The star said there’s ‘not enough money in the world’ that could lure him back
The Inbetweeners star James Buckley has officially ruled out any possibility of ever returning to the hugely popular Channel 4 comedy which ran from 2008 until 2010.
The actor, who played cocky loudmouth Jay alongside the dorky Will (Simon Bird), awkward Simon (Joe Thomas) and the easily-distracted Neil (Blake Harrison), was speaking to Chris Moyles on Radio X when he made the revelation.
He started by assuring listeners that playing Jay was the “best job in the world” but explained that, should series co-creators Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, approach the quartet for a return, he wouldn’t be interested.
“I don’t want to go near it anymore, not because I don’t think I would have an amazing time doing it, because I know I would,” he told the presenter, as per Yahoo Movies.
“I love the boys, I love the writers. Doing The Inbetweeners was the best job in the world.
“All we did was muck around all day long and they filmed us doing it, and, at the end of the day, we might have had an episode… or a film or something.
“But it might – you know, as I’m getting older – it’s looking like it might be the only thing that I do professionally that is universally loved.
“There’s not enough money in the world for me to spoil that.”
The Inbetweeners followed four high-school misfits as they tried to navigate that life, the opposite sex and that awkward time where you’re not quite an adult but no longer a kid.
Airing on Channel 4, the series went on to win a BAFTA and a British Comedy Award before spawning two feature films, with the cast reuniting on New Year’s Day 2019 for a reunion special hosted by comedian Jimmy Carr.
Today, Buckley can be found starring opposite Giovanna Fletcher in supernatural thriller 2:22 A Ghost Story, however Moyles was quick to remind the actor that he’ll perhaps always be remembered as the hyperbole-spewing teenager Jay.
“You can either go two ways with that,” Buckley responded.
“You can sit there and sort of go, ‘Oh, that’s not me, I’d like to move on and do other things now,’ or you can sit there and go, ‘You know, I quite liked doing it and I thought it was fun at the time, and people seem to still enjoy it.’
“As an actor, it’s difficult professionally for me to move away from that character.
“But you can’t have it all, can you? You can’t be in a big hit sitcom and then moan about it after!”
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