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{{Use British English|date=August 2010}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2010}}
{{Infobox television
{{Infobox television
| show_name = The Inbetweeners
| show_name = The Inbetweenersare me and you friends leon
| image = [[File:The Inbetweeners cast.png|250px]]
| image = [[File:The Inbetweeners cast.png|250px]]
| format = [[Sitcom]]
| format = [[Sitcom]]

Revision as of 13:18, 5 September 2012

For the film released after the final series, see The Inbetweeners Movie. For the soundtrack, see The Inbetweeners Soundtrack. For the U.S. version, see The Inbetweeners (U.S. TV series).

The Inbetweeners
Created byDamon Beesley
Iain Morris
Written byDamon Beesley[1]
Iain Morris
Directed byGordon Anderson
Ben Palmer
Damon Beesley
Iain Morris
StarringSimon Bird
Joe Thomas
James Buckley
Blake Harrison
Narrated bySimon Bird
Opening themeMorning Runner – "Gone Up in Flames" (instrumental)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series3
No. of episodes18 (list of episodes)
Production
ProducerChristopher Young
Production locationWest London
Running time25 minutes
Production companyBwark Productions[2]
Original release
NetworkE4
Release1 May 2008 (2008-05-01) –
18 October 2010
Related
Fresh Meat Friday Night Dinner

The Inbetweeners is a British sitcom which aired for three series from 2008 to 2010 on E4. Created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, the show follows the life of suburban teenager Will McKenzie (Simon Bird), and three of his friends at the fictional Rudge Park Comprehensive. The script for the show is of a very adult nature and includes frequent use of extreme expletives and derogatory terms of a sexual nature. There is a skilfully crafted environment for the show involving typical, almost cliched, situations of school bullying, broken family life, indifferent school staff and ridiculous (largely failed) sexual encounters.

The show has been 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.[3] In the 2011 British Comedy Awards, the show also won the award for Outstanding Contribution to British Comedy. The Inbetweeners Movie is being released in the United States Sept. 7th 2012.

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.[4] 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[5][6] and ending on 18 October 2010. The first episode of the third series had the highest-ever audience for an E4 original commission.[7] Following the conclusion of the third series, the cast and crew of the show indicated that a fourth series would be unlikely 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.

Main cast

Main characters

Main article: List of The Inbetweeners characters

Will McKenzie

Will is the show's principal character, with his voiceover introducing and concluding each episode. In the first episode he has transferred from a private school after his parents' divorce to a fictional comprehensive school called Rudge Park, where he befriends the rest of the four - Simon, Neil and Jay. 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 his making outrageous and offensive remarks. Will is bright and focused, he is academically able, and eager to get into a good university. He is romantically frustrated, and pessimistic about his chances, being acutely aware of his lack of any kind of coolness. He also annoys the mean head of sixth form, Mr. Gilbert, by enthusiastically suggesting ideas and schemes that will mean more work for him. He is also the most sceptical of the gang about Jay's tall stories. Will's mother is considered highly attractive by the other boys, among others. He objects to comments on the subject, to no avail. Everyone in the school – even the school bully, Mark Donovan, and Phil Gilbert, the Head of sixth form; think his mother is "fit". Simon, Neil and Jay reluctantly become Will's friends after initially trying to avoid him for not wanting to seem "uncool". The group warm to him after several efforts to win their friendship – including successfully buying alcohol and "not having sex" with the school's most attractive girl. Will aspires to have a career in law or maybe the media. At the end of the second series, when the boys face exams, Will began to crack under pressure and relies on energy drinks to keep him going. This leads to him soiling himself in his final exam, and after sitting it several hours late, he goes to the pub and gets very drunk, compensating for the fact that he has probably failed his Politics AS level. A recurring plotline in the series is Will's attraction to and romantic involvement with Charlotte "Big Jugs" Hinchcliffe- over the course of the show, the two of them have been known to spend time together, with Will usually messing it up. He nearly lost his virginity to Charlotte after telling her in school a few days before that he had had numerous lovers, although when they did attempt to have sex, Charlotte was let down by Will's unsuccessful attempt; in his own words "rubbing up against the perineum". In Series 3, Will is convinced into going on a double date with Simon, Tara, and Tara's friend, Kerry (or "Big" Kerry according to Will). He is repulsed by her as she is taller than him, a bit ditzy and boring; however once he hears how she is infamous for giving blowjobs to her last few boyfriends, he goes along with it. They unexpectedly share a kiss when Kerry escorts him back home, which gives her the impression that they are now going out. At Neil's birthday party, Will can no longer pretend and tells her that they are not really going out, not knowing that Tara set the two up because she assumed Will could comfort her after her father died the month before. His breakup devastates her and causes a dramatic misunderstanding among Neil's relatives, who all take her side, and as a result, Will is kicked out by Neil's dad, who reports the incident to his mother. Will later attempts to arrange a final camp-out with the gang before they split up after leaving school.

