stringtranslate.com

List of The Inbetweeners characters

This is a list of characters from the British sitcom The Inbetweeners, which ran for three series from 2008 to 2010 on E4. A 2011 film was also released, followed by a sequel in 2014.

Cast

Main characters

Will McKenzie

William "Will" McKenzie is the central character and the narrator of the show as well. In the pilot episode, Will starts his first day in his new school, Rudge Park Comprehensive, with a briefcase, which leads to him being nicknamed "Briefcase Wanker" and other vulgar variations. For his portrayal as Will, Bird has won the 2008 British Comedy Award for "Best Male Newcomer" and the 2009 British Comedy Award for "Best Actor". He was also nominated for "Best Comedy Performance" at the 2008 Royal Television Society Awards, and "Best Male Performance" in a Comedy Programme at the 2009 BAFTA Awards.

Will is shown to have previously been educated in private school and is extremely out of place in the rougher comprehensive school environment. He is shown to be easily jealous, and has a habit of launching into foul-mouthed rants when he becomes annoyed, often getting himself and his friends into trouble or awkward situations as a result. Will often has trouble engaging with girls, generally panicking in situations where he would end up having sex. As a running joke, Neil often ends up hooking up with the girl Will desired instead. Will is shown to be extremely emotionally dependent on his mother, Polly, despite her continually being a source of embarrassment for him in front of others. Much to Will's agitation, his friends (particularly Jay) and others are all attracted to her, and do not hesitate to make open remarks about it to him.

Will often finds himself the target of bullying in school, partly through school bully Mark Donovan bullying him physically (such as taping him to a chair and placing a bin on his head), but mainly through embarrassment from his sardonic Head of Sixth Form, Mr Gilbert. Will seemingly has a special rivalry with Gilbert, with Gilbert intentionally going out of his way to make Will's time at school miserable.

Simon Cooper

Simon Cooper is the oldest member of the group. He becomes best friends with Will after initially avoiding him due to his "actual briefcase", "clumpy shoes" and "gay hair". Simon's first task of the new term is showing Will to his classes – a task assigned by the Head of Sixth Form, Mr. Gilbert. Simon, being the eldest, is also the first to learn how to drive, after passing his driving test in dubious circumstances. His father buys him an old small, yellow Fiat Cinquecento Hawaii – Simon, Jay, Neil and others think the car is inadequate and dislike the colour, and mock the fact that it has a tape deck. The car's passenger-side door is ripped off due to Jay opening the door prematurely during an argument while Simon was parking and colliding with a sign post at Thorpe Park. However, in "Caravan Club", the door has been replaced with a red one.

Simon has been attracted to his childhood friend Carli D'Amato since they were eight years old. Despite many awkward attempts to show her his feelings – including spray painting "I Love Carli D'Amato" on her driveway – for most of the time she does not reciprocate, partly due to having a boyfriend, Tom, and partly due to his occasionally repulsive behaviour, but in the final episode of the second series: "Exam Time", Carli seems interested in Simon after she split up with her boyfriend Tom, and they kiss while revising for A-levels at Simon's house. Carli agrees to meet Simon at the local pub for a post-exam drink, but when she arrives it was revealed she has reconciled with Tom, to the chagrin of Simon. His parents briefly go on a trial separation in "The Duke of Edinburgh Awards", but they have reconciled by the end of the episode.

In series 3, Simon takes part in the school charity fashion show, but humiliates both himself and Carli when he walks along the catwalk wearing Speedos with a testicle sticking out. In the episode "The Gig and the Girlfriend", Simon gets a girlfriend, Tara, whom he kisses at a concert. The couple break up at the end of the episode "The Trip to Warwick" after they fail to have sex due to Simon being unable to get an erection. Simon is the most volatile of the group, especially when in discussions with his family, where he frequently over-reacts to gentle goading and even advice. He is sometimes shown to be extremely impulsive and bitter, saying and doing things that cause him great embarrassment. He also gets into a slew of unfortunate situations including being physically and verbally attacked (once by a twelve-year-old), accused of being a "paedophile", failing to have sex with his girlfriend Tara after taking Jay's questionable sex advice, and humiliating himself in front of Carli, most notably during the fashion show. In the last episode, the boys play a game where they swap mobile phones, and have to send a text message to anyone of their choice on the phone's contact list. Simon later receives a reply from Carli that leaves him with a smile, which suggests she indicates that she feels the same way as Simon, and indicates that there is more in store for him and Carli.

