News: Channel 4 Celebrates Tenth Birthday Of The Inbetweeners

It is ten years today since E4’s biggest ever series, iconic teen sitcom The Inbetweeners, first aired on E4 on 1st May 2008. The nations’ obsession with Will, Simon, Jay and Neil in the 10 years since has resulted in the British public racking up a staggering 86 million hours (or, rather aptly 10 thousand years!) of viewing the series on All 4. Put another way, that’s the same amount of time it would take to complete sixth form 4885 times over! At least, that’s what Jay tells us...(see notes below).

To celebrate The Inbetweeners anniversary All 4 has released both The Inbetweeners Movie and The Inbetweeners2, alongside existing Box Sets of all three series. So you can now binge through some of the most memorable, cringeworthy storylines following geeky Will, Carli-obsessed Simon, sex-crazed mouthy Jay and robot dancing Neil as they navigate their teenage years. 

The coming of age sitcom is a hit with students (and teachers) today, and is particularly popular at times when perhaps they should be otherwise studying…viewing went up by almost a quarter (+22%) during May 2017’s A-Level exam period and The Inbetweeners was All 4’s most viewed Box Set during February’s ‘Beast from the East’ snowstorms that caused school closures. 

Fans can revisit some of the most memorable storylines, including the fashion show where Jay flashes more of his manhood than he ever intended to, Simon’s crap car, Neil punching a fish, Jay crashing Neil’s new motorbike, Simon almost losing his virginity, Will having a frisbee fail, the boys taking the piss out of Jay for having other ‘fwiends’ and coining the term “bus wankers”. 

The series kick-started the careers of young, talented actors but where are they now? Well  Simon Bird now stars in Channel 4’s Friday Night Dinner, Joe Thomas who will feature in a new Film 4 comedy called The Festival later this year and has been in Fresh Meat (Channel 4) and White Gold (BBC Two) with fellow Inbetweeners star James Buckley. Since The Inbetweeners Blake Harrison stared in the Dad's Army film as Pike and Trust Me (BBC One). And who can forget Greg Davies, aka Mr Gilbert the head of sixth form at Rudge Park, who is also known for appearing in Man Down (Channel 4) and Cuckoo (BBC Three).

All three seasons are available to watch as an All 4 box set, and fans are able to reunite with their favourite characters, while viewers who are new to the series can discover what made The Inbetweeners a smash hit way back in 2008. The films will be available for 30 days. 

 

Top 10 most viewed episodes

1.       First Day (S1, ep 1)

2.       Field Trip (S2, ep 1)

3.       Home Alone (S3, ep 5)

4.       Bunk Off (S1, ep2)

5.       Thorpe Park (S1, Ep 3)

6.       Caravan Club (S1, ep 5)

7.       Will Gets a Girlfriend (S1, ep 4)

8.       The Gig and the Girlfriend (S3, ep 2)

9.       The Camping Trip (S3, ep 6)

10.   Will’s Birthday (S2, ep 3)

 

Fun facts

1.       The Inbetweeners is based on the creators, Damon Beesley and Iain Morris’, real lives.

2.       Greg Davies was actually a teacher for 13 years before playing Mr. Gilbert.

3.       Matt Smith auditioned to play Will but was beaten by Simon Bird.

4.       The show was the first ever sitcom created specifically for E4.

5.       Anthony Head, who plays Will’s dad in the film, is the real-life father of Emily Head, who plays Carli.

6.       Viewers have re watched the launch episode of series 2 the most, making Neil punching a fish arguably the most entertaining scene of the entire series.

 

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