Fans of The Inbetweeners are really starting to feel old after learning the real age of Joe Thomas, who played Simon on the show.
With the show ending in 2010, and the second movie having been released in 2014, it's fair to say quite a bit of time has passed since the iconic four hit our screens.
It’s not exactly unheard of for people in their 20s to play characters that are much younger – just ask anyone who has ever seen a US teen drama – and The Inbetweeners was no different.
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The main cast ranged in age from 20 – James Buckley was the baby of the bunch – to Thomas, who was the oldest at 24.
By the time the movie rolled around they would all have been a good deal older.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons that the Channel 4 show didn’t actually have that many episodes.
Starting in 2008, running for only two years until 2010, we have to assume that the characters ageing out of being believable in a school setting would have been a reason for that.
Some folks actually started realising how old Thomas was going to be earlier in the year, with one post on Twitter – as it was called at the time – stating: "He is the same age now, as Greg Davies was when he first played Mr Gilbert."
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This caused a bit of consternation with other fans of the show.
"I didn’t want to know that and f*** you," one fan said.
Anyway today is Thomas' birthday today, and he turns the big 4 0.
This news was revealed on an X fan account for the show, which posted: “Want to feel old? Joe Thomas is 40 today.
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“Happy Birthday Si.”
To be quite honest, it stands to reason that he’d be 40 by now, that’s just how time works, after all.
Still, that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t come as a shock to anyone who wasn’t counting the days of Joe Thomas’ life off their calendar as a marker for their own age.
"My feeling old moment," said a second.
A third person simply said: "Thanks, I hate this."
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However, there was some wisdom as well.
One comment on Reddit said: "For anyone teetering on the edge of an existential crisis, that would make him about 25 [24, which is about 25, we guess] at the time the first season aired. He wasn't actually a teenager, so don't worry too much."
Anyway, time comes for us all, if we’re lucky.
Happy Birthday Joe!
Topics: Celebrity, TV and Film, The Inbetweeners, Channel 4, Social Media, Twitter, Reddit
Tom Wood