Simon Cooper

Simon becomes good friends with Will after initially avoiding him due to his "actual briefcase", "clumpy shoes" and "gay hair". His first task of the new term is showing Will to his classes – a task assigned by the head of sixth form, Mr Gilbert- starting the friendship between the two. Simon is the oldest of the group but frequently seen to be the butt of his younger brother's jokes. He is the first to learn how to drive, having passed his practical test (in dubious circumstances) before Christmas and triumphantly takes a games console from his prematurely smug brother as spoils of an evident earlier bet, upon announcing his success to his family. This is probably the only time Simon is seen to best his brother. His father buys him a small, yellow Fiat Cinquecento Hawaii – which loses its passenger-side door due to a reversing incident at Thorpe Park, but in series two the door has been replaced, albeit with a red one. Simon, his friends and others think the car is highly embarrassing and is the vector for an unwitting character assassination of Simon by his girlfriend (she explaining she trusted Simon because the car was impossible to pick girls up in) to Jay's delight shouting "Oh Christ! She's done you!". Moreover, the most unfortunate feature of the car is that it has a tape deck. His parents briefly split up in the episode "The Duke of Edinburgh Awards", but they had reconciled by the end of the episode. Simon has a crush on his childhood friend Carli D'Amato since she was eight, an interest which becomes more apparent throughout the series. Despite many pathetic attempts to show her his feelings – such as spray painting "I Love Carli D'Amato" on her driveway – for a long time she doesn't reciprocate, partly due to having a boyfriend, but capitalises heavily on Simon's willingness to do anything for her. In the final episode of the second series: "Exam Time", Carli seemed interested in Simon after she split up with her boyfriend and they end up kissing while studying for A-Levels at Simon's house. In the third series, beginning with the episode 'The Gig and the Girlfriend,' Simon gets a girlfriend, Tara, with whom he goes to a concert and gets stoned. In 'Will's Dilemma' he is seen receiving a handjob from Tara at Neil's party (this was after Neil had given consent, loudly saying "Don't spunk on the sheets!" in an elderly relative's presence) and an episode involves Simon - accompanied by the rest of the group - going to Warwick to Tara's sister, where they plan to lose their virginity although Simon suffers erectile dysfunction at the crucial moment. Simon's awkwardness in intimate moments with the opposite sex was demonstrated in his "pillow talk" with Tara. When she prompted him as to what he intended to do with his erect penis he panics and blurts out "I'm gonna fuck your fucking fanny off, you twat!" leaving Tara somewhat startled and his younger brother who has witnessed this to make a derisory comment and walk off shaking his head - further adding to Simon's pain. Simon is perhaps the most irritable of the group, especially when in discussions with his family, where he frequently overreacts to gentle goading, family rules and even kindly advice being prone to bouts of hysterical swearing at the slightest provocation. However he is also shown in several scenes to be the kindest and most loyal member of the group, and he maintains a closer relationship with Will than any of the other characters. He is also the most romantic of the boys, his on-off relationship with Carli propelling many of the plots. His father tries to maintain a frank and friendly relationship with him, delivering heart-to-hearts in which he often shares intimate details of his own sexual relationship with Simon's mother - and her responses - which Simon finds acutely embarrassing.

Jay Cartwright

Jay 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, frequently telling wild stories about his exploits, and handing out highly dubious advice which demonstrates that in reality he has very little understanding of the subject. He frequently lies and exaggerates about his experiences – sexual and otherwise – often making crude comments about girls/women and generally misogynistic in outlook. In fact he is the least sexually experienced of the group, frequently relying on pornography to attain gratification, as he finds it difficult engaging with girls. His father contradicts Jay's claims in an often bullying nature, claiming Jay is very unsuccessful with women (this is likely the source of Jay's obsession), and is always 'putting him down' in some way or another. At the end of the first series, he opens up to John, admitting that many of his stories are somewhat exaggerated because he is worried that people do not notice him, and that he is afraid of being ignored. It is implied in the last episode that Jay may have been sexually abused by his neighbour, when Neil mentions a "game" that Jay and the neighbour used to "play" in the garden shed, which Jay denies abruptly, clearly very uncomfortable that Neil has recalled this. He is often quite arrogant, another recurring theme of Jay's character is that he often steals things, such as hair removal cream ("Duke Of Edinburgh Awards") and a sexy flyer for a party ("Will's Birthday") from a girl named Sadie Cunningham, often saying that he "stole it out of Sadie Cunningham's bag during registration."

