User:Bluebolt94/Will Mackenzie

Will Mackenzie
Inbetweeners character
Portrayed by	Simon Bird
Duration	2008–11
First appearance	1 May 2008 Season 1, Episode 1
Last appearance	18 October 2010 Season 3, Episode 6
Classification	Past
Created by	Iain Morris
Spin-off appearances	The Inbetweeners Movie
In-universe information Occupation Student Father Mr. Mackenzie Mother Polly Mackenzie

William "Will" Mackenzie is a fictional character from the award-winning British sitcom, The Inbetweeners, played by actor Simon Bird. Will appears in all episodes of The Inbetweeners and in The Inbetweeners Movie.

Storylines

Backstory

Will's parents have recently split up, and as a result he has moved from a typical "posh private school" to the sixth form at the local comprehensive school. His mother, Polly McKenzie, attributes the move to bullying rather than money problems. Everyone in the school – even the school bully, Mark Donovan, and Phil Gilbert, the Headmaster – think Polly is "fit".

Series 1

On moving to the new school, Simon, Neil and Jay reluctantly become Will's friends after initially trying to avoid him. 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.

Series 2

Will aspires to have a career in law or maybe the media, and was supposed to be attending a local newspaper for work experience. However, a mix-up with applications sends Neil to the newspaper (instead of "driving aeroplanes") and Will spends his placement at a garage. 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. He is seen to be interested in Charlotte "Big Jugs" Hinchcliffe, and 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".

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 then gets grounded for three weeks for "doing nothing wrong." Will later attempts to arrange a final camp-out with the gang before they split up after leaving school. Will serves as the main narrator in the show.

Creation and development

Simon Bird (pictured) portrayed Will in the series and film.

In an interview with entertainment website Digital Spy, Bird commented on the difference of the series. He said: "Well, in many ways I think it's not different. Hopefully, people really enjoyed the first series so I don't think people will be disappointed. I think this series is more of the same. Personally, I think it's better in quality that the first. We were laughing from the first time we read the scripts right through to the end of the shoot, which is always a good sign. I think the show knows what it is now in a way that it might not when it was just an idea at the back of the writers' minds. I think it's much more confident – it's really come into its own, I'd say."

Asked whether there is any luck between Simon (Joe Thomas) and Carli (Emily Head), Bird replied: "There's a bit of a development there in that it almost looks like it's going to work for a while. I don't want to say what happens at the end but they definitely get a lot closer - but you'll have to wait and see exactly how it turns out."

Before the third series of the show, Bird was asked about the likelihood of a third series. He said: "I think it depends on how this second series goes down, to be honest. Until we see whether it gets good viewing figures and stuff I wouldn't like to say but we're all very hopeful – I think we'd all be up for doing another one just because there's so much potential there and I think the second series is so much better than the first - it would be really exciting to see how good we could make a third series." It was later announced that a third series will be aired in 2010.

Simon Bird stated in 2010 that he never expected The Inbetweeners to be a success. Bird commented: "I don't know what we expected. We never thought it would be this successful," he said. "It was the total opposite: we were terrified it was going to be a massive failure. The Inbetweeners was the first sitcom ever commissioned by E4, so we had nothing to judge it against. Looking back, it's absolutely insane that we've ended up making a movie." About the movie, Bird commented: "The writers have tried to make it feel like a standalone movie, so people who haven't seen the series can watch it and get it. They've tried to avoid it feeling like just a feature-length episode. I don't think the humour has changed, though."

Reception

Bird said that The Inbetweeners fans abuse him. He explained: "People shout a lot of insults at me because they’re quotes from The Inbetweeners. I get called ‘briefcase w**ker', 'bus w**ker' and sometimes just plain 'w**ker'. It's always done in such a nice way that I don't mind - I like to think it's all affectionate abuse."

Bird was nominated for the Best Television Comedy Actor awards and the Best Performance in a comedy role at the BAFTA TV Awards 2010.