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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think The Inbetweeners is crap?

182 replies

tvchoice · 13/04/2025 10:20

And Friday Night Dinner is much better (both containing Simon Bird)? Just find that the Inbetweeners is full of too much dirty language for no reason and irritating 'lad humour'. At least with FND, the dynamic between the family (particularly Jackie and Martin), but also brilliant supporting characters such as Jim and the two Grandmas, make it a much better TV show? Does anyone agree?
On the poll, YABU means the Inbetweeners is better and YANBU means Friday Night Dinner is better😊

OP posts:
LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 13/04/2025 10:40

Antsinmypantsneedtodance · 13/04/2025 10:37

The inbetweeners is iconic. It is really a representation of teen life at the time. Or part of it. It appeals to a certain generation. Some of the words that have come out of it as well are still used by a generation bumder, bus wanker, fwwwend etc.

Friday dinner is a bit meh. The chatacters are unbelievable and its all a bit american in its humour for me.

Oh yeah.. 'Friend..' 😆

The Inbetweeners Thumbs Up GIF
BinChicken1 · 13/04/2025 10:39

Bus wanker will never not be funny 😁 I remember someone on here referring to people riding the bus as bus wankers and obviously most posters had an absolute sense of humour fail over it.

Antsinmypantsneedtodance · 13/04/2025 10:37

The inbetweeners is iconic. It is really a representation of teen life at the time. Or part of it. It appeals to a certain generation. Some of the words that have come out of it as well are still used by a generation bumder, bus wanker, fwwwend etc.

Friday dinner is a bit meh. The chatacters are unbelievable and its all a bit american in its humour for me.

LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway · 13/04/2025 10:35

OMG I could not disagree more! The Inbetweeners is brilliant! 😆 One of the best comedy shows ever. (Feisty one you are!) 😂 And it was made at a time when there wasn't any whitewashing, or wokeness, or people crying because something offended them!

Not long after this, many things started to become sanitised and censored. Things have not really recovered from the censorship police, and there is little hilarity in comedy on TV now, because so many people are afraid of upsetting the fragile, and professionally offended.

Jay had a filthy mouth though! Shock 😆But yeah, as has been said, this is what some lads talk like. (Not all!)

Friday Night Dinner is brilliant though I agree. Not better. Just different. Shit on the shitting thing! Grin

echt · 13/04/2025 10:35

I watched both in their times and now, and both are excellent. Not sure why you are comparing them as the only common factor is Simon Bird.
Inbetweeners is best for seasons 1,2 and 3. The films less so.

Friday Night Dinner - all of them.

I'm 70, still enjoy them both immensely.

I don't vote as it is fuckwitted.

autisticbookworm · 13/04/2025 10:35

I loved inbetweeners back in the day. I’m pretty sure I’d find it childish and misogynistic now. I found Friday night dinner gross and boring at the time.

MrPrehistoric · 13/04/2025 10:35

Maybe an unpopular opinion but FND is sooooooo overly-formulaic in its presentation which makes it a little hard to binge. You can expect almost the same events in every episode (e.g. Jim and the dog). There's very little that keeps me watching... Don't shoot me

BinChicken1 · 13/04/2025 10:34

I don’t think it’s a Gen Z show at all.

MrPrehistoric · 13/04/2025 10:33

chakrakkhan · 13/04/2025 10:29

The Inbetweeners is firmly a Millennial show. Gen zers were babies or young children when it came out. The cast are all almost, or already 40.

I was born in 2001, and firmly relate to this. Shall we agree it is a late millenial/early gen Z show?

BinChicken1 · 13/04/2025 10:33

Maaate · 13/04/2025 10:31

I'm 47 and still find it hilarious

Yeah, 40 here and still hilarious 😆

TheChosenTwo · 13/04/2025 10:33

I loved them both but don’t think they are targeted towards the same people really?

Pigeonqueen · 13/04/2025 10:33

The whole “joke” is that despite their laddish jokes they’ve never really had any luck with girls, and are intimidated by them and are very much loved Mummy’s and Daddy’s boys. It’s a bit like the scores of teens here in very nice South Norfolk trying to pretend they’re “road men” from south london when really they come from hugely privileged middle class backgrounds - just wearing top to toe Nike black tracksuits and trying to be tough.

chakrakkhan · 13/04/2025 10:31

I think The Inbetweeners was always a bit cringe, wasn’t that the point? Some of it very funny, some of it very cringe. But reminds me of plenty of lads I knew at the time.

Maaate · 13/04/2025 10:31

LetsWatchTheFlowersGrow · 13/04/2025 10:29

I thought the Inbetweeners was hilarious at the time. I’m guessing I wouldn’t find it so funny now, in my 40s.

I loved Friday night dinner, apart from horrible grandma. I just thought they went too far with her character

I'm 47 and still find it hilarious

BinChicken1 · 13/04/2025 10:29

YOU BUMDER

LetsWatchTheFlowersGrow · 13/04/2025 10:29

I thought the Inbetweeners was hilarious at the time. I’m guessing I wouldn’t find it so funny now, in my 40s.

I loved Friday night dinner, apart from horrible grandma. I just thought they went too far with her character

ViciousCurrentBun · 13/04/2025 10:29

I rather love both though DS says DH and I are like Jackie and Martin.

I adore Mr Gilbert’s character.

chakrakkhan · 13/04/2025 10:29

MrPrehistoric · 13/04/2025 10:24

Respectfully, I think the Inbetweeners is a cultural masterpiece. I've never seen a show that relates so directly to a whole generation (Gen Z I suppose). It's truly like watching a documentary of a British secondary school, rather than a scripted comedy.

The Inbetweeners is firmly a Millennial show. Gen zers were babies or young children when it came out. The cast are all almost, or already 40.

BinChicken1 · 13/04/2025 10:28

I love the Inbetweeners 😂

Fully appreciate it has not aged well. But I don’t care.

I loved FND as well, but they are two very different shows and you can’t really compare them, IMO.

PonyPatter44 · 13/04/2025 10:27

Friday Night Dinner is legendary. I just watched the episode where Nice Grandma fakes her own death to get out of marrying Mr Morris, and it is just brilliant.

The In-betweeners was always just OK for me. I never watched it religiously, but it was entertaining enough. I also worked with someone very much like Jay...

Isittimeformynapyet · 13/04/2025 10:27

You've certainly got your finger on the pulse OP!

You talk about "lad jokes" - I think the entire premise of The Inbetweeners was what dicks teenage boys are, so ultimately the opposite of laddish.

Lex345 · 13/04/2025 10:27

I love both of them; the dancing scene is the first inbetweeners film still makes me properly laugh!
Friday Night Dinner is great though, Tamsin Greig is brilliant in Black Books too, if you haven't seen it

Duckswaddle · 13/04/2025 10:26

Bloody love inbetweeners 😆 bus wankers!!

Loopytiles · 13/04/2025 10:26

Inbetweeners has some classic scenes, but is full of sexism in the writing of the female characters.

Pigeonqueen · 13/04/2025 10:25

They’re both amazing but different humour. I wouldn’t watch the Inbetweeners with my 12 year old son but FND I would.