Neil Sutherland

Neil is known to be the slow, and somewhat dim-witted and gullible member of the group. He often fails to appreciate he is responsible for situations he has caused - blocking the toilet at Will's, soaking Simon's car upholstery with various bodily fluids etc.. He 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 friendly and outgoing as well as more accepting of Will and he displays less of the selfishness and obsession with sex as the others. He works at Thorpe Park as a mascot/character and it appears he is the subject of bullying by fellow employees - although in typical Neil fashion this point is lost on him and he finds it amusing that his clothes keep going missing saying with a laugh that "Last time this happened they burnt them!". He also used to work at ASDA and early in the movie we see Neil behind the deli-counter at a supermarket serving a line of customers. He can do "The Robot" - in fact it is the only dance moves he has which he performs at every opportunity with abject concentration to quite skilled effect. He has a crush on his biology teacher Miss Timms, the partner of fearsome head of Sixth form, Mr. Gilbert. His friends tease him about his father being gay (the term the group like to use being bender or Will's made-up expression while heavily drunk "bumder"), both Neil and his father strongly deny these rumours. He has, along with Simon, passed his driving test and owns a car, but he is yet to drive it as it does not have an engine. Despite being the slow member of the group and less outwardly concerned with sex, he has by far the most luck with women, fingering several girls, and having spent a night in Simon's car with a Goth in the series one episode "Caravan Club." It is also revealed that he snogged and fingered Charlotte Hinchcliffe after Will was with her, although telling Will only of the snog. He also managed to get a blow job off Will's crying date Kerry after his 18th birthday party. It is seen in the deleted scenes of Series 3 that Neil's middle name is Lindsay. In the show, Neil is known to end up with sexual encounters with various seen and unseen female characters on the show, eventually ending up with chlamydia (which he is actually happy about, since he assumed her text saying 'the test was positive' meant that she was pregnant).

Episodes

Main article: List of The Inbetweeners episodes

Episodes of the first, second and third seasons can be viewed by United Kingdom and Irish viewers through Netflix, Channel 4's service, 4oD,[9] and on YouTube.[10] The Inbetweeners: Rude Road Trip is also available as is Top Ten Inbetweeners Moments.

Film

Main article: The Inbetweeners Movie

In September 2009, Beesley and Morris confirmed that a film had been commissioned by Film4.[11] The plot revolves around the four boys, now eighteen years old, going on holiday to Malia, Greece.[12] It was released in cinemas on 17 August 2011[13] with a 15 certificate. Up until the end of November, the film had grossed over £45 million in the UK Box office, a large amount considering the film's meagre budget of just £3.5 million.

U.S. Release

On 3 July 2011, it was announced that the original The Inbetweeners movie would be released in the U.S. on September 7th, 2012.

The Inbetweeners: Top 10 Moments

In 2011, a special entitled The Inbetweeners: Top 10 Moments aired on Channel 4, featuring a countdown of the top 10 moments of the show. The documentary featured interviews with fans of the show, such as Jimmy Carr, Ricky Gervais, Harry Enfield, Amy Childs, Jorgie Porter, Gemma Merna, James Argent, Mark Wright, Rochelle Wiseman and Una Healy, among others.

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 instrumental 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, 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.[14] The second series also featured instrumentals of Adele, Oasis, 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.

Worldwide broadcasting

BBC America began airing The Inbetweeners from 25 January 2010.[15] 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.

On 28 February 2011, The Inbetweeners started airing in France on MCM.[16]

Country Network(s) Premiere
 United Kingdom E4/Channel 4 1 May 2008
 Australia GO! 2010
 Australia UKTV 2011
 Canada Super Channel 2010
 Belgium JIM 2010
 Sweden TV4 Komedi 2010
 New Zealand TV2 2010
 New Zealand UKTV 2010
 Iceland RÚV 2012
 Ireland E4/Channel 4
RTÉ Two 		1 May 2008
9 January 2012
 Israel yes Next 2010
 Italy MTV Italy 2010
 Colombia MTV Latin America 2010
 France MCM 28 February 2011
 Portugal MTV Portugal 2010
 Russia 2x2 31 November 2011
 United States BBC America 25 January 2010
 Norway NRK 3 Summer 2012
 Netherlands Veronica 6 December 2011
 Spain 3XL 2010

Reception

The first series began on 1 May 2008, with the pilot episode garnering 238,000 viewers.[17] The series averaged 459,000 viewers,[18] with 474,000 viewers watching the series finale.[19] 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".[20] Both won their respective categories.[21] The show was also voted by the British Comedy Guide website as the "Best New British TV Sitcom 2008".[22] It was nominated for "Best Situation Comedy" at the British Academy Television Awards 2009,[2] ultimately losing out to The IT Crowd.[23] It then won the Audience Award at the British Academy Television Awards 2010.[3]

The first episode of series two, which aired on E4 at 10 pm (BST) 2 April 2009, averaged 958,000 viewers,[17] 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.[19]

Joe McNally, writing for The Independent, commends an "exquisitely accurate dialogue, capturing the feel of adolescence perfectly"[24] and Will Dean of The Guardian comments that the show "captures the pathetic sixth-form male experience quite splendidly".[25] 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."[26]

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.[7]

DVD releases

  • Series 1 was released on DVD on 2 June 2008.
  • Series 2 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 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.