Jay Cartwright

Jay Cartwright, the youngest of the four protagonists, is obsessed with sex, with almost all his comments being on the subject. He frequently lies and exaggerates about his experiences – sexual and otherwise – often making crude comments about girls in general and offering highly questionable "advice" to his friends, and frequently uses words such as "clunge" and "snatch" to describe women's genitalia. In reality, he is the least sexually experienced of the group and frequently relies on pornography to attain gratification, as he finds it difficult engaging with girls. His father contradicts Jay's exaggerated stories in an often bullying nature, claiming Jay is very unsuccessful with women (this is likely the source of Jay's obsession), and is always putting him down in some way or another. He is self-righteous, duplicitous and untrustworthy, often inventing stories about his various exploits and giving his friends bad advice about sex to lift his ego, while being aware that they will likely fail. In other instances, however, his poor advice can be a product of naivety, albeit driven by a desire to appear experienced.

At the end of the first series, Jay opens up to John Webster, admitting that many of his stories are somewhat exaggerated because he is worried that people do not notice him, and that he is afraid of being ignored. However, he throws this side of him away when Samantha, a girl possessing many similar characteristics to Jay, starts chatting to him. He seldom performs any acts of kindness and he routinely insults even his closest friends, with his comments reaching a more severe level than the insults the rest of the group frequently exchange. In one of the deleted scenes he even insults Will in German. It is implied in the last episode that Jay may have been sexually abused by his former next-door neighbour, when Neil mentions a "game" that Jay and the neighbour used to "play" in the garden shed, which Jay denies abruptly.

Jay's only friend who genuinely likes him is Neil, mostly because he is naïve enough to believe Jay's stories. Another recurring theme of Jay's character is that he often steals things, such as hair removal cream ("Duke of Edinburgh Awards") and a flyer for a house party ("Will's Birthday") from a girl named Sadie Cunningham during registration. He also often gets Simon into trouble for things he had said, most notably getting Simon throttled by a man after Jay shouts "bus wankers!" through the car window. By the start of the third series, Jay is driving his Mum's car. His driving skills are awful, making Will "feel like Princess Diana", and he later reveals that he has not yet passed his test and is only able to drive on the pretext that Neil is "giving him a lesson".

Neil Sutherland

Neil Sutherland is the dull-witted and gentle giant of the group. Due to his gullibility, he is usually the only person who believes Jay's stories and often fails to understand the sarcasm in Will's one-liners. His friends tease him about his father Kevin allegedly being a closeted homosexual; both Neil and his father strongly deny this. He has, along with Jay and Simon, passed his driving test and owns a modified Vauxhall Nova GSi, but cannot drive it as it does not have an engine. He takes part in the school's version of Blind Date and wins an unwanted date with Susie, one of the school's "freaks". He works at Thorpe Park, and also works on-off over the series at Asda. He can do "The Robot" and has a crush on his biology teacher Miss Timms. Despite being naïve, he is well-meaning and confident compared to the rest of the group.

Neil is the most sexually experienced of the group; a recurring theme is that Neil ends up hooking up with women originally fancied by Will. He spent a night in Simon's car with a punk girl in the series one episode "Caravan Club". He says that he snogged and fingered Charlotte Hinchcliffe after Will was with her, although he informs Will only of the snog to protect his friend's feelings from further being hurt (he tells the other two silently via hand gestures behind Will's back). He also manages to get a blowjob from Will's crying date Kerry at his 18th birthday party. Neil is also revealed to have sexual encounters with unseen female characters on the show, including much older colleague Karen at Asda. In the final episode of series 3, Neil wrongly assumes that he has impregnated her, but receives a text correcting him. He celebrates the fact that he has likely contracted chlamydia from her, wrongly believing it to be a good thing. Neil in part is more successful with women than the rest of the group due to his unassuming and unquestioning character. For instance, in "Caravan Club", Will rebuffs the advances of a promiscuous punk girl due to a lack of romantic sentiment. Neil however demonstrates no such concerns, experiencing the same "pushy" approach but accepting it readily.

