List of The Inbetweeners characters

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

Major characters

Will McKenzie

Simon Bird plays Will

Will moves from a typical private school to a local sixth form comprehensive school because his mother, Polly, can no longer afford the private school fees. On moving to the new school, Simon, Neil and Jay reluctantly become Will's friends after initially trying to avoid him. The group warm to him after several efforts to win their friendship – including successfully buying alcohol and almost having sex with the school's most attractive girl. He is an unconventional hero - although he is generally the wittiest and most level-headed of the group, he is prone to making bad choices and outrageous remarks. He is generally sophisticated, sensible and possesses intelligence that surpasses that of his friends. Another dominant characteristic is his tendency to deliver sarcastic, dry humorous remarks, some of which get him into trouble. Will also appears to follow certain ethical laws, though is not above occasionally committing dubious acts, such as purchasing alcohol illegally, insulting Neil's father while intoxicated, accidentally insulting people who are disabled, among others.

Will aspires to have a career in law or maybe the media, and was supposed to be attending a local newspaper for work experience. However, a mix-up with applications sends Neil to the newspaper (instead of "driving aeroplanes") and Will spends his placement at a garage, where he ultimately fails to fit in and gets picked on by the cockneys working there. At the end of the second series, when the boys face exams, Will began to crack under pressure and relies on energy drinks to keep him going. This leads to him soiling himself in his final exam, and after sitting it several hours late, he goes to the pub and intoxicates himself, compensating for the fact that he has probably failed his Politics AS level. He is seen to be interested in Charlotte "Big Jugs" Hinchcliffe, and the two of them have been known to spend time together, with Will usually accidentally ruining their relationship. He nearly lost his virginity to Charlotte after telling her in school a few days before that he had had numerous lovers, although when they did attempt to have sex, Charlotte was let down by Will's unsuccessful attempt; in his own words "rubbing up against the perineum".

In series 3, Will is convinced into going on a double date with Simon, Tara, and Tara's friend, Kerry (or "Big" Kerry according to Will). He is repulsed by her as she is taller than him and is rather ditzy and boring; however once he hears how she is infamous for fellating her last few boyfriends, he goes along with it. They unexpectedly share a kiss when Kerry escorts him back home, which gives her the impression that they are now going out. At Neil's birthday party, Will causes outrage by attempting to harshly break-up with Kerry, not knowing that her father had died a month before and that Tara had arranged their relationship to comfort her. Will later attempts to arrange a final camp-out with the gang before they split up after leaving school.

Will serves as the narrator in the show and is therefore the principle character.

Simon Cooper

Joe Thomas plays Simon

Simon is the oldest 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 was also the first to learn how to drive, having passed his practical test (in dubious circumstances) before Christmas. His father bought him a small, yellow Fiat Cinquecento Hawaii – Simon, his friends and others think the car is highly embarrassing and a horrible colour, and specifically mock the fact that it has a tape deck. The car loses its passenger-side door due to a reversing incident at Thorpe Park, but in series 2 the door has been replaced, albeit with a red one.

Simon has had a crush on his childhood friend Carli D'Amato since she was eight, an interest which becomes more apparent throughout the series. Despite many pathetic attempts to show her his feelings – such as spray painting "I Love Carli D'Amato" on her driveway – for a long time she didn't reciprocate, partly due to having a boyfriend, but in the final episode of the second series: "Exam Time", Carli seemed interested in Simon after she split up with her boyfriend and they end up kissing while studying for A-levels at Simon's house. Carli agreed to meet Simon at the local pub for a post-exam drink, but when she arrived it was revealed she had reconciled with Tom, her boyfriend.

In series 3, Simon takes part in the school fashion show, but embarrasses himself and Carli when he walks along the catwalk in Speedos with his bare testicle visible. In the episode "The Gig and the Girlfriend", Simon gets a girlfriend, Tara, with whom he kisses at a concert. In "Will's Dilemma", he is seen receiving a handjob from Tara at Neil's party. His parents briefly split up in "The Duke of Edinburgh Awards", but they had reconciled by the end of the episode. Simon is perhaps the most irritable of the group, especially when in discussions with his family, where he frequently overreacts to gentle goading and even kindly advice. He is often shown to be extremely impulsive and vulgar, saying and doing things that cause him great embarrassment. In the last episode, the boys play a phone game where they have to send embarrassing messages to anyone on their phonebook. Simon later receives a text back from Carli that leaves him with a smile, which suggests she feels the same way as Simon, and indicates that there is more in store for him and Carli.

In The Inbetweeners Movie, the group goes to Malia, Crete after their last day of school. It turns out Carli is there too, because Neil asked her where she was going and copied her idea. Simon chases Carli for the whole movie, leaving a girl named Lucy in the dust. In the end, Carli kissed Simon on a party boat, but only to get back at another boy. Simon tells her that their relationship probably wouldn't work out and tries to swim from the boat back to the shore to Lucy. He almost drowns, gets air-lifted to the shore where he tells Lucy how he feels about her, then goes to a hospital. In the credits, found footage shows all the boys with their new girlfriends, which indicates that they all found the right person in Greece and it all ended "happily ever after".

