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It doesn’t matter if you live in the US or the UK, high school in any country is pretty much the same. You’ve got your bullies, your freaks, your geeks and every other flavor of student. You worry about fitting in, trying to deal with your parents, making decent grades and of course, having your first shag.
Has this ever happened to you? You want to tell the girl you’ve had a crush on since you were 8 years old that you love her. So, you get drunk, go to her house to reveal your feelings and end up puking all over her little brother’s head. Or have you ever walked around an amusement park carrying the door of your new car? Has your dad ever asked to borrow your laptop to watch porn? Or have you ever punched a fish to death? No, well, maybe we Americans are not so similar to the British after
all.
After his parents divorce, Will McKenzie is forced to leave private school and start his next term at Rudge Park Comprehensive School. On Will’s first day at his new school, he earns the nickname “Briefcase Wanker,” but ends up meeting three new friends, Jay, Neil and Simon.
Jay is an exceptional liar. He lies about everything but mostly he brags about sexual exploits he’s never had. Neil is a break-dancing fool who’s about as smart as a bag of spanners (wrenches.) Everyone thinks his dad is bent (gay.) Simon is a nice, semi-normal bloke who just wants a girlfriend, well, actually, just wants to get laid which is high priority for all the boys.
This foul-mouthed foursome tries to deal with the challenges of being in between childhood and adulthood. So, they hang out, sometimes “bunking off” (skipping school), drinking, exchanging raunchy insults, and lusting after Will’s hot mum.
I first saw this show on BBC America, but because of the strong language (these boys use expletives quite 
freely) it was covered with beeps. I was so glad to find at least the first two seasons available on Netflix streaming totally uncensored. Though some might be turned off by the foul language, I found this show hilarious.
The Inbetweeners Movie was released in the UK last year and is supposed to be available in the US now. I haven’t seen it yet, but I expect it is just as crazy as the TV series, although I’m sure not as good. Movie versions of TV shows hardly ever are.
MAIN CAST:
Simon Bird – Will McKenzie
James Buckley – Jay Cartwright
Joe Thomas – Simon Cooper
Blake Harrison – Neil Sutherland
Greg Davies – Mr. Gilbert
Emily Head – Carli D’Amato
Emily Atack – Charlotte Hinchcliffe
Total Seasons: 3 (18 episodes)
Seasons Available on US Formatted DVD: 3
In Production: 2008 – 2010
Viewer Discretion: Very strong language, adult situations, nudity
love this show! I have never been so horrified in my life than when I discovered this show and, specifically, the myriad of different words they use to describe women. But I’m also not sure I’ve ever laughed so hard in my life.
My son laughs at this show so much it makes his sides hurt!
Yes, there is a US remake of the show and it’s apparently shot primarily in Orlando, FL. The remake show runs on MTV and although I haven’t seen it yet myself, I can’t imagine it being as quirky and funny as the original. From what I did see of their first series trailer though, it seems like the stories are mostly the same. I wonder how far MTV will go with the language though– anything goes on the British version, which I think is one of the things that makes it so funny.
MTV’s show page:
http://www.mtv.com/shows/inbetweeners/series.jhtml
The “In Betweeners” movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1716772/
Aaron Kaplan is one of the US show’s producers– he was the Executive Producer for another network tv show I liked but one that bit the dust early on– “Terra Nova”.