Neil's middle name is revealed to be Lindsay in a deleted scene from series 3, at his 18th birthday party.

Neil has an attractive older sister, Katie, whom the boys stare at when visiting Neil's; however, he usually does not get angry or offended by the attention like Will does about his mother Polly, more likely because he is oblivious and laid-back. His father is often shown to be exasperated by Neil's ignorance and constantly says in an unimpressed tone "Neil!". Recurring jokes are that despite his lack of intelligence, Neil tends to be right about meaningless facts and that he sometimes gets with girls whom Will is pursuing. Neil sometimes hooks up with much older, unattractive women – he is shown to be surprised when he thinks Karen is pregnant because she told him that she could not have any more children. In the Inbetweeners Movie Neil similarly gets with a middle-aged dinner lady.

Secondary characters

Mark Donovan

Henry Lloyd-Hughes plays Mark

Mark Donovan is the foul-mouthed school bully, who often targets Will. This is partly because he caught Will kissing his ex-girlfriend Charlotte. He is the typical bully, who is friendly and patient in front of parents or teachers, but is otherwise a thuggish hoodlum. Donovan is somewhat sensitive, demanding that Will be "gentle" with Charlotte, whilst threatening him with death if he speaks of it. He appears to be less hostile (yet by no means friendlier) towards Jay, Simon and Neil and dubs the boys as a collective: "Team Twat". In Series 3, it is revealed that Donovan smokes cannabis. Jay and Neil attempt to buy some off him upon learning of this, only for him to take the money and sarcastically give them tea granules wrapped in cling film. He was mentioned in the third episode when Donovan attacked Neil in detention and pinned him down and drew penises on the cast that Neil was wearing.

Donovan reappears in the film, after Mr Gilbert's speech, where he says "goodbye" to the boys, whom he calls the "bender squad". He then proceeds to give Will an extremely painful wedgie, until Carli tells him to stop. In the deleted scenes, the wedgie is performed so strongly the underwear used for the wedgie is torn off Will. He was meant to follow the boys to Greece, but the producers could not fit this into the story, so Donovan's role was significantly cut down.

Tara Brown

When her name is mentioned, Jay often mimics the sound of Morse code on a telegram as if in a newsroom, making a "beepity beep beepity beep" noise and exclaiming "Time for another Tara update!", because Simon talks about her frequently during their short relationship. He manages to keep this up even when vomiting due to a hangover on the car journey back from Warwick.

John Webster

Mr. Gilbert

Phil Gilbert is the school's head of sixth form. He is sardonic, sadistic, misanthropic, dry, and possesses no enthusiasm for his occupation, once telling Will that "the only reason people go into teaching is because they are unambitious, unlucky and the relaxed rules on police background checks". When he is not being a bully, he shows no regard for the students or their welfare. On the occasions he does stop wrongdoing, he defuses the situation without resolving the issues that caused it.

Gilbert has a particular dislike for Will, who sometimes tries to endear himself to Gilbert and gets rebuffed. He takes delight at any misfortune to befall Will – even going so far as to threaten him if he snitched on whoever tied him up and put a bin over his head. He also blackmails Will into discovering who destroyed a local roundabout's flower arrangement by threatening to sabotage his university application, as he believes Will sticks his "beaky nose" into everybody's business and must know who did it. In the third series, he tells Will that he is single (despite allegedly dating Miss Timms in the episode 'Xmas Party') and that Will's mother Polly is "very much his type". In the same series, he gives Jay and Neil four weeks' detention after they mention Waterside, the shopping centre they spotted him buying soft toys in.

