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 narrator of the show. In the pilot episode, Will starts his first day in his new school, Rudge Park Comprehensive, with a briefcase, leading 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 and overthinking 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 very 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 and others are 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 Mark Donovan, but mainly through embarrassment and beratement from his sardonic Head of Sixth Form, [|Mr Gilbert]. Despite Will's conscientious attitude towards him, Gilbert often goes out of his way to make Will's time at school miserable.
After his many mishaps in the series, romantic or otherwise, in the first film Will joins his friends on a lads' holiday to Malia, Crete where he meets and forms a genuine relationship with Alison.
[|Jay] Cartwright
Jay Cartwright, the youngest of the four protagonists, is crass, immature, untrustworthy and obsessed with sex, with almost all his comments concerning the subject. He frequently lies and exaggerates about his supposed experiences - sexual and otherwise - often making crude comments about women in general and offering highly incorrect advice to his friends to lift his ego, 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, lacking confidence and frequently relying on pornography to attain gratification, as he finds it difficult to converse with girls. When he does enter a relationship with Chloe in "Exam Time", due to his insecurities and lack of experience, he follows extremely poor advice from his father by bombarding her with texts and calls, the pressure of which leads her to end the relationship. His father also often openly contradicts Jay's claims and humiliates him in front of his friends stating that Jay has zero success with women and is, in fact, a "loser". This treatment drives Jay to appear more experienced and impressive than he actually is.At the end of the first series, Jay opens up to [|John Webster], admitting that many of his stories are exaggerated because he is worried that people do not notice him, and that he is afraid of being ignored. However, he quickly throws this side of him away when [|Samantha], a girl possessing many similar characteristics to Jay, shows interest in 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 a deleted scene, 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 his "weird neighbour" used to play in the garden shed, which Jay denies vehemently.
Jay's only friend who truly 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 and a flyer for a house party from a girl named Sadie Cunningham during registration. He also often gets Simon into trouble for things that he had said or done, for example getting Simon throttled by a man after Jay shouts "bus wankers!" through the car window. By the start of the third series, Jay has supposedly passed his driving test, driving his Mum's car. His driving skills are awful, making Will "feel like Princess Diana", and he later reveals that he has, in fact, not yet passed his test and is only able to drive on the pretext that Neil is giving him a lesson.
Jay's idea of a lads' holiday to Malia, Crete sets up the events of the first film, promising a two-week long "mental holiday full of sun, sea, sex, sand, booze, sex, minge, fanny and tits, and booze, and sex." However, he still experiences little success with women, until he meets Jane who can see through his facade. Jay eventually learns to overcome his shallowness and begins a relationship with Jane. He also begins to show a softer side towards his friends in the film, such as buying Simon tickets for the boat party, displaying sadness that Simon will soon leave for university, and offering a very intoxicated Will his bed for the night in lieu of an ants' nest.
Neil Sutherland
Neil Lindsay 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 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 is a very good dancer, his speciality being "The Robot" and has a crush on his biology teacher Miss Timms, with his drunken advances toward her in "Xmas Party" ending in humiliation. Despite being naïve, he is well-meaning and laid-back compared with the rest of the group.Neil is the most sexually experienced of the group due to his unquestioning and unassuming nature; a recurring theme is that Neil ends up hooking up with women originally fancied by Will. 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, spending a night in Simon's car with her mutually masturbating. He also claims to have snogged and fingered Charlotte Hinchcliffe after Will's brief fling with her, although he informs Will only of the snog to protect his friend's feelings. He also manages to get two blowjobs from Will's dumped date Kerry at his 18th birthday party. Neil also claims to have sexual encounters with unseen female characters on the show, including much older colleague Karen at Asda. In "The Camping Trip", Neil wrongly assumes that he has impregnated her, but receives a text correcting him. He celebrates the fact that he has instead likely contracted chlamydia from her, wrongly believing it to be a good thing.
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 on occasion, in an unimpressed tone, remarks "Neil!", or "Oh, Neil!". Other recurring gags include often being correct when it comes to meaningless facts and displaying moments of wisdom despite his dim-wittedness. Neil sometimes hooks up with much older 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".
Despite multiple flings throughout the series, Neil is never in a committed relationship until the first film, with a girl named Nicole. However, he cheats on her with older women while on holiday, justifying this through nonsensical "ethics". He then begins a relationship with Lisa, a girl who shares with him these same "ethics" as well as his laid-back nature; he lies to her that he has been dumped by Nicole, only to have to run away when he sees her waiting for him at the airport on his return.
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. Being the eldest, Simon is the first to learn how to drive after passing his driving test in dubious circumstances. His father buys him an old, small and yellow Fiat Cinquecento Hawaii - Simon, Jay, Neil and others think the car is embarrassing 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 it prematurely during an argument while Simon was reversing, and colliding with a signpost 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 and humiliating attempts to display his feelings to her - including spray painting "I Love Carli D'Amato" on her driveway - she usually does not reciprocate, partly due to having a boyfriend, [|Tom], and partly due to his occasionally repulsive behaviour. However, in "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 is revealed she has reconciled with Tom, much to Simon's disappointment. His parents briefly go on a trial separation in "The Duke of Edinburgh Awards", but reconcile by the end. Arguably his biggest disaster in front of Carli comes in the series 3 premiere "The Fashion Show"; while taking part in the eponymous show, Simon unwittingly humiliates both himself and Carli when he walks along the catwalk wearing ill-fitting Speedos with a testicle sticking out. His fortunes change in the episode "The Gig and the Girlfriend" in which Simon finally gets a girlfriend, [|Tara], sharing a passionate kiss at a concert. However, 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, following unwise advice from Jay.
Simon is the most irritable of the group, especially when in discussions with his family, where he frequently overreacts to gentle goading and even advice. He is sometimes shown to be 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, including once by a twelve-year-old; accused of being a "paedophile"; and falling into a freezing harbour. In "The Camping Trip", the boys play a game where they swap mobile phones and send a text message to a person of their choice on the phone's contact list. Simon later receives a reply from Carli that leaves him with a smile, implying that she feels the same way as Simon and that there is more to come.
Following the events of the series, in the first film Simon and Carli are in a stable relationship by the end of term, Simon claiming this to be "the best year of his life". Abruptly, Carli ends the relationship, leaving him depressed and longing to reconcile the relationship, setting in motion many of the film's events. Despite another girl, Lucy, showing genuine interest in him, he continually rebuffs her and longs for Carli. At the boat party near the film's climax, Simon finally realises that Carli does not reciprocate his feelings and instead chooses Lucy.