Ratings

Series 1

Air date Episode Viewers[27] E4 rank
1 May 2008 First Day 321,000 #10
1 May 2008 Bunk Off 321,000 #8
8 May 2008 Thorpe Park 305,000 #10
15 May 2008 Will Gets a Girlfriend 436,000 #8
22 May 2008 Caravan Club 432,000 #6
29 May 2008 Xmas Party 422,000 #6

Series 2

Air date Episode Viewers E4 rank
2 April 2009 The Field Trip 1.21m #1
9 April 2009 Work Experience 1.182m #1
16 April 2009 Will's Birthday 1.057m #1
23 April 2009 A Night Out in London 1.015m #1
30 April 2009 The Duke of Edinburgh Awards 1.205m #1
7 May 2009 Exam Time 1.205m #2

Series 3

Air date Episode Viewers E4 rank
13 September 2010 The Fashion Show 3.456m #1
20 September 2010 The Gig and the Girlfriend 3.336m #1
27 September 2010 Will's Dilemma 3.572m #1
4 October 2010 The Trip to Warwick 3.456m #1
11 October 2010 Home Alone 3.721m #1
18 October 2010 The Camping Trip 3.701m #1

Awards

U.S. version

Main article: The Inbetweeners (U.S. TV series)

In 2008, Iain Morris and Damon Beesley were asked by ABC to produce a pilot for a U.S. version of The Inbetweeners. The pilot wasn't 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.[4]

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 will also serve as executive producer on the series along with Beesley and Morris.[28]

References

  1. ^ Deacon, Michael (27 March 2009). "Interview: Simon Bird and Joe Thomas on The Inbetweeners". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
  2. ^ a b Nissim, Mayer (24 March 2009). "BAFTA TV Awards 2009: The Nominees". Digital Spy. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
  3. ^ a b "The Thick Of It dominates Baftas". BBC News. 6 June 2010. Cite error: The named reference "Ant and Dec win first ever Bafta" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b "The Hollywood Reporter". The Hollywood Reporter. 17 October 2008. Retrieved 18 June 2009. [dead link]
  5. ^ "The autumn hot list 2010 – 11. The Inbetweeners". The Observer. London. 29 August 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  6. ^ "The Inbetweeners set to return for third series". CoventryTelegraph.net. 2 September 2010. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  7. ^ a b Blunkett, John (14 September 2010). "The Inbetweeners pulls highest-ever audience for an E4 original commission". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  8. ^ a b c d The Inbetweeners (Series 1) (DVD). UK: Channel 4. {{cite AV media}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  9. ^ "What's on Channel 4 on Demand: The Inbetweeners". Channel 4. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
  10. ^ "Youtube – The Inbetweeners". Retrieved 16 November 2010.
  11. ^ "Channel 4 develops film of The Inbetweeners". Retrieved 11 September 2009.
  12. ^ E4 Inbetweeners Movie Application Page http://www.e4.com/inbetweeners/film-application.html
  13. ^ Internet Movie Database The inbetweeners http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1716772/
  14. ^ "The Inbetweeners Soundtrack". amazon.co.uk.
  15. ^ Genzlinger, Neil (25 January 2010). "Dreams of a Teenage Loser". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  16. ^ http://www.allocine.fr/series/ficheserie_gen_cserie=3705.html
  17. ^ a b French, Dan (3 April 2009). "New 'Inbetweeners' draws 958,000 for E4". Digital Spy. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
  18. ^ West, Dave (5 June 2008). "E4 takes second series of 'Inbetweeners'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
  19. ^ a b Rogers, Jon (3 April 2009). "The Inbetweeners makes 1.2m laugh". Broadcast. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
  20. ^ "The Nominees 2008". British Comedy Awards. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
  21. ^ "The Winners 2008". British Comedy Awards. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
  22. ^ "British Comedy Guide Awards 2008". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
  23. ^ "Bafta TV Awards 2009: The winners". BBC Entertainment. BBC. 26 April 2009. Retrieved 26 April 2009.
  24. ^ McNally, Joe (19 May 2008). "You Write The Reviews: The Inbetweeners". The Independent. London: Independent News & Media. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
  25. ^ Dean, Will (8 May 2008). "Sitcom surbubia with spots". The Guardian. London: Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
  26. ^ Dean, Will (3 April 2009). "The Inbetweeners is more realistic than Skins". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  27. ^ Weekly Top 10 Programmes. Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved on 17 June 2009.
  28. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (31 March 2011). "MTV Picks Up 'Inbetweeners' To Series". Deadline. Retrieved 1 April 2011.

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