Jay Cartwright

James Buckley plays Jay

Jay is obsessed with sex, with almost all his comments being about the subject. He frequently lies and exaggerates about his experiences – sexual and otherwise – often making crude comments about girls/women in general and offering highly questionable 'advice' to his friends. In fact, he is the least sexually experienced of the group, frequently relying on pornography to attain gratification, as he finds it difficult engaging with girls. His dad contradicts Jay's claims 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 insecure and two-faced, often inventing stories about his various exploits and giving his friends advice about sex to bolster his ego, while being aware that they will inevitably fail.

At the end of the first series, Jay opens up to Big John, 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. 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 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, purely because he is unable to work out that Jay's extravagant stories about himself are lies. He is often quite arrogant; 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 party ("Will's Birthday") from a girl named Sadie Cunningham during registration.

In 'The Inbetweeners Movie', Jay is the force behind the idea that the boys should go out, drink and sleep with random girls; however, he ends up falling for a girl named Jane who, despite being overweight, is easy going and funny. He initially insults her and implies he is embarrassed by her weight, to which she writes him off, but they reconcile when he realises his pre-conceived ideas about girls aren't quite right and that he really likes Jane. Despite his series-long judgemental nature about girls' appearances, he appears to have overcome it when Neil makes a careless remark about her weight, and he replies with "What a horrible thing to say". She gives him his first ever blow job and they immediately become a couple.

Neil Sutherland

Blake Harrison plays Neil

Neil is the slow and somewhat dim-witted member of the group. 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. Due to his slow nature, he is often the only person who believes Jay's outrageous stories, and often fails to pick up the sarcasm in Will's one-liners. His friends tease him about his father being a "bender"; both Neil and his father strongly deny these rumours. He has, along with Simon, passed his driving test and owns a souped-up Vauxhall Nova GSi, but he is yet to drive it as it does not have an engine. Despite being mentally slow, he is friendly and outgoing compared to the rest of the group.

Neil is the most sexually experienced of the group and spent a night in Simon's car with a Goth in the series one episode "Caravan Club". It is also revealed 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 when Will turned his back. He also managed to get a blow job off Will's crying date Kerry after his 18th birthday party. Neil is revealed to have sexual encounters with various seen and unseen female characters on the show, including a co-worker at Asda. In the final episode of series 3, Neil worries that he has impregnated her, but receives a text stating otherwise. He celebrates the fact that he has contracted an STI from her, assuming that this is 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 extremely attractive older sister, whom the boys stare at when around at Neil's; however, he usually doesn't get embarrassed or annoyed by the attention like Will does about his mum, more likely because he is simple-minded and doesn't dwell on it. His dad is often shown to be annoyed by Neil's thoughtlessness, and constantly says in an exasperated tone "Neil!". Recurring jokes are that despite his lack of intelligence, Neil tends to be right about meaningless facts, and that he often unintentionally gets with girls Will is pursuing. Neil often hooks up with much older, unattractive women - he is shown to be surprised when he thinks Saucy Asda Karen is pregnant, because "she told me she couldn't have any more kids". In the extended 'The Inbetweeners Movie', an extra scene reveals that he pursues old women because of his lust after Will's mum and he thinks that they look like her, despite clearly not looking anything like her.

In the movie, he has an age-appropriate girlfriend named Nicole, whom he swears he couldn't cheat on whilst on holiday because he thinks he loves her and he has "effics" (ethics); however, his definition of cheating changes conveniently with his sexual activity, such as it's not cheating if there's no kissing, or not if only "the tip goes in; any more than that is cheating". When he finally gets together with Lisa and she expresses her unhappiness with the situation because she too has "effics", he tells her Nicole dumped him before they left for Malia so it isn't cheating at all. This is implied to have been a lie when in the credits, Nicole shows up to greet him at the airport and he runs away with Lisa to avoid her, leaving Nicole confused.

Secondary characters

Phil Gilbert

Mr Gilbert is the head of sixth form, and has taken a strong dislike to the boys, Will in particular. He is somewhat sardonic, often taking delight at any misfortune that happens to Will – even going so far as to threaten him if he snitched on whoever tied him up and put a bin over his head. Gilbert is a totally merciless teacher, and punishes anyone who steps out of line, especially the boys. He is sadistic, dry and depressed and appears to possess little or no enthusiasm for his occupation, and tells Will that "the only reason people go into teaching is because they are unambitious, unlucky and the relaxed rules on police background checks". He went into complete hysterics upon hearing that Will was thrown into the lake during the work placement, in front of Will's mother. In Series 3, he gives Jay and Neil four weeks' detention after they mention "Waterside", the shopping centre they spotted him buying soft toys in. By the third series he is single, and refers to Will's mum as "very much his type". He also threatens Will that he will completely ruin his university application if he does not find out who destroyed a local roundabout's flower arrangement, as he believes Will sticks his "beaky nose" into everybody's business and must know who did it.

