I rewatched The Inbetweeners: Here’s every episode and both films definitively ranked

I was struck with an inexplicable craving last week. I hungered to rewatch The Inbetweeners in its entirety. I don’t know why this urge came over me, but it demanded to be scratched. I haven’t watched it in years, but I adored it from memory – and have seen it all the way through multiple times in my teen years. I was in year eight when it came out and starting university by the time the second film came to cinemas. To say this show was formative to the culture I was growing up in is an understatement. Everyone watched, everyone quoted. I believe it to be the most accurate show ever written to fully represent how everyone spoke and interacted in this era – it is a perfect time capsule. Even rewatching all these years later, I was never offended by the casual homophobia – you aren’t meant to think they’re in the right. It’s still hilarious, still outrageous. And honestly? It never really missed. Here’s a ranked rundown of all The Inbetweeners episodes and both films, all these years later.

20. The Inbetweeners 2

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Ranked last is The Inbetweeners 2, a sequel nobody was counting on or asking for. But, against all odds, it’s not actually that bad at all. I remember unexpectedly loving this in the cinema in 2014, and whilst I don’t think it holds up as well today I do think there are a lot of laughs to be had. The poo / slide saga is excellent, the “a wob a bob bob” car moment and Will singing around the campfire are all classic moments. Biggest issue here is the bizarre way the film undoes anything nice about the characters in the previous film – the jarring pivot of Lucy to being literally abusive towards Simon comes from nowhere.

Unsure how I feel about the scene that baits the audience into thinking all four of the lads are about to die in the outback. Part of me loves the tonal shift but then the way the film throws away all the sincerity of the emotion? I’m conflicted.

Better than it has any right to be considering it is the only time the franchise feels like its flogging a dead an unnecessary horse – but still the least essential part of anything with the Inbetweeners name to it.

19. The Inbetweeners Movie

I used to hold this in much higher regard than I do now. However, unlike its sequel, this does feel like the perfect send off for the characters and it makes complete sense we’d have a feature length episode showing their first lads holiday. Like the show at its best, it also stands as a time capsule of the Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents era of holidays. So many hilarious and essential moments in this film. The dance! Lives were changed. Richard. “Kitty don’t bite. Not now she’s been fed.” Simon’s reaction to Carli dumping him. Honestly, when revisiting The Inbetweeners to get them all ranked – being lukewarm on the film was the most shocking part.

The thing that worsens the films is when you watch them in tandem with the show it is just so jarring how flashy and gimmicky they are compared to the show. Obviously, that’s natural – budget increase, the fact it was in cinemas. But I feel like the rawness of the humour is lost when bells and whistles are gained and, in my opinion, makes the jokes too broad.

18. Camping Trip

The final episode of The Inbetweeners is actually the one I’m getting ranked last. I must say, I don’t think any of the 18 episodes the show ran for are bad. There isn’t one without laughs or that feels like a waste of time. Why am I ranking this the lowest? I think the show takes things too far in terms of what people would forgive. Would Will chill out about everyone burning his things? Would Simon so quickly get over the fact Jay and Neil give up holding his infamous car and cause it to go in the lake? I don’t buy it. Then the tent sick scene is so slapstick – I just don’t think it’s the funniest writing.

17. Exam Time

Much of this episode is centred around the titular exams, which means the laughs come from Will stressing about revising. It’s a bit broad, in my opinion. Obviously the big centrepiece is the exam hall poo disaster, which is a classic moment with the historical line “I thought it was a fart, sir. I thought it was safe.” Elsewhere, Jay has a girlfriend who he gets dumped by – and whilst it’s nice to see some depth to the character it’s not a laugh haven.

16. Girlfriend

Aka, the episode where Will pulls Charlotte Hinchcliffe. Sort of. The iconic scene where he attempts to have sex with her like a plank of wood is a historical moment. Also love Will standing up to Donovan in the bedroom. An episode that has a lot of impact on plot across the series but not the biggest belly laughs or concept.

It DOES however, birth “ooooh, friend!” And for that, we are eternally grateful.

