Joe Thomas and James Buckley have opened up about the ‘immense pressure’ and ‘crippling OCD’ they experienced while filming The Inbetweeners.
Speaking on their podcast Joe And James Fact Up, the former co-stars reflected on their time filming the hit Channel 4 show and shared some of their mental health woes.
Joe, 42, who played awkward teen Simon, revealed he battled Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and struggled with twitching when he was stressed.
He candidly said: ‘There was loads of pressure. I felt tons of pressure. I also just had crippling OCD and I kept thinking I’d f***** up the continuity.
‘I kept turning up to sound being like “I’m so sorry just worried that I might have made a noise with my chair,” and they were like, “Joe, it’s fine, we’ll let you know”.
‘It was just generally astonishing OCD… I had it when I left university and when I was on the Inbetweeners it was really, really bad to the extent where they paid for a therapist to come on set and she thought it was a joke.
‘Because it was a Channel 4 show, she thought it was like a candid camera show and it was a stitch up.’
The actor added: ‘Also it wasn’t discussed that much at the time, so it was just like “I’m completely insane” and I need to deal with this privately in these little nine second breaks that I was asking for and somehow pull my head together.’
Joe went on to be thankful for the creator Ian Morris who was sympathetic and spoke about a time he was aggressively blinking on set and Ian said to him ‘where have you gone?’.
He explained: ‘I felt seen, that is what it is… There were times I was just annoyed I was making the show because I wanted to get back to my own private worries.’
The Inbetweeners captured the ups and downs of adolescence – from cringeworthy friendships and failed flirting attempts to the trials of school life and laddish behaviour.
But the Fresh Meat star also dealt with his own issues as he would often need small breaks to compose himself.
James, 38, who played loud mouth Jay, said: ‘You’ve been through a handful of twitches since I’ve known you as well. Unfairly, this became a DVD extra at one point where Joe was having a breakdown.
‘It was on the first Inbetweeners film, there’s an outtake where Joe’s having a break down… He says can I just have 10 seconds and then he goes “well that did absolutely nothing”.’
Joe continued: ‘Yeah, I was always asking for these short breaks where I’d try really really quickly get my entire head together.
‘I’d be like: “It’ll take about six or nine seconds… Can I just… I can’t do it”.’
His co-star and long-time friend agreed that while the lads spent the majority of the show being filmed joking around and having fun, it also came with huge pressures.
James said: ‘It was stressful… But we also did put so much pressure on ourselves. It’s really ironic when you think about it, but there was such a pressure to be funny. We were obsessed with being funny.
‘There was always funny stuff in the script, but even when you’re not saying lines I was like “well I’ve got to be doing something funny right now”.
‘There was just this immense pressure of being funny.’
Joe agreed: ‘Feeling like you were supposed to be funny and then you weren’t, and the scene being over was the worst feeling in the world.’
But fans will be pleased to know that despite the hard times, the boys really were having the time of their lives.
‘As much fun as we had making the Inbetweeners, and we did have such a laugh it was the best job in the world.
‘Sadly I just haven’t had as much fun working on anything else than I have done on the Inbetweeners,’ said James.
He added: ‘For me personally, I think the second Inbetweeners film we had a lot more fun because we were all like “this is the last time we’re gonna do this so let’s have fun, let’s not get so wrapped dup in the stuff we usually worry about”‘.
The hit sitcom is reportedly poised for a major comeback – with all four original cast members keen to reunite.
Joe revealed last year that the cast – including Simon Bird (who played geeky Will McKenzie), James and Blake Harrison (who played dopey Neil Sutherland) – were eager to return.
It has been confirmed that a new deal has been struck to revive the much-loved E4 comedy, which first aired in 2008 and spawned two blockbuster films.
Creators Iain and Damon Beesley confirmed that plans are underway to bring back the iconic characters for a fresh chapter, after a signing the deal with production giant Banijay UK.
‘It’s incredibly exciting to be plotting more adventures for our four favourite friends (ooh friends),’ they said in a statement.
It is thought the project could involve a new TV run, a film, or even a stage adaptation, with talks already underway about how to reboot the cult favourite.
