--- title: "The Inbetweeners" year: 2008 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/the-inbetweeners" fi1m_id: "the-inbetweeners" imdb_id: "tt1220617" tmdb_id: 7317 wikidata_id: "Q978011" fi1m_score: 84 critics_score: 78 critics_reviews: 6 published: "2026-09-15" updated: "2026-09-15T23:52:43.327044+00:00" region: "PE" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Inbetweeners (2008) Created by Damon Beesley, Iain Morris · 25m · Comedy ## Identity The Inbetweeners - **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/the-inbetweeners - **Type:** Series - **Fi1m ID:** the-inbetweeners - **IMDb ID:** tt1220617 - **TMDB ID:** 7317 - **Wikidata ID:** Q978011 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1220617/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/7317, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q978011 **Fi1m score: 84** · Critics 78 from 6 reviews *In a sentence:* Four boys who could improve their chances with girls by saying considerably less > Damon Beesley and Iain Morris make adolescent boasting painfully funny, helped by four leads with excellent comic timing. The narrow view of girls is a limitation, but the boys’ embarrassing company is worth keeping. ## Synopsis Will McKenzie (Simon Bird), Jay Cartwright (James Buckley), Neil Sutherland (Blake Harrison) and Simon Cooper (Joe Thomas) are suburban sixth-form boys negotiating school, friendship and the pursuit of girls. Insults, bunking off and the familiar rites of adolescence fill their days, with their conversations returning to much the same subjects. Growing up in one another’s company means having an audience for their misadventures, as well as someone to discuss them with afterwards. Greg Davies appears as Mr Phil Gilbert and Emily Head as Carli D’Amato in this comedy series. ## Review *The Inbetweeners* is a sharply observed, frequently filthy comedy, and we recommend it with a reservation about how little attention it gives the girls. Creators and writers Damon Beesley and Iain Morris concentrate on suburban sixth-form life, where bunking off and trying to attract girls provide quite enough trouble. The scale is right. These boys have no need of an extraordinary crisis when an ordinary conversation can go wrong so quickly. The central casting does much of the work. Simon Bird as Will McKenzie, James Buckley as Jay Cartwright, Blake Harrison as Neil Sutherland and Joe Thomas as Simon Cooper make the friendship convincing without asking us to approve of much that is said within it. There is pleasure in watching them share a scene, because none needs to win every exchange. A remark can be funny, and the response funnier, without either performer advertising the effort. We laughed at the insults, then felt slightly ashamed of ourselves. The boys take such pleasure in one another’s embarrassment that laughing along briefly makes us part of the problem. Beesley and Morris understand how this sort of banter works: an audience of friends encourages behaviour that scarcely improves anybody’s chances of approaching a girl. The gross-out material can be blunt, but it belongs to the same adolescent urge to make everybody else uncomfortable before they can return the favour. The plainness of the presentation helps. Cinematographers Jamie Cairney, Rob Kitzmann and Ben Wheeler give the ensemble room to work, keeping the boys’ reactions as important as whoever is speaking. Richard Drew’s production design makes their suburban surroundings feel suitably ordinary; nothing needs to look imposing for the boys to feel out of their depth. We would lose something if the images made growing up here look more attractive, because the awkward company is what holds our attention. Editors Charlie Fawcett, William Webb and Billy Sneddon deserve credit for how firmly the exchanges move from boast to insult to reaction. The timing leaves enough space for embarrassment to register without making every joke an extended punishment. Greg Davies, as Mr Phil Gilbert, offers a welcome change of pace from the central quartet. His blunt delivery makes their elaborate efforts to impress seem even more exhausting. The 25-minute running time also helps keep the comedy brisk. The writing is less generous towards the girls the boys pursue. Their limited understanding is often funny, but the programme does too little to give the girls comparable opportunities to be funny themselves. Following these boys does not require accepting their priorities quite so completely. There are also stretches when the insults feel interchangeable, and the confidence of the delivery cannot disguise a joke we have already heard in another form. The cast usually gets it through, though we occasionally wanted the writing to give them something else to do. Within teenage comedy, its attention to ordinary social failure serves it well. Bunking off and chasing girls need not lead anywhere momentous when the conversation is this funny. The friendship remains persuasive even when spending time with any of these boys individually seems a questionable use of an afternoon. Choose it for company that requires no polite behaviour, and preferably no explanation of why that last insult made us laugh. *Fi1m score 84, published 15 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews are uniformly positive, and most critics agree on why. The premise is nothing new: suburban sixth-form boys drinking badly, bunking off and failing to get anywhere near girls. What makes it work, the consensus runs, is the writing, which is filthy but polished, and a set of characters drawn with enough care that the humiliations land as recognisable rather than cruel. Several critics set it against Skins and find it the more truthful picture of ordinary teenage life, and more than one reaches for Freaks and Geeks as the closer relative. The spread is narrow, from 70 to 90, with no mixed or negative notices. The reservations are small. Variety thinks the acclaim the show received in Britain is a little generous. The Independent warns that the gross-out gags escalate to the point of repetition, and The Guardian notes the debt to that tradition. Empire is warmest, rating it the nearest thing British television has to a first-rate teen comedy. ## Straight answers **Is The Inbetweeners worth watching?