The Inbetweeners Movie: When comedy takes a break

It's a path well-travelled, from TV sitcom to holiday movie. Will those Crete-bound 'Inbetweeners' make the trip more successfully than their predecessors? Matt Chorley investigates

News in pictures
News in pictures
On Facebook
Arts & Ents blogs

DJ Fresh: I’ve never been so excited about making music

“I wouldn’t say I’m going for my third consecutive number one,” says Dan, “It’s dangerous to become ...

Brighton Fringe: The theatre of food

IF there are a lot of green-faced people limping around Brighton today, I think we know who to blame...

Tone Of Arc: It took forever to find my ‘Eureka!’ moment

Another artist that caught my attention in Miami this year was Tone Of Arc (AKA Derrick Boyd). Rathe...

view gallery VIEW GALLERY

Fans of The Inbetweeners will step into their local multiplex with trepidation this week when the hit sitcom following four students of Rudge Park Comp makes the perilous leap to the big screen.

The millions who watched the E4 show will be willing it to buck the trend of sitcoms and comedians who have made cinematic history with some of the worst films ever made. Die-hard devotees of the show may choose to stay away.

The cringeworthy chronicles of geeky Will (Simon Bird), love-struck Simon (Joe Thomas), dopey Neil (Blake Harrison) and sex-obsessed Jay (James Buckley) was so exquisitely observed that one wondered why no one had done it before. From the awkwardness around girls to the exaggerated claims of sexual prowess, it hooked teenagers seeking the antithesis to uber-cool Skins.

The Inbetweeners Movie, out Wednesday, sees the quartet leave their schooldays behind them and set off on a holiday to Crete. Bird told The Independent last week that the film has "so much more of an emotional heart than the TV series" and is a coming-of-age tale before they wander off into the sunset of adulthood.

But will it be funny? Previous experience is not good. Sitcoms that swap their familiar sit' for sunnier climes all too often forget to pack the comedy.

Click here or on the image on the right for 10 other suncom successes and failures

Additional reporting: Jermaine Haughton

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Career Services

Day In a Page

Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?

Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?

As scientists at Rothamsted's GM trials plead with activists not to sabotage their work, Michael McCarthy visits the battle field
Monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV

Monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV

Deep in Cameroon's rainforests, poachers are killing primates for food. Evan Williams reports from Yokadouma on a practice that could create a pandemic
Catcalls, whistles, groping: just another day for a young woman

Catcalls, whistles, groping: just another day for a young woman

Government urged to take abuse more seriously as London study shows 41 per cent are harassed
Jailing of Maori separatists stirs colonial-era resentment

Jailing of Maori separatists stirs colonial-era resentment

Militant Tuhoe tribe members defiant amid claims race relations had been set back 100 years
Fatal crashes are cyclists' fault, says Boris

Fatal crashes are cyclists' fault, says Boris

Mayor condemned for saying that two-thirds of riders killed on the road were at fault in accidents
Move over Brangelina, this night belongs to Kingston Bagpuize

Move over Brangelina, this night belongs to Kingston Bagpuize

Unlikely community movie beats the stars to get prized Leicester Square premiere
Solved after 33 years? Case of first missing boy shown on milk carton

Solved after 33 years?

Case of first missing boy shown on milk carton
Like mamma used to make: Pizza Pilgrims is proving a word-of mouth sensation

Pizza Pilgrims: Like mamma used to make

A van dispensing purist pizzas is proving a word-of mouth sensation
The supper on its uppers: Why we need to learn to entertain lavishly for less

Supper on its uppers: Entertain lavishly for less

Dinner parties are buckling under the pressures of food snobbery and belt-tightening...
The 10 best summer cookbooks

The 10 best summer cookbooks

From Claudia Roden's The Food of Spain to The Art of Cooking with Vegetables by Alain Passard...
Gorgeous Georgian: Now we can enjoy the cuisine of Russia's fiery neighbour nearer home

Gorgeous Georgian cuisine

The food of Russia's fiery neighbour is among the world's most inventive and original
Fury at Obama over filmmakers' access to Bin Laden kill team

Fury at Obama over filmmakers' access to Bin Laden kill team

White House denies putting politics before national security
Novak Djokovic: Patriot's game

Novak Djokovic: Patriot's game

The world No 1 is fiercely proud to be from Serbia and to be improving his country's profile. And he knows that winning the French Open – and therefore holding all four Slams – will do his cause no harm at all
Rugby league's great drugs cover-up

Rugby league's great drugs cover-up

After Hull's Martin Gleeson failed a drug test last year it sparked an avalanche of lies, complacency and confusion which Robin Scott-Elliot reveals for the first time
Ian Bell: Forget good-looking shots, I want to be known as a tough operator

Ian Bell: View From the Middle

It was nice to play a pressure innings at Lord's on Monday and be recognised for it