Inbetweeners pilot episode shows Jay originally playing Neil

If you're a Brit and came of age during the chaotic period of the noughties - then you'll know that Jay from the Inbetweeners is one of the key figureheads of youth culture as we know.

The iconic character, played by none other than James Buckley, 36, has gone down in history for his razor-sharp wit, hilarious one-liners and for generally being an all-round loudmouth.

However, what many fans don't know is the star almost didn't play Jay with resurfaced footage from The Inbetweeners pilot episode showing Jay originally playing the character of Neil.

Can't imagine it? Check it out:

We've all grown to know and love the socially awkward quartet of lads embark on a whole load of daring escapades and cringe-worthy shenanigans as they clumsily navigate through adolescence together.

It's definitely tricky to try and imagine a cast more perfectly suited to their roles than the likes of Buckley, Simon Bird, Joe Thomas and Blake Harrison - but it could have almost been a possibility.

On The Inbetweeners thread on Reddit, one social media user shared a rare clip of the Channel 4 show's pilot, which was originally called Baggy Trousers.

In the opening credits sequence, the clip sees a fresh-faced Buckley cast as Neil instead of Jay, and it has left people beyond baffled.

Many were thankful the original casting choice never went forward with one Redditer writing: "I'm glad Buckley never played Neil."

Channel 4

"Well that, was f*cking dreadful," hit out a second.

A third penned: "Looks like something that would be on CBBC."

Clearly enraged by the pilot, a fourth slammed: "What the f*ck is this sh*t? I'd never of watched that."

"I guess this is what unaired pilots are for," commented a fifth while a sixth added: "Well it’s no surprise they recast and tweaked the show this would have flopped hard."

A final Reddit user claimed: "Still better than the US version."

Now, that's something I'm sure we can all agree upon.

Buckely has previously revealed he played a different character in the Inbetweeners pilot, which was 'so bad people weren't allowed to see' it.

Speaking on an episode of the Big Fish with Spencer Matthews podcast, Buckley explained: "The only two people that are in the pilot that are in the show is me and Greg Davis, and I'm playing a different part, which is odd, like really bizarre.

"It was looking like it wasn't going to happen," he recalled. "Then I got some news that it was going to be made but they were going to recast it."

Channel 4

The White Gold star went on: "I heard I got a phone call from my then agent. She literally said something like, 'I've got some good news and I've got some bad news. The good news is that they're going ahead with The Inbetweeners, or Baggy Trousers as it was called. Then I was like, 'Brilliant, i'm going to be in a sitcom. Absolutely amazing!'.

"She went: 'Bad news is that they're recasting'. I said there's no good news here, it's just bad news. They're making the show, but you've, you've got nothing to do with it."

He continued: "I then got in touch with Damon Beasley, one of the co-creators of The Inbetweeners, and I said 'I heard that that is going ahead, congratulations... and you know, i know you guys are recasting, but if there's another part or if there's one of the parts that are featured in an episode or something like that, like I'd love to come in and do a job for you.'

"And he replied saying:, 'No, we want you to be Jay. Did you, did your agent not tell you this? We need to see you tomorrow to talk to you about this and and we're going to audition a load of other kids at the time.'"

Talk about a misunderstanding.