** *The Inbetweeners* is worth watching for anyone who can enjoy filthy, sharply observed comedy about teenage boys embarrassing themselves, and we scored it 84. Simon Bird, James Buckley, Blake Harrison and Joe Thomas make the friendship convincing without asking approval for any of it. Our reservation is that the girls the boys pursue are given too few chances to be funny themselves. **How long is The Inbetweeners, and what is it rated?** *The Inbetweeners* has episodes of about 25m. It is a comedy series. **Where can I watch The Inbetweeners in Peru?** *The Inbetweeners* is not on any streaming or rental service in Peru at the moment. It is available in 11 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How violent or frightening is The Inbetweeners, and is it suitable for children?** *The Inbetweeners* is not violent or frightening, but it carries a UK 18 certificate for constant crude language, sexual boasting and blunt gross-out material, and it is not suitable for children. The comedy comes from suburban sixth-formers insulting one another and failing with girls, not from anything alarming on screen. Older teenagers are its natural audience, whatever the certificate says. **How does The Inbetweeners compare to Freaks and Geeks?** *The Inbetweeners* is the cruder and brisker of the two, while [*Freaks and Geeks*](https://film.one/tv/freaks-and-geeks) gives its school embarrassment more room for tenderness and a slower, occasionally draggy pace. Beesley and Morris keep everything to 25-minute bursts of boasting and insult; the American series lets uncertainty sit for longer, with Linda Cardellini painfully recognisable. Choose the British one for laughs without kindness, the other for kindness with the laughs. **What should I watch after The Inbetweeners?** After *The Inbetweeners*, try [*Freaks and Geeks*](https://film.one/tv/freaks-and-geeks) (1999, Fi1m 88): School embarrassment and uncertain friendships, with more room for tenderness. Then [*Derry Girls*](https://film.one/tv/derry-girls) (2018, Fi1m 83): Another tightly matched ensemble making adolescent self-importance funny without despising the adolescents. ### Reviews we read (6) - **Empire**, William Thomas (90/100, inferred): The review praises the series as the closest thing British TV has to a top teen comedy, skewering adolescence with broad laughs, likable characters and candour. It highlights the show's take on rites of passage like insults, bunking off and the quest for girls, comparing it to Freaks and Geeks set in Pinner. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/tv/reviews/inbetweeners-series-1-2-review/) - **The AV Club**, Emily St. James (80/100, inferred): The show takes familiar teen comedy cliches about drinking and sex but invigorates them with well-drawn characters and logical comic escalation. It succeeds through craftsmanship and relatable awkwardness rather than a fresh premise. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-inbetweeners-the-inbetweeners-1798164222) - **The Times**, Tim Teeman (80/100, inferred): The rude, juvenile comedy in The Inbetweeners proved sharper than other shows that night. It follows posh sixth-former Will as he joins a suburban comprehensive and a group of foul friends, with polished, nasty lines capturing teenage mix of confidence, viciousness and fear. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/the-invisibles-the-inbetweeners-the-british-soap-awards-6gfgz8gbv35) - **Variety**, Brian Lowry (75/100, inferred): The series is crude yet breezy with plenty of awkward charm about teenage humiliation and sexual misadventures. It develops characters gradually and lands in Freaks and Geeks territory rather than Skins, though the acclaim it received in the UK seems slightly generous. [Read](https://variety.com/2010/tv/reviews/the-inbetweeners-1117941901/) - **The Guardian** (70/100, inferred): The series captures the crap banter and banal misadventures of average suburban sixth-form boys perfectly, making it a more realistic take than Skins despite owing something to gross-out comedy. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/tvandradioblog/2008/may/08/sitcomsurbubiawithspots1) - **The Independent** (70/100, inferred): The joyously filthy sitcom about sixth-formers failing to control their hormones remains an unrivalled primer for the sordid inner life of the Middle England schoolboy, though it risks repetition with escalating gross-out gags. Half an hour with the show reminds viewers why youth is not entirely to be mourned. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/the-inbetweeners-has-anyone-seen-my-left-testicle-yeah-only-15-times-2083108.html) ## Details - **Created by:** Damon Beesley, Iain Morris - **Creator:** Damon Beesley, Iain Morris - **Director:** Ben Palmer, Gordon Anderson, Iain Morris, Damon Beesley - **Writer:** Iain Morris, Damon Beesley - **Cinematography:** Ben Wheeler, Rob Kitzmann, Jamie Cairney - **Editor:** William Webb, Charlie Fawcett, Billy Sneddon - **Production design:** Richard Drew - **Producer:** Christopher Young - **Cast:** Simon Bird as Will McKenzie; James Buckley as Jay Cartwright; Blake Harrison as Neil Sutherland; Joe Thomas as Simon Cooper; Henry Lloyd-Hughes as Mark Donovan; Alex Macqueen as Kevin Sutherland; Greg Davies as Mr Phil Gilbert; Emily Head as Carli D'Amato - **Runtime:** 25m - **Release (Peru):** 1 May 2008 - **Genres:** Comedy ## Where to watch in Peru Not streaming, renting or buying in Peru at the last check. Also available in: AU, CA, DK, FR, GB, IE, MX, NO, NZ, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Freaks and Geeks* (1999), Fi1m 88: School embarrassment and uncertain friendships, with more room for tenderness. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/freaks-and-geeks.md) - *Derry Girls* (2018), Fi1m 83: Another tightly matched ensemble making adolescent self-importance funny without despising the adolescents. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/derry-girls.md) - *Gregory's Girl* (1981): A gentler Scottish comedy about boys misunderstanding girls and themselves. - *Linda Linda Linda* (2005): Japanese school friendship observed patiently, with music replacing most of the insults. - *The Young Offenders* (2016): Irish teenage foolishness, loyal friendship and decisions that improve nothing. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/the-inbetweeners