Originally a Channel 4 pilot, the playfully anachronistic Chickens stars Inbetweeners Joe Thomas and Simon Bird, alongside Jonny Sweet. They play George, Cecil and Bert, left behind in Rittle-On-Sea in 1914 as the rest of the men head off to the great war. Living together in a cottage daubed with scornful graffiti by the townswomen, the trio - a conscientious objector, a flat-footed reject and a bounder - make comedic hay of their moral and sexual shame in this highly promising opener.

Inbetweeners best buds Joe Thomas and Simon Bird reunite for this World War I comedy that also stars stand-up Jonny Sweet - and it's weirdly like Will and Simon have gone back a century and replaced Neil with some other daft bloke. The set-up is that pacifist George (Thomas), flat-footed Cecil (Bird) and randy loon Bert (Sweet) are the only men left in a village after all the proper blokes have marched off to war. This makes them very, very unpopular with the womenfolk.

It's all happening for Inbetweeners fans - this week sees three of the four lads debuting their latest forays into TV comedy.

Tomorrow, Simon Bird and Joe Thomas pop up in Chickens but first, here's Neil, sorry Blake Harrison, playing the slightly less gormless Ben in a show that breaks new ground in sitcoms - it's set in Great Yarmouth, dog-eared jewel of the Norfolk coast.

Ben's got an MA in Norse poetry but amazingly, he's not been snapped up by the job market. So he's back in his home town, tail between his legs, and face to face with his ex, who's now dating the local copper. Ouch. Seann Walsh co-stars.

From Inbetweeners to Chickens

We visit the set of Sky1's first world war sitcom, which marks the major TV writing debut of its stars Joe Thomas, Simon Bird and Jonny Sweet.

"The world has no room for cowards," Robert Louis Stevenson maintained. Sky's new comedy does, though, as it follows three loathed (their house is emblazoned with "Just Die" and "Coward Cottage") draft-dodging chickens who have, quite wisely, ducked out of the carnage of the First World War. The trio of cowards, played by Inbetweeners stars Simon Bird and Joe Thomas, who also, jointly, wrote this, and Jonny Sweet, gel nicely together in this undemanding satire. "If you were really keen to help, you would have killed yourself to raise moral," yells a crone at Simon Bird's flat-footed Cecil, who is knitting for the war effort. Bird, Sweet and Thomas are all adept comic actors, and the wonderful Emma Fryer cameos, too.

Audio: Chickens Q&A

Stars and creators Simon Bird, Jonny Sweet and Joe Thomas are joined by cast members Sarah Daykin, Emerald Fennell, and Barry Humphries at BAFTA to talk about the new WW1-set Sky1 sitcom Chickens.

What The Inbetweeners did next...

Simon Bird, Joe Thomas, James Buckley and Blake Harrison have come a long way since they left Rudge Park Comprehensive behind.

Series two of the excellent student comedy comes to a close as the end of the academic year approaches and the housemates face big decisions regarding the future. With Oregon's (Charlotte Ritchie) past sins about to catch up with her, Kingsley (Joe Thomas) determined to move out, a shock revelation about Howard (Greg McHugh), and an oinking new cast member - it's no wonder JP (Jack Whitehall) is worried that his dream of domestic bliss is about to crumble forever.

Fresh Meat series 2 episode 7 review

Watching this episode, I noticed Joe Thomas miming along to Blur guitarist Graham Coxon's vocals. The disconnect between what I was seeing and hearing was as jarring as the inconsistencies littered all the way through. Every half decent moment is lost in the mire of half-formed ideas and lazy structuring.