UK in the yellow Fiat Cinquecento Hawaii featured in the show in a special named The Inbetweeners: Rude Road Trip. The aim was to try to find the 50 rudest place names in the country.

Primary

The Lads

Will McKenzie – Simon Bird

Simon Cooper – Joe Thomas

Neil Sutherland – Blake Harrison

Jay Cartwright – James Buckley

Secondary

Carli D'Amato – Emily Head

Mark Donovan – Henry Lloyd-Hughes

Mr Phil Gilbert – Greg Davies

Charlotte Hinchcliffe – Emily Atack

Polly McKenzie – Belinda Stewart-Wilson

Main characters

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 show's central character, with his voiceover introducing and concluding 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. He is an unconventional hero – although he is generally the wittiest and most level-headed of the group, he is prone to making bad choices and his sarcasm occasionally leads to him making outrageous and offensive remarks. Will is intelligent, focused and eager to get into a good university. However, he is shown to be romantically frustrated, and pessimistic about his chances, due to his awareness of his lack of any kind of suave or social grace.

Jay Cartwright (James Buckley) is the most immature and arrogant of the boys. He is also the most vulgar of the group and harbours a generally misogynistic outlook. He is obsessed with sex, with almost all his comments being about the subject. In his mind, he is the most sexually experienced of the group. He frequently tells wild and fictitious stories about his experiences (sexual or otherwise), and hands out highly dubious advice which demonstrates that in reality he has very little understanding of the subject discussed. In fact he is actually the least sexually experienced of the group, frequently relying on pornography to attain gratification, as he finds it difficult to engage with girls. In addition to his sexual stories, Jay compulsively lies about just about anything to make himself seem cooler, no matter how wildly unbelievable.

Simon Cooper (Joe Thomas) is the most cynical and grumpy of the group, being prone to bouts of hysterical swearing at the slightest provocation – such as gentle goading, family rules, or even kindly advice – from his family or peers. However, he is also shown in several scenes to be the friendliest and most trustworthy member of the group, and he maintains a closer relationship with Will than any of the others. Simon considers himself to be the most romantic of the boys, his on-off relationship with Carli propelling many of the plots.

Neil Sutherland (Blake Harrison) is known to be the slow, somewhat dim-witted, kind and gullible "nice guy" member of the group. He often fails to appreciate he is responsible for the bad situations he causes, and fails to pick up on sarcasm, often taking comments seriously and consistently believes Jay's compulsive and blatant lies. Neil's simpler mind means he is often happy and positive as well as more accepting of Will and he displays less of the selfishness and obsession with sex as the others. He tends to be the most sexually experienced member of the group.

Recurring characters

Carli D'Amato (Emily Head) is the main love interest of Simon. She demonstrates a good deal of influence over her peers, including school bullies. She and Simon have been friends since the age of eight, and this likely accounts for Simon being able to approach a girl in such a different social circle. Generally, Carli has little romantic interest in Simon but uses his obvious infatuation to her own advantage.

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 very friendly 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 fulfil his role as the school bully. Ironically, Donovan is often shown to be somewhat sensitive, and is polite and friendly in front of parents or teachers. When he reveals his sensitive side to Will, he threatens him with death if he speaks of it.

Mr. Gilbert (Greg Davies) is an archetypical comprehensive school teacher. Misanthropic and permanently bitter he has no interest in his work and treats his pupils with utter contempt. As head of sixth form he answers to the headmaster of the school. Physically he is very tall and strongly built which everyone finds quite intimidating, being described by Will as a "lunatic giant". He has a biting wit and sarcasm which he uses to convey his dislike of his job and the children for whose care he is responsible. Will attempts to endear himself often with Mr Gilbert and is rebuffed. Mr Gilbert evidently wants a quiet life and rather than ensuring fairness between the children he merely defuses situations and moves on, often leaving things unresolved.

Episodes

Episodes of the first, second and third series can be viewed in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Japan, Norway, Australia and USA through Netflix. LoveFilm and Channel 4's catch-up service, All 4 also carry it in the UK and Ireland. All three series are also available on YouTube, along with The Inbetweeners: Rude Road Trip and Top Ten Inbetweeners Moments.

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, Two Door Cinema Club, 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, Maximo Park, and The Cribs and the third series also featured instrumentals of Ludacris. A full list can be found on the 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.

