The Inbetweeners is more realistic than Skins

The Inbetweeners' portrayal of dull suburbia is closer to the drab teen years most of us spent, rather than the decadent time we wished we spent.

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).

New series of the award-winning comedy about a group of awkward teens. Outrageous parties, drug-propelled japes and endless sexy romps. Frustration, boredom and unrequited crushes. The first is the Skins view of a teenager's life, the second is pretty much what everyone else experiences and is also the perspective of this sparkling comedy. In tonight's opener, Will and his mates expect a field trip to include success with Charlotte, the new girl at school. Wrong!

Taking the place of Skins in the yoof slot, but not as archly/implausibly cool, The Inbetweeners returns for a second series. This is a show about the sort of kids who were in all of your classes but you can't remember them when they add you on Facebook. This first episode features two of school's most exciting events: a field trip and the arrival of a new girl. The geography trip to Swanage does nothing to enthuse the lads; the opposite is true of shiny new student Lauren. Will takes an immediate shine to her but it turns out she only has eyes for Simon. Such is life. Pervy jokes and pervier teachers mean that after watching this you'll be laughing - and longing for that crush from class 2B.

Simon Bird Interview

The London Paper talks the star of The Inbetweeners.

Now that Skins has finished, and hopefully gone off to give itself a good talking to about the ratio of attention it gives to the bad characters and the good ones, E4 has gone all comedy-obsessed on a Thursday.

The highlight of this new(ish) line-up is, of course, The Inbetweeners. Whereas Skins shows us the lives of the cool kids very few of us ever were, this show features the more normal (i.e. hopelessly inept) teenagers we've all known and most of us have been. The first series was an unexpected delight (because it was hindered by the worst trailer in the history of television), and this second series will hopefully continue in the same vein.

For the uninitiated, we follow Will, Simon, Jay and Neil, four schoolboys who must be about 17 (but look older) as they fail at education, romance and life in general. Lovingly observed yet very, very funny, this show is the perfect reminder that the teenage years are not all about hot sex in wardrobes, underground hip-hop gigs and glamourous proms - they are also about insecurity, awkwardness, bumbling about and looking like a tit.

'Anti-Skins' comedy series returns

School sitcom The Inbetweeners is back for a second series on Thursday night. Newsbeat talks to two of its stars about comparisons to Skins, the future of the show and getting spotted in toilets.

Inbetweeners - The latest teenage pick

The Inbetweeners is the latest series to show that British TV is challenging America in the teen market. And young viewers love it.

Thursday nights at ten are fast becoming teen hour on E4. We've recently come to the end of ten weeks of Skins, and now we're going to be getting The Inbetweeners from next Thursday. The Inbetweeners, if you haven't seen it, is like a British American Pie, full of gross-out humour and stupid stuff. What sets it apart from its BBC Three contemporary Coming Of Age is that it actually has some charm, some characters that you can like and some funny lines. It has also won a British Comedy Award, so there.

Simon Bird and Joe Thomas Interview

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