Inbetweeners star James Buckley stands by road with his wife before the inevitable happens

Actors like Taylor Lautner and Tom Felton just can’t seem to shake off the shackles of their iconic teen roles.

Another actor seemingly tethered to their character forever is James Buckley.

Of course, the star is best known for portraying the loveable liar Jay Cartwright on The Inbetweeners and for bringing the ‘Ooh, friend’ meme into our daily vocabulary.

Unbelievably, it’s been 15 years since Buckley, now 37, first popped onto our screens as Jay.

For fans of the Channel 4 show, this also means it’s been more than a decade since you started calling public transport takers ‘bus wa***rs’.

And if that doesn’t make you feel old, I’m not sure what will.

Despite the passage of time, Buckley is still subjected to the classic heckles and amazingly, he’s caught a couple on camera.

The White Gold actor was recently attempting to enjoy a day out at the beach with his wife, Clair Meek and children Harrison, 11, and nine-year-old Jude.

However, while the celeb had his arm around his At Home with the Buckleys co-star, a fan could be heard shouting ‘bus w****r’ in the background.

Elsewhere in the video - shared with his 88,200 TikTok followers - Buckley can be heard being addressed by the legendary sentiment again.

This time, the star turned around and shouted back at the fan: “How’s it going mate, alright?”, before smiling and laughing with his wife.

In the caption of the video, the father-of-two wrote: “You want to take your family to the seaside.

“But you’re Jay from The Inbetweeners.”

Since the clip was posted to social media on Friday, fans have come out in their droves to debate the content.

One TikTok user wrote: “I like to believe that The Inbetweeners was a documentary.”

A second said: “I’m sorry, but I shouted ‘ooooh friends’ at you once. Legend mate.”

“Such a nice guy,” said a third. “Sat with him for about 15 minutes in (sic) Bluewater shopping centre while our mrs were in New Look. Both had enough wanted to go home.”

Another commented: “Unfortunately just too iconic. (sic) You’re never going to get away from it!

“My son’s watching the series and films so even next generation.”

“Absolute legend, such a good guy,” wrote a fourth. “Made the nation laugh, and carrying on making us laugh.”

Earlier this year, the actor opened up about why he, Simon Bird, Blake Harrison and Joe Thomas will never revive the cringeworthy coming-of-age series.

Chatting about his and his wife’s podcast, In Sickness And In Health, with the Daily Mail, Buckley said: "It was all justified because they were never the heroes.

“They were idiots and they got what they deserved. That's why it can't come back - you can't have men in their late thirties acting like they're in sixth form and getting away with that stuff.”

He added: "I always get asked if I'd ever do more and I said, 'for no amount of money' and that quote got run away.

"I didn't mean about money - it means more to me than money."