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 show "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 [than 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 show 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 show 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 show 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 Awards 2009

Nominated for Best Situation Comedy, British Academy Television Awards 2009

Best TV Show, NME Awards 2010

Best Television Comedy Actor (Simon Bird) British Comedy Awards 2009

Nominated for Best Situation Comedy, British Academy Television Awards 2010

YouTube Audience Award, British Academy Television Awards 2010

Best Situation Comedy, Rose d'Or Awards 2010

Digital Choice National Television Awards 2011

British Comedy Academy Outstanding Achievement British Comedy Awards 2011

Best Comedy, 2012 Empire Awards

Worldwide broadcasting

BBC America began airing The Inbetweeners from 25 January 2010. The network aired both of the first two series as a single 12-episode series. The same was done by MTV Latin America.

In 2010, The Inbetweeners started airing in Australia on the Nine Network's digital channel GO!, on Super Channel in Canada, on the comedy channel TV4 Komedi in Sweden, on TV2 in New Zealand, on MTV Latin America. In Israel, yes Next aired the first 2 series, while the 3rd series airdate is unknown. The 3 seasons came in 2012 to HOT VOD. In 2011 the series was premiered in Brazil on I.Sat and on 13 August 2013 the Brazilian streaming site "Muu" premiered the British production.

On 28 February 2011, The Inbetweeners started airing in France on MCM.

The Australian channel ABC2 aired the programme from 8 January 2015.

Home media

Series 1 was released on DVD on 2 June 2008.

Series 2 was released on DVD on 18 May 2009.

Series 1-2 boxset was released on DVD on 18 May 2009.

Series 3 was released on DVD on 25 October 2010.

Series 1–3 boxset was released on 25 October 2010.

The Inbetweeners Movie was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on 12 December 2011 in the UK.

All of the DVDs received an 18 certificate in the United Kingdom and MA15+ in Australia due to their high number of strong language and sex references. The theatrical version of The Inbetweeners Movie received a 15 certificate in the United Kingdom, with the extended cut release receiving an 18 certificate.

Books

There have been two books released:

The Inbetweeners Yearbook was released by Century Books on 29 September 2011. ISBN 1846059275

The Inbetweeners Scriptbook was released by Century Books on 25 October 2012. ISBN 1780891059

Films

In September 2009, Beesley and Morris confirmed that a film had been commissioned by Film4. The plot revolves around the four boys, now eighteen years old, going on holiday to Malia, Greece. It was released in cinemas on 17 August 2011 with a 15 certificate in the UK. The original film was also released in the United States on 7 September 2012, but it was very unsuccessful. From a budget of £3.5 million, the film made a global box office of over £57 million.

At the beginning of August 2013, creators Iain Morris and Damon Beesley confirmed that a second Inbetweeners film would be made with a planned release date of 6 August 2014 in the UK and Ireland; they released a statement saying "We couldn't be more excited to be making another Inbetweeners movie. A new chapter in the lives of the Inbetweeners feels like the very least we can do to thank the fans for their phenomenal response to the first movie." This sequel is set in Australia.

U.S. version

In 2008, Iain Morris and Damon Beesley were asked by ABC to produce a pilot for a US version of The Inbetweeners. The pilot was not picked up by the network, but they have given Morris and Beesley a second blind script commitment for a future project which the two will create.

On 31 March 2011, it was announced that MTV had ordered a 12-episode first season for a U.S. version of The Inbetweeners. A pilot episode, written by Brad Copeland, was given the green light in September 2010. Copeland also serves as executive producer on the series along with Beesley and Morris. The series ran for one season from 20 August to 5 November 2012, before being cancelled by MTV due to low ratings.

The US version began airing in the UK on 5 December 2012 on E4. A UK DVD release of the US version was released on 8 January 2013. The US version was broadcast on Viacom-owned Freeview channel Viva from 4 August 2014.

Future

After the second film the cast said that they were done with The Inbetweeners and that they wouldn't be making any new film or any more episodes as "they are all grown-up."

In March 2017, rumours surfaced that The Inbetweeners would be rebooted with an entirely new cast for a new series. This has been neither confirmed or denied.

References

The Inbetweeners Wikipedia

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