Where the original Inbetweeners cast are now from pilot that was never released
The Inbetweeners 3 has been confirmed by Netflix with all of the main four cast members from the TV show returning, but the majority of that cast were not the original choices for their role.
James Buckley, Blake Harrison, Joe Thomas, and Simon Bird are now legendary for their portrayals of the young brits, but in the original version of the show only one of them were part of the cast and they had a completely different role.
The Inbetweeners is one of the most iconic British TV shows of the 21st century, second only to The Office in all likelihood, but this wasn’t even the original name of the series.
Superfans will know that it was originally called Baggy Trousers and was going to be set in the 1980s, but the initial unreleased pilot was (according to creator Iain Morris and James Buckley) terrible so it never made it to air. Now, they have managed to be so successful that they are being brought back for a third film 12 years on due to extreme fan demand.
Advert
Morris and his co-creator Beesley however clearly realised they were onto something and so continued on with the show, but all the original actors had to re-audition for their roles, with all but one of them not making it onto the final show.
Here’s what that cast are doing, along with who they originally played in Baggy Trousers.
Matt Green – Will Mackenzie
Matt Green was initially cast to play the lead character Will rather than Simon Bird, and has gone on to have a pretty successful career in stand up.
Green has taken multiple stand-up shows to the Edinburgh fringe and continues to work as a stand-up to this day.
He also has a political podcast called Oh God, What Now? and has continued finding regular work as an on-screen actor with small roles in Netflix’s Legends, the recent remake of Wuthering Heights, and Slow Horses, as well as having previously appeared in supporting roles in Fresh Meat and Doctor Who.
Laura Aikman – Carli D’Amato
Of the actors who appeared in the pilot and never made it to the full show, Laura Aikman is pretty inarguably the biggest name of the lot.
Aikman has starred in This City Is Ours, Suspect, and Casualty, but is best known for brilliantly playing Smithie’s horrible fiancé Sonia in Gavin and Stacey.
The actor has posted footage of her as Carli, Simon’s love interest who was ultimately played by Emily Head, and said: “All of the cast were asked to reaudition for their parts when the pilot went to series - I didn’t as I was already cast in a show called Teenage Kicks… which was cancelled after one series.”
Darcy Thomas – Lee (the character who would become Jay)
Darcy Thomas played the character of Lee, who would eventually be replaced within the friendship group by the role of Jay, who wasn’t in the pilot.
Thomas has spoken about missing out on the role, crediting Morris and Beesley with giving him small roles in the eventual show.
He stated that this gave him his start behind the camera and went on to work in production across TV and Film. He is now a BAFTA winner, activist, and creative, and launched a UK Youth Day, hosting events in London.
James Buckley – Neil Sutherland
James Buckley might be Jay in all our heads and hearts, but there was a time where he was actually going to be playing Neil instead.
He has spoken in the past about being thankful that nothing beyond small clips has ever been released from the pilot, stating it is ‘so bad that human eyes aren't allowed to see it’.
Whilst some may be bitter about losing out the role, Thomas has actually spoken about the decision with positivity, telling Digital Spy: “Lee was basically a similar kind of character to Jay – champion blagger, but there were also truths to accompany his rudeness. I knew [James Buckley from] when we were kids, so I don't know what he's like now, but back then, my boy Buckley was hilarious – he was actually the real-life Jay, not just on screen.”
Adam Joselyn – Simon Cooper
Joselyn is the focus of one of the few clips from the pilot to have been release in which Simon draws a heart outside Carli’s house with chalk only for her to come across him mid-act.
The comedian has not acted in a long while though, last appearing in a project on IMDb in 2016, as well as a web series he wrote and starred in Twins in 2018.
He now goes by Adam Honig-Joselyn and has worked as a director at JosTec, a building regulations compliance company.
Topics: The Inbetweeners, Netflix, Nostalgia, TV and Film, TV
Michael Slavin