The Inbetweeners' James Buckley 'could have died' filming cult scene for the show

Blake Harrison has revealed how his co-star Buckley came close to firing a flare in his own face

The Inbetweeners's James Buckley almost had a fatal accident while filming a famous scene for the show, one of his co-stars has revealed.

Buckley, Blake Harrison, Joe Thomas, and Simon Bird are re-uniting for a New Year's Day special marking the 10-year anniversary of the show's debut in 2008. The special, titled Fwends Reunited, is set to air on 1 January on Channel 4.

In the lead-up to the episode, Harrison told The Sun how Buckley came close to firing a flare in his own eye while filming The Field Trip, the series two premiere that aired in 2009 for the first time.

In the episode, Jay Cartwright (Buckley), Neil Sutherland (Harrison), Simon Cooper (Thomas) and Will McKenzie (Bird) end up stranded on a boat.

At one point, Cartwright pulls a large fish into the boat, causing McKenzie to panic.

In an attempt to defuse the situation, Cartwright sets off a flare, hoping authorities will come and rescue them.

According to Harrison, Buckley didn't handle the flare properly, and could have been seriously harmed as a result.

“He genuinely could have died," Harrison said of his co-star.

“He looked down the barrel of it before it goes off and we were told don’t ever do that because if it goes off, it has the force of a grenade.

“So when James does that and half a second later it comes out, that’s how close we were to recasting."

In the scene, though, the flare simply shots up to the sky, and the large fish remains the four friends' biggest problem.

The Inbetweeners wrapped up in October 2010 after three seasons. The show was adapted into two movies, which came out respectively in 2011 and 2014. A US remake ran in 2012 for only one season.

Fwends Reunited will air at 9pm on New Year's Day. Jimmy Carr will host the two-hour special.