The Inbetweeners- (Just over) Mid-Season Review- 7 out of 10

The true secret of the successful sitcom is longevity and it's a secret that the British comedy scene has largely failed to crack. The number of British sitcoms to remain consistently top quality past about four series is depressingly few in number compared to their American counterparts.

For one reason or another, British sitcoms do not seem to be able to retain their originality and humour for too long, with the notable exception of Peep Show. Sadly, The Inbetweeners seems to be following this trend.

For me, the issue is popularity. Once a show gets 'big-time' it tends to have the habit of taking its core viewers (the ones who made it popular in the first place) for granted whilst it goes off looking for more support by being more outrageous than before. This appears to be the problem with The Inbetweeners.

What started out as a very realistic of depiction of sixth form life (well, it was for me at least), the 'anti-Skins' if you prefer, has become more and more desperate to keep that realism but in doing so it's become something of a parody of itself. The end of old episodes had believable gross-out scenes but increasingly, every episode in this series ends in a gross-out scene that is more and more unrealistic (and usually sees Simon without clothes on).

Meanwhile, there is a distinct lack of character development; Jay is still boasting of his fake sexual exploits (which is a shame after the tender side we saw of him in the final episode of Series 2), Neil is still plodding along with no real character growth and only the occasional awesome one-liner to show for it whilst Will lacks a love interest to chase so he is left being a rather boring character. Simon is the only character to evolve this series, through his relationship with Tara, but he now appears to be back to square one, i.e. loser chasing after the unreachable girl (Carli).

However, that is not to say that the series hasn't been funny. Not by a long stretch. Despite starting off slowly, the series has really come to strength, in terms of humour, in the last two episodes.

The episode of the double cinema date and Neil's 18^th is certainly a classic (note Jay's boast before getting on a motorbike "My dad used to drink with Lance Armstrong" and the superb end scene of Will's 'break-up' with Kerry) whilst last night's episode was superb with genuine laugh out loud moments.

It was good to see some of the realism that got me watching the show was back in place again and Simon's "tactical wank" and failure to get wood was simply amazingly funny. And how can you forget the scene on the doorstep of Tara's sister house, with Will explaining why he won't be going to Warwick Uni and why Simon and Tara are really at the house. Painful but hugely humorous.

Overall, it will be interesting to see what the last two episodes bring to the party. Hopefully they will be set us up well for a strong fourth series and not a renewal of the initial slow decline.