15. Duke of Edinburgh

“A cock wig!” “Sorry if I seem a little stressed, it’s just I’ve got no fucking pubes!” Classic Will lines here that I adore so much. Also adore all Will and Mr Gilbert moments. Adore less – anything that goes down at the old people’s home. How old is Will’s former babysitter who wants to date him and sleep with him ages 17? Felt normal when I watched it as a kid, now I’m less sure.

14. Xmas Party

A great way to round off season one, with the immortal “too jazzy?”. Adore this episode, although it kind of annoys me there’s no follow up to the girl who fancies Jay and they DJ together? Where has she gone? I love that shot of them all at the end on the trampoline – pure cinema. A great episode that closes things off in a way that feels like a finale – in case the show never got renewed for more seasons.

13. Work Experience

Good concept here as we approach the midway of Inbetweeners ranked: Will and Neil get a mix up during work experience which leaves Will at a bloke-y garage and Neil at a local newspaper. I love that the show never belittles either – Neil is a breath of fresh air for the paper who really like him, and Will tries to demean the garage only to be fully out of his depth. The episode’s best sequence comes from the under 18s disco at the end where Simon gets a handjob on the dance floor and everyone watches, before being beat up by some gobby kid with a hard family. Charlotte is also back!

Best bit is when they’re all hiding in the toilet and Will walks in and says “What is happening here” in the most perfect Will way.

12. Trip to Warwick

Simon and Tara want to have sex, so they’re going to her sister’s uni house in Warwick to do the deed. Everyone ends up coming along for various reasons, but mostly because they want something to do. I love an Inbetweeners episode with an agenda and a setup – and the change in location and switch to parodying the ridiculousness of late 00s uni lad culture with their stupid drinking rules and chants are so funny. The disastrous shag debacle which ends Simon’s relationship is one of the most chaotic and hard to watch scenes in the whole show but in the best way.

11. Night Out in London 

The episode that gave the world “bus wankers”. I love them navigating London in the stupid car. I love the drama of Simon’s trainers and the piss soaked homeless man’s shoes he swaps with. Like most nights out, especially in London, the club is shite and they’re there for about half an hour. This show is all about realism.

10. Will’s Dilemma

The ranked upper echelon of Inbetweeners episodes begins. And it’s a cracker. Will is set up with Kerry, one of Tara’s mates. He is bribed into double dating with Tara and Simon by Simon’s promise Kerry is known for giving blowjobs. Will wants one. The dilemma is, Will doesn’t like Kerry who is, admittedly, a bit annoying – but the lads are predictably vile about her height. Jay calls her “Canary Wharf”, for example. Neil invites Tara and Kerry and some random geeks to his birthday party because he’s allowed 10 guests – which results in Will’s dilemma reaching a chaotic conclusion where he tells Kerry he’s not interested – prompting her to lie and say Will took advantage of her. I love this show most when Will is having a bit of a paddy in a stressful situation, and this episode has a classic.

9. Will Is Home Alone

Perfect, perfect concept. Will’s mum is off for a weekend of shags with the mysterious “Fergus” – so the boys slowly come round and disturb Will’s peace and get steadily drunk. Jay and Neil have a new penchant for destroying flowers, which gets feral in the night and then in the morning an angry neighbour is battering the house to confront them. This whole sequence is absolute perfection. “I know you’re in there. I can see your feet.”

8. Fashion Show

Season three came back with a bang. Fashion Show is as hilarious as the concept of these lads having to do a fashion show always was going to be. Will’s dancing, Simon’s testicle hanging out, Neil getting nonced by Pedo Kennedy and the angry Alistair ruling the event like a manic tyrant – just hilarious.

7. The Gig and the Girlfriend

From here on in, it’s classic Inbetweeners episode ranked after the next classic. All amazing. This is the introduction of Tara, who’s one of the more solid girlfriends the show introduces and a far better match for Simon than the abysmal Carli. They all go to a gig and smoke weed, which Jay blags he’s done loads but still somehow smokes. I LOVE “Come on Will, it’s just a LEEDLE SPLEEF” and “Everybody does a bit of puff”. When Will eats the weed you know excellence is happening. “Mummy. Or ambulance.”