In the first movie, Gilbert gives an end-of-year speech, in which he expresses utter contempt for the entire year group, claiming he is "at best ambivalent" towards most of the students, but that he "actively dislikes" others for their "poor personal hygiene" (looking at Big John) and "irritating personalities" (whilst looking at Will). He ends the hate-filled speech by asking that they not murder anyone, as it "reflects badly" on the school. In the final scene of the first movie, Gilbert is seen riding shirtless on a quad bike in Malia, Crete.

In the second movie, it is revealed that Gilbert is in a relationship with Polly. They announce their engagement at the end of the movie, to the terror of Will, as he realises Gilbert will likely soon become his stepfather.

Carli D'Amato

Emily Head plays Carli

Carli D'Amato is Simon's love interest and has been since they were eight years old. She is popular and attractive, with an older rugby-player boyfriend named Tom, making her even more unattainable. Although she is well aware of his strong attraction to her, she only seems to think of Simon as a platonic friend, and is usually put off by his behaviour, although she is not above stringing him along to gain his favour. Simon is oblivious to Carli's selfish and manipulative personality, although his friends are not as easily fooled. On several occasions, Will and Jay have openly expressed dislike for her, with Will pointing out that she merely strings him along, and Jay calling her "stuck-up." She throws Simon small bits of affection to keep his hopes up in her. In "Exam Time", she asks if she can revise for her exams at his house, and when there, mentions that she has broken up with her boyfriend; when she notices Simon trying to impress her, she uses the opportunity to get him to help tutor her for a subject that he is not even studying himself. He ends up spending the entire revision period studying for her Geography exam, so he can continue to tutor her, instead of his own exams. When he later thinks they have a chance at dating, she promptly tells him she is back with Tom.

In episode one of series three, a wedge is driven between Carli and Simon after he accidentally revealed one of his testicles in the fashion show, believing he did it on purpose to make a fool out of her. However, in the series finale, Carli seems to be more affectionate towards Simon, hinting at a potential relationship, were Simon not moving to Swansea. She later replies to a prank text, sent by the boys from Simon's phone. Simon refuses to reveal the nature of the response, but is pleased upon reading it.

Between the end of the series and the beginning of the film, Simon and Carli have been dating, but she breaks up with him as she wants to be single whilst going on holiday and at university, obviously having viewed their relationship with a lot less investment than Simon. The boys' attempts to get him over Carli are the catalyst for going on holiday to Malia, although they find once there that Neil had thoughtlessly booked them onto the same holiday as her, which Simon views as a sign he should win her back. He rebuffs the advances of a nice girl named Lucy in his attempts to win Carli back, but she has formed a relationship with James, her narcissistic holiday rep. At a boat party, she and James fall out and Carli asks Simon to kiss her to make James feel jealous. Simon eventually realises that Carli is using him for her own ends and breaks up with her for good.

John Kennedy

Waen Shepherd plays Mr Kennedy

Charlotte Hinchcliffe

Emily Atack (right) plays Charlotte

Minor and one-off characters

David Glover

David Philips

"Football Friend"

Becky

"Punk Girl"

Lauren Harris

Jayne Wisener plays Lauren

Susie

Samantha Leah

Daisy

Miss Timms

Chris D'Amato

Chloe

Rachel

Tom

Patrice

Danny Moore

Jim

Wolfie

Hannah Fields

Kerry

Alistair Scott

The Tramp

Angry Neighbour/"The Fat Old Shit"

Steve (pub patron)

Steve (Mr Chippy)

Drug Dealer

Doc Brown plays Steve

Mrs. D'Amato

Sophie Brown

Heike

The University Boys: The Bombardier, The Commander and The Admiral

In a deleted scene, the boys later convince Jay that Sophie's Dutch housemate, Heike, is sexually adventurous and is attracted to younger boys.

