Inbetweeners star Joe Thomas 'dating' screen love

Inbetweeners star Joe Thomas is reportedly dating his on-screen girlfriend, Hannah Tointon, off the show as well as on it.

The lovable misfit schoolboys show no signs of shaking off their nerdy charms as sixth form continues to expose their gaucheness in this puerile but funny sitcom. Simon (Joe Thomas) and Will (Simon Bird) are on a double date, with Simon wondering if a snog is worth the price of having his new girlfriend, Tara (Hannah Tointon), redesign his wardrobe, while Will hopes hanging out with Tara's boring friend will lead to some action.

The Inbetweeners review

It takes an awful lot to make me laugh hysterically to the point at which my stomach hurts - particularly on a Monday - but the sight of Simon (Joe Thomas) unwittingly displaying his left testicle while modelling at the sixth-form fashion show did just that.

Let's be honest, there are a couple of things The Inbetweeners could totally afford to lose: chunks of that landfill indie soundtrack and Simon Bird's largely redundant voiceover, for instance. Apart from these minor grumbles, however, it's clearly one of the most accurately observed, snort-like-a-pig comedies around. Series three also signals the start of a new term, and what better way to kick off than with a school fashion show for charity, with all the potential for utter wrongness that suggests. Those who'd rather not see more of actor Joe Thomas than strictly necessary, avert your gaze now.

A welcome return for the award-winning series about the shenanigans of four misfit, uncool teenagers as they negotiate sixth form. This terrific series has been marked by its witty adolescent humour and sharp and engaging observation. As we return, a school fashion show is being organised and Will (Simon Bird) and Simon (Joe Thomas) get involved - but not in a good way.

Inbetweeners Simon: I'm just as bad as they are

Inbetweeners star Joe Thomas reckons he has the same luck with women as the hapless characters in the hit show.

The arrival of the second series of The Inbetweeners, which charts the halpess misadventures, sexual and otherwise, of a bunch of suburban youths, is something to cheer. Thanks to the huggably hormonal presence of Simon Bird and Joe Thomas, The Inbetweeners catches the horny horrors of adolescence spot on without resorting to saying 'knob' every ten seconds. It's like Skins used to be.

A deserved hit when series one was shown last year, this sitcom returns for a second season. Revolving around four teenage lads who are neither cool nor popular, it's like a nerd's version of Skins. When new girl Lauren (Jayne Wisener) joins the school, Will (Simon Bird) makes a play for her but, embarrassingly, finds she prefers Simon (Joe Thomas).

Simon Bird and Joe Thomas Interview

Forget Skins. The Inbetweeners is a geeky sitcom that shows British teenagers as they really are.

Previously seen on E4, this likeably juvenile sixth form sitcom might not be as cool as Skins but it is a million miles better than BBC3's similarly themed Coming Of Age.

It stars Simon Bird as Will, a borderline geek who's been forced to move from a private school to a slightly scary comprehensive after his parents split.

Rudge Park School is set in a rosetinted suburbia with no teenage pregnancies, drugs, knives or guns - just comedy bullies, raging hormones and a rich seam of American Pie-style mishaps.

It also stars Joe Thomas as Simon, who looks uncannily like a young Peter Jones from Dragons' Den.

Not great, not bad, but definitely in between - but why is it scheduled so late on a school night?