6. Caravan Club

A lot of lore building to this one – as Jay has promised the caravan club he goes to with his family is some sort of sex haven. Obviously it’s not, and it is truly shite. But we do get loads of classic moments, especially once the crap party goes down in the wooden function room. Will doing the skids instead of getting off with the goth is golden.

5. First Day

So much happens in the pilot of The Inbetweeners that it’s quite hard to grasp it all being in one episode, and even more of a testament to the show how quickly everything works and feels… right. Will arrives at the school with his name badge and briefcase, rapidly attaches himself to Simon and ergo Neil and Jay. The whole lot of them then go to the pub but arrive at the wrong one before eventually getting to the right one and Will has his iconic breakdown about them all being underage: “16, 16 at a push 17.”

Way too many laughs for a pilot episode set to establish the show – it feels like you’ve already been watching these guys interact for seasons. It’s a perfect first ep, and sets up so many characters including all the lads’ families, Carli and Donovan.

4. Bunk Off

Without a shadow of a doubt, one of the funniest and most chaotic The Inbetweeners episodes – and it comes ranked right in here despite only being the second ep of the show. The lads bunk off school, and Will dressing as an adult to get served in the shop (“hence the crisps”) is utter perfection. The drunker they get the more chaotic it becomes. Will’s homophobic and racist rant at Neil’s dad is jaw dropping but still makes me howl at how utterly outrageous it is. Bumder. Lives were changed. Mostly mine, who probably got called one as I remained in the closet at school. You had to be there.

Simon being sick on Carli’s brother. Will and Simon lying that they got abused by Neil’s dad. Just utter CHAOS. Classic episode.

3. Will’s Birthday

So much great stuff happens in this episode – the perfect kick off for the top three ranked podium episodes of The Inbetweeners. Simon has a French exchange student, Patrice – who everyone fancies and thinks is cool except the boys who think he’s utterly bizarre and weird. Patrice excels where the others constantly fail. Will’s mum openly fancying him though is weird to say the least. Will is desperate to have a sophisticated birthday dinner party, which no one can adhere to. Many breakdowns ensue – climaxing in a party hijack that ruins Will’s birthday further.

Best bit of the whole episode is when Patrice pisses on someone’s garden, so the other four run off to ditch him but he catches them up and they all run together for no reason. Too good.

2. Thorpe Park

I think if you thought about The Inbetweeners, it’s this episode that comes to mind first. The visual of the gang – Neil in lost property clothes with tight red pants and Simon carrying his door is so iconic and sums up the show, in my opinion. It’s also the introduction of Simon’s infamous yellow car – and the entire pervert driving instructor saga. The whole episode builds to the Nemesis: Inferno which Will is gagging to go on, front row. The final punchline sees Will being furious and full of rage towards what turns out to be a group of disabled people. The moment is honestly perfection. Watching Will’s face drop to reveal he’s an awful person is just… magic.

1. Field Trip

“You punched a fish to death”. “Feisty one, you are!” “And say what? Help, we’ve caught a fish?” All magic moments of the perfect Inbetweeners episode, one that I simply must have ranked at the top. Field Trip hits all bases and gets a home run doing so. Taking the action to Swanage is a fun move that brings us the chaos of a school coach, the hell of Pedo Kennedy grooming Neil, the saga of Simon and Will both fancying new girl Lauren, Jay hunting down a mythical and imaginary MILF and then the boat hiring saga of the final act that is the funniest sequence in the whole show. Perfection.

This rewatch has been a nostalgic journey, and it’s ben a joy to rediscover why I loved this show so much back in the day. Simon Bird, who plays Will, said he doesn’t think the show would get made today because of the homophobic comments made casually by the characters. I kind of agree, but also think it’s hard to be offended by the show. As a gay man who was this age when the show was coming out, I don’t think any other show has so accurately portrayed how this age group behaved and spoke to each other. It’s a time of the past, but a fascinating one where the laughs and the writing still hold up.

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