Brits are 'feeling old' after learning how old Joe Thomas from The Inbetweeners is this year

Brits have just been sent into existential dread after learning how old one of the main stars from The Inbetweeners turns this year.

Joe Thomas, the actor who played Simon in the hit Channel 4 sitcom, has a very big birthday milestone ahead of him and the news is making fans all over 'feel old'.

While the show spanned for just three seasons, it's clear that the chaotic lives of Simon, Will, Neil and - of course - Jay, will forever be seared into our own coming of age.

Channel 4

Running from 2008 through to 2010, writers Damon Beesley and Iain Morris blessed our screens with 18 eventful episodes following the trials and tribulations of four painfully socially awkward friends.

From 'bus w***ers' to pretty much every sexual innuendo made by Jay ever, it's clear that the iconic television show has achieved some kind of cult-status that has lasted all these years.

Two films have also since been released following the end of the show, The Inbetweeners Movie (2011) and its sequel The Inbetweeners 2 (2014).

Regardless, Brits have not had their fix of the un-dynamic quartet for nearly a decade now.

Channel 4

And, speaking of time, fans cannot wrap their head around the fact that Thomas will be turning a whole forty years old this year.

While the birthday marking four decades of life isn't until October, it's obvious that fans maybe would have preferred not to know about the news.

Drawing up a parallel I think we'd all rather not be aware of, one Reddit user pointed out: "He is the same age now, as Greg Davies was when he first played Mr Gilbert."

"I didn’t want to know that and f*** you," a second added, with a very fitting sad face.

A third sarcastically wrote: "Thanks, I hate this."

"My feeling old moment," revealed a fourth.

Clearly the dawning of time proved a little too intense for another who commented: "F***… It’s been a while."

Yes - it sure has 'been a while'.

Channel 4

Fellow soon-to-be pensioners who also have four-decades behind them shared their pain.

"I turned 40 last year, f*** you," one commented.

A second wrote: "I turn 40 this year, that's reminder enough."

"If anything is making me feel old this year it's the fact that I turn 40," a third admitted.

"I've just turned 40. STFU with the 'old' b***cks," a fourth warned.

Another Reddit user dubbed the whole ordeal 'depressing'.

They commented: "Thanks for reminding life is utter trash. You spend 80% longer being old then being young. Fml."

However, one sympathetic Redditer offered some words of wisdom to help us all relax.

Warning fans not to bust out the zimmer frame just yet, they wrote: "For anyone teetering on the edge of an existential crisis, that would make him about 25 at the time the first season aired. He wasn't actually a teenager, so don't worry too much."

A final Brit confirmed: "Don't feel too old, he was 24 when he did The Inbetweeners."