This Thursday, ‘The Inbetweeners’ returns to our screens. After months of doubt and deliberation, the National Comedy Award winning show was eventually commissioned for a second series, much to the delight of the more discerning comedy viewer. Many people initially wrote off this show, about 4 uncool and uncouth teenagers as puerile, unsophisticated toilet humour. In doing so they showed themselves to be idiots.
The Inbetweeners succeeds in so many ways. Unlike uber-cool shows such as the O.C and Skins, the Inbetweeners does not portray a false reality of drugs, sex and rock n roll. It does not focus on the sun-kissed beaches of California or a bunch of drug gobbling, bed-hopping youths. Instead, the Inbetweeners, set in the dreary suburbia of middle class England, chooses to single out moments of teenage life that all of us can relate to: being sick on the love of your life’s younger brother’s face; drunkenly calling one of your best friend’s dad a ‘bumder’; hitting a disabled girl on the back of the head with a Frisbee.
It is this banality and childish humour that so many of us, young and old, are drawn to. In a comedy landscape that is currently filled by ‘Not going out’ and ‘The green green grass’, the Inbetweeners has helped fill a gaping void. Yes, hormonal and largely driven by ‘your mum’ jokes it may be, but it nonetheless manages to transcend the boundary between a wry smile and side splitting laughter. Subtle trigger moments make this possible, such as when Simon’s yellow Fiat is vandalised by a vengeful group of Down syndrome children at Thorpe Park, or when Will is greeted on his first day at school by a chorus of ‘oooooooohh, briefcase!’ and ‘briefcase wanker’ jibes.
So, if you liked the first series, or think that a genuinely funny and original comedy is something you might enjoy, then tune in at 10 o’clock to Channel 4 this Thursday for chuckles-a-go-go. Rumour has it that Will, Simon, Jay and Neil will be attempting to track down the legendary ‘Swanage MILF’. How could you possibly say no to that?
- “Promise me you won’t spend it on the fruit machines?”
- “I can’t do that I’m afraid.”
