Is The Inbetweeners reboot a good idea?

After countless rumours, the creators of “The Inbetweeners” have confirmed the cult show will return to the small screen.

It’s been 17 years since the Channel 4 sitcom about the “adolescent travails of four foul-mouthed teens” first aired, becoming so successful it “spawned two blockbuster films”, said The Independent. Now, Damon Beesley and Iain Morris’ hit show is set to return; in an announcement the pair said they were “plotting more adventures” for the awkward friends.

‘Leave the past in the past’

“The Inbetweeners” specialised in that “specific brand of toe-curling cringe humour” that British sitcoms are known for, said Helen Coffey in The Independent. Unlike “Skins”, where the teens were all “beautiful yet permanently angst-ridden”, the uneasy group of friends at the centre of the show “struck a cultural chord because they painted a fairly accurate, if exaggerated, portrait of the specific nuances and humiliations required to make it through adolescence in this country”. Characters were “sick in nightclubs”; fibbed about their sexual conquests; and “casually joked about one of their teachers being a paedophile”. Whenever they did somehow manage to begin a relationship with a girl, they “very quickly ballsed things up”.

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It was “completely and utterly of its time” – which is exactly why news of the reboot “brings me no pleasure whatsoever”. I want to be “supportive” of British comedy but “there is not one single atom of me that wants to see those characters all grown up, nor that particular brand of toilet humour translated to adult life”. The problem isn’t just that you “risk forever damaging the original legacy with a botched job” but also that “grasping attempts to cash in on” the nostalgia means there’s less space and money for truly “groundbreaking” new projects. Much as this group of “disgusting” teenage boys will always “hold a weird place” in my heart, “I wish we could leave the past in the past”.

A millennial dream

“I’d argue that there couldn’t be a better time to unite the four unlikely friends,” said City A.M.’s Adam Bloodworth. Yes, there’s an argument that the reunion “definitely wouldn’t have happened” had the four main actors – Simon Bird, Blake Harrison, Joe Thomas and James Buckley – found more success after the show.

“But there’s more to it than that. ‘The Inbetweeners’ went on to epitomise the millennial cliche: the backpack-wearing, binge-drinking nomad who didn’t quite fit in with the idea of growing up.” Like many of my peers, I’m still trying to work out what I want to do with my life. It turns out that for many of us, “not much has changed” in the last decade. “If there was ever more of a reason to bring ‘The Inbetweeners’ back, I don’t know what that would be.”

As a “socially maligned” teenager growing up “out in the sticks of Ireland”, the show was an “equal parts comic and cathartic watch” for me, said Almha Murphy in The Mirror. I just hope the comeback can do the show “justice”, and that it doesn’t lose the “relatable edge that allowed disjointed teenagers like myself to see themselves in it”.

“I am genuinely worried that the woke Gen Zers are instantly going to hate it”, said Rod McPhee in The Sun. Of course, they won’t bother watching it: instead they’ll “fleetingly consult the social media hive and decide it’s ripe for cancelling”. But I think we deserve a reboot “without any censoring of the swearing, smutty gags and obscenity we loved”.

While news of a reboot often comes with a great deal of “fear”, said Milo Pope in Metro, as loyal fans are nervous of “hackneyed” attempts to revive beloved characters, this revival could be an “exciting next step in the show’s history”. Don’t let other failed comebacks convince you it will be a disaster. The show’s creators have an opportunity to explore a “treasure trove” of themes from parenthood to ageing. “If you’re a fan of the original series and movies, ‘The Inbetweeners’ deserves a chance to prove it still has something to say.”