Fergus

Mrs. Springett

Tracey

Mr Sethi

Family

Polly McKenzie

Polly is Will's young attractive mother, whom several of his classmates have stated their attraction to. Because of her separation from his father, she cannot afford to continue sending Will to a private school. This sets up the pilot episode, but she attributes their house and school move to him having been bullied. Will is often teased about his mother's attractiveness, although Polly is often oblivious to their desires, such as assuming in the series 3 episode "Home Alone" that the boys are giving genuine gaming advice when they tell her to "bounce around" to improve her performance in a video game.

Polly often overshares details or stories about Will, who is seen to be embarrassed by his mother, like in "Home Alone" she asks Neil to insert a suppository to cure Will's migraines, when she told Simon and Mark Donovan in "Thorpe Park" about the time he cried on the ghost train, when, aged seven and drunk on shandy, he "pulled down his pants" and ran around yelling "I've got a white slug". She also often gives well-intentioned advice or praise to Will, but phrases it horribly and makes him feel self-conscious, like when she tells Will not to pursue Charlotte Hinchcliffe, the most popular girl in school, by telling him that someone like him should "go for one of the plainer girls. Let the good-looking boys go out with the good-looking girls" or when she tells him she can trust that he will not take drugs because he is boring. Because of Will's sarcastic replies, she usually looks pleased with herself afterwards. However, Will seems to have quite a childlike attachment to his mother, whom he cries to when he is upset and gets her to report his bullying to Mr Gilbert.

Polly attempts to begin a relationship with a former schoolfriend named Fergus, the first since her separation, but it is ruined by Will's dramatic reaction and consequently getting drunk and vandalising a garden; Fergus breaks up with Polly because he cannot deal with a "problem child".

In the second film, Polly begins a relationship with Will's former head of sixth form, Mr Gilbert. Originally, when she is seen on Skype, Will becomes suspicious on seeing that she has laid two bowls for breakfast, although she pretends that Will's grandma is staying. Then, at the end of the film, Polly announces to Will that she and Mr Gilbert have entered into a relationship and are engaged, to Will's horror as Mr Gilbert is to become his new stepfather.

Pamela Cooper

Pamela is Simon's mother. She is caring and supportive to him, but her efforts to help are often met by embarrassment and surliness from Simon, who can find her overbearing. The details of her sex life are often shared with the boys by Mr. Cooper, which makes Simon feel awkward. When Simon is being unreasonable, she attempts to reason with him and make the best of things, which usually serves to make him more ill-tempered.

In one episode, Mr. and Mrs. Cooper separate temporarily, which upsets her greatly; however when Simon hears her about her crying, he describes it as "blubbering" that embarrasses and annoys him. However, Mr and Mrs Cooper reconcile by the end of the episode, and according to Will's narration, have noisy sex upstairs whilst the boys are in the front room.

Alan Cooper

Alan is Simon's father. He constantly reminds Simon (and the other boys) of his sex life, often going into unwelcome, inappropriate, intimate detail of his sexual life both with and before his marriage to Pamela. While dropping the boys off at the airport he tells the boys that they are in for a great time stating "girls just seem to let themselves go a bit more abroad". Despite his sexual nature, Alan is an ultimately caring parent and reasonable disciplinarian, but Simon claims he has a tendency to "go mental" when Simon does something irresponsible or lets him down, such as going out to London at night and not attending the father/son golf tournament.

Andrew Cooper

Andrew is Simon's younger brother, with whom he often argues. He has been seen to outsmart Simon on more than one occasion, and it seems that he has a bit of disdain for Simon's uncool "sad case" status, suggesting he is probably more popular and more liked at school than Simon.

In the series finale when Mr Cooper announces that after a hard decision, he is moving the family to Swansea, Simon reacts badly and says he will stay in London and get a flat with Jay, and that Andrew can live there too; Andrew flatly refuses to even consider it, implying that he would rather move to Wales than live with Simon and Jay.

Mrs Cartwright

Terry Cartwright

Kevin Sutherland

Neil's mum

Neil's mother is mentioned several times throughout the show. She is divorced from Neil's father, Kevin. Neil claims that she was in a "difficult place". She has since dated a man similar to Kevin, leading Neil to believe that she has a type. She bought Neil a motorbike for his eighteenth birthday, which Jay crashed shortly afterwards. She is the only parent among the four boys who does not appear in the series or the films.

