Follow Up – The Inbetweeners
The Inbetweeners – E4 / Channel 4 – 2 Seasons – UK
Writing about Dead Set yesterday I mentioned E4 stable mate The Inbetweeners and it reminded me that I really need to tell people how awesome The Inbetweeners is. A few months ago I got word that this little British series about awkward teenagers might be worth a bit of a looksee and after devouring the first two series I can safely report that it most definitely is worth ‘a bit of a looksee’.
For those not in the know The Inbetweeners follows the lives of four less than popular high school students. There’s Will McKenzie who after two seasons is still kind of appalled he has to attend a public school. Simon Cooper who lusts after a girl he’s known since he was eight. Jay Cartwright who talks up his sexual prowess despite the fact it’s highly unlikeable he’s ever met a pair of hot twins let alone had a threesome with them. And rounding out the gang is Neil Sutherland who, for all intents and purposes, is a moron.
Will, Simon, Jay and Neil kind of sound like your stereotypical high school characters that pop up and mull about in every TV series about school life but the combination of honest writing and hilarious performances turn these kids into living breathing social outcasts. Despite the fact I grew up in the suburbs of Sydney and not the outer suburbs of London I swear I went to school with most of these guys, hell, I’m pretty sure that I was Simon Cooper only with worse hair and more than one friend like Jay.
Brutal honesty alone wouldn’t be enough to make The Inbetweeners must see television so thankfully it provides plenty of laughs. The Inbetweeners is written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris. Iain previously wrote for Peep Show, and The Inbetweeners could easily be described as the awkward comedy of Peep Show for the high school set.
If you don’t like the mention of urination, masturbation and ‘shitting oneself’ in your comedy than stay well clear of Will and the lads. Of course don’t assume that means the show is just one long series of dick and shit jokes… okay so it sort of is, but the characters are so rich and well thought out that you kind forget you’re watching a guy in socks wade across a urine soaked public toilet. There’s a sweet and honest heart to The Inbetweeners that sets its ‘I’d do your mum’ jokes above everybody else’s ‘I’d do your mum’ jokes.
The second season of ‘tweeners was just as good as the first, but if I had one complaint it was that the boys seemed to spend an awful lot of time away from school. Not that their school camp, work experience, time with the French exchange student, trip to the club and work at the nursing home weren’t drowning in hilarious situations and awkward shenanigans. It’s just that you kind of missed the boys just hanging around the corridors of the high school getting made fun of for being a ‘briefcase wanker’.
It’s strange how I can hate a show like Pulling but love The Inbetweeners despite them both being vulgar comedies filled with cringe inducing moments. A case could be made that I can’t really relate to the sad pathetic lives of thirty something women, but I can empathise completely with sad pathetic high school boys. Not since Freaks & Geeks have I seen a group of friends on television that reminded me so much of me and my friends (“aww friend” *double thumbs up*)
Word on the Wikipedia is that ABC have commissioned a pilot for an American Inbetweeners and normally this would fill me with a sense of dread and the need to talk at length about how “that will never work” but lately ABC has given us the great Better Off Ted and Modern Family, and the surprisingly funny Cougar Town and The Middle so I’m actually rather… okay no, I’m still filled with a sense of dread. It’s a bad idea. The Inbetweeners is a very British show and to even make it to air on network TV in America it would have to be tamed down so much that like most British adaptations it would be relatable in name only.
The Inbetweeners is one of the best British comedies out there. A title I’m more than willing to throw onto a list that includes Gavin & Stacey, Outnumbered, Peep Show, Spaced and even The Office & Extras before Ricky Gervais turned into a massive twat. The beauty of the British sitcom is that it never outstays its welcome. Each of those shows has a season that runs for about six episodes so they can be as near to perfect as possible. Each of those shows has also had an attempted US adaptation and while The Office may have surpassed the original I often can’t sleep at night worried about how the American Gavin & Stacey and Outnumbered will turn out. Thank god the US Peep Show and Spaced died before they ever got to air.
Whether they do eventually make an American version or not The Inbetweeners will still be a fantastic little series. Season three is headed our way in 2010 and odds are it will be just as honest, well written, gross, embarrassing and laugh out loud hilarious as the first two.