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" and "irritating personalities" (the latter said 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.

In the second movie it is revealed that Gilbert has been sleeping with Will's mother. They become engaged at the end of the movie, to the utter horror of Will, as he realises that Gilbert will soon become his stepfather.

Carli D'Amato

Carli is Simon's love interest and has been since they were eight. She is popular and attractive, with an older rugby-player boyfriend, making her even more unattainable. Although she is well aware of his crush on her, she only seems to think of Simon as a platonic friend - it is implied that she strings him along to gain his favour. Simon is oblivious to Carli's shallow, manipulative and selfish personality, although his friends are not as fooled. On several occasions, Will and Jay have openly expressed contempt 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 study for exams at his house, and when there, mentions 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 another subject that he is not even taking himself. He ends up spending the entire revision period studying for her Geography final, 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. However Simon refuses to reveal the nature of the response, but expressing great pleasure 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 uni, 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 in 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 cocky holiday rep. At a boat party, she and James fall out and Carli asks Simon to kiss her to make James jealous. Simon eventually realises that Carli is using him for her own ends and breaks up with her for good.

Mark Donovan

Henry Lloyd-Hughes plays Mark

Donovan is the school bully, who often picks on Will. This is partly because he caught Will kissing his ex-girlfriend Charlotte. Donovan is somewhat sensitive, ensuring that Will is "gentle" with Charlotte and becoming violent towards exchange student Patrice when he is caught in bed with her. He is the typical bully, who is polite and friendly in front of parents or teachers, but is otherwise a thug. When he reveals his sensitive side to Will, he threatens him with death if he speaks of it. He appears to be less hostile, but by no means friendly, towards Jay, Simon or Neil. In Series 3, it is revealed that Mark 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. Donovan reappears in the film, after Mr. Gilbert's speech, where he says goodbye to the lads, 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 done so hard the underwear used for the wedgie is torn off of Will.

Charlotte Hinchcliffe

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 "Tara Update!", because Simon talks about her constantly. He manages to keep this up even when vomiting profusely due to a hang-over on the car journey back from Warwick.

Big John

Mr Kennedy

Waen Shepherd plays Mr Kennedy

Minor and one-off characters

David Glover

David

'Football Friend'

Becky

'Punk Girl'

Lauren Harris

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"

Drug Dealer

Mrs. D'Amato

Sophie

Heike

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

Fergus

Mrs. Springett

Family

Polly McKenzie

Polly is Will's attractive mother, who several of his classmates have stated their attraction to. Because of her separation she cannot afford to continue sending Will to a private school, which sets up the pilot episode, but she attributes their house and school move to bullying. 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, or when she told Simon and Mark Donovan in Thorpe Park about the time he cried on the ghost train, or when, as a child, he stripped off his clothes 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 Hinchliffe, one of the most popular girls in school, by telling him that someone like himself 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 won't do drugs because he is scared. Because of Will's sarcastic replies, she usually looks pleased with herself afterward. However, Will seems to have quite a childlike attachment to his mother, whom he cries to when he is upset, gets her to report his bullying to Mr Gilbert, and relies on to insert his suppositories.

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 can't 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, when she has laid two bowls for breakfast, Will becomes suspicious, although it is masked by the fact that Will's grandmother is staying. Then, at the end of the film, Polly announces to Will that she and Mr Gilbert have entered into a relationship, have been having sexual intercourse and that they are soon to be married, to Will's horror as Mr Gilbert is to become his new step-dad.

Pamela Cooper

Pamela is Simon's mother. She is a stern but supportive mother, however this is often met by embarrassment and surliness from Simon. The details of her and Mr. Cooper's sex life are often shared with the boys by him, 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 gets embarrassed and annoyed by her "blubbing". However, they 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

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 Wales, 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

Katie Sutherland

Neil's Gran


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 and is then called a mechanic.

The Headmaster - Mr Hopkins

He 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 such as hair removal cream and an invite card to Louise Graham's birthday party. It is not clear whether she sits in the assembly near Jay in the film. Interestingly, 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. It is unknown whether he is Neil's friend.

Chris Groves

In the first episode of Series 2, Jay mentions that he has a mate in Year 13 by this name. He mentions his name again in the Series 3 preview. Due to the outlandish nature of Jay's claims, it is questionable whether he even exists, since Simon had never heard of him. However due to Jay's determination that is stemmed from a claim presumably made by Chris, it is highly possible that the character is real.

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", he is supposed to be modelling with Carli D'Amato in the 'Sexy Finale' Theme in which he had to wear speedos, DMs, a tophat 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, technically making him a 'one off' character.

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.

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, though many assume the reason for the divorce was Kevin's supposed homosexuality. 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, but Jay crashed it shortly afterwards. She is the only parent among the four boys who is never seen.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 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 2009-04-21.