Katie Sutherland

Neil's granny

Mr McKenzie

Anthony Head plays Mr. McKenzie

Unseen characters

Katie Sutherland's boyfriend

Katie's boyfriend is first mentioned in the episode "Thorpe Park" in which Neil tells the boys that he works as a cashier at a local BP garage (the boys mistakenly assume that he's a mechanic). He is mentioned again later in the show where he is again referred to as a mechanic.

The Headmaster - Mr Hopkins

The Headmaster has a speaking role in a deleted scene in series 1 in which he is played by Martin Ball. In the first episode he can be seen sitting next to Mr. Gilbert but he does not say anything. He does not appear in the assembly in the film.

Sadie Cunningham

Sadie is a girl in Jay's tutor group, and sits next to Jay. Jay often steals things out of her bag, including hair removal cream and an invite card to Louise Graham's birthday party. There is a real actor who plays Sadie and it turns out that she has a "voice only" part; in Series 3 Episode 1 when Neil is complaining with Simon that he cannot see the girls because of the curtain, one of the girls overhears and angrily tells Neil from the other side "We can hear you". This is the voice of the actor who plays Sadie (it is revealed in the commentary from the main characters on the DVD).

Jack Stephens

Neil mentions that he dropped a ruler next to Miss Timms.

Chris Groves

In the first episode of Series 2, Jay mentions that he has a mate in Year 13 by this name. It is alleged by Jay that he had sex with an older woman during a preceding Geography and Sociology field trip to the coast. He mentions his name again in the Series 3 preview. Due to the outlandish nature of Jay's claims, and Simon claiming he has never heard of him, it is questionable whether he even exists.

Sarah Bell

In the first episode of series 3, Neil is very annoyed that a curtain has been put up meaning he cannot see (or help) the girls getting changed for the fashion show. He mentions to Simon that he imagines that "Sarah Bell's got lovely big nipples", much to Sarah's disgust (who overhears from the other side of the curtain).

Jo Larken

Similarly to Sarah Bell, Neil quickly also tells Simon that he reckons "Jo Larken shaves her pubes" when he realises a curtain has been put up meaning he cannot see the girls.

Paul Keenan

In the first episode of Series 3, "The Fashion Show", Paul is supposed to be modelling with Charlotte Hinchcliffe in the 1970s disco theme section. However he supposedly drank a bottle of vodka and passed out due to a mix of alcohol and nerves, leading Will to take his place, despite his previous criticisms of the Fashion Show, saying it was "exclusive vanity".

Chris Yates

In "The Fashion Show", Chris is supposed to be modelling with Carli D'Amato in the "Sexy Finale" Theme in which he had to wear Speedos, DMs, a top hat and a leash. But, according to Carli, his back was "disgustingly hairy" so she sacked him. He can actually be seen in the episode, if one looks behind Carli whilst she is talking to Simon, he can be seen in the background with a hairy back.

Chris Wharton

A boy Jay claims he used to sit next to in woodwork class, and who now works in a newsagent's. During "The Trip to Warwick", Jay tells Neil and Will the story of how Wharton got his head stuck in a bottle bank and by the time he was found in the morning he had been "arse-raped eighteen times". Neil believes the story, but Will does not, questioning how the first eighteen people who found Wharton "turned out to be opportunistic homosexual rapists" and why Wharton would tell Jay about the ordeal due to its embarrassing nature.

Steve D'Amato

Steve is Carli's father. Carli tells Simon that he went ballistic when Simon vandalised their driveway, and Mr. Cooper tells Simon that Steve threatened to "fuck him up" when he sneaks into Carli's brother Chris' bedroom in the middle of the night, which he mistook for Carli's.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n The Inbetweeners (series 1) (DVD). UK: Channel 4.
  2. ^ The Rudge Park Comprehensive Yearbook (2011)
  3. ^ "The Inbetweeners Episode Guide (Episode 1.6)". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 21 April 2009.