James Buckley has revealed that he won’t let his children watch The Inbetweeners for ‘obvious reasons’.
James, 36, who played sex-mad teenager Jay Cartwright on the E4 sitcom, is world’s away from his character now, having married wife Claire and welcomed two sons – Harrison, 11 and Jude, nine.
And though his character is still famous for his wildly inappropriate jokes, his children are none the wiser.
Speaking on their podcast In Sickness And In Health, James and Claire welcomed their children onto the show to discuss all things family.
Introducing the topic of his career, James joked: ‘I’ve never been able to impress them!
Candid: James Buckley has revealed that he won’t let his children watch The Inbetweeners for ‘obvious reasons’
‘There was an advert once on TV for something I was in… And I remember, because they haven’t seen a lot of the stuff I’ve been in, for obvious reasons.
‘And I had to explain to Harrison like “you know what your dad does it pretty cool? Like some people are quite impressed.” And he was like “yeah, whatever dad.”‘
Getting involved in the conversation, Jude explained his perspective: ‘I don’t like it. People come up to me and go “Is your dad famous?”
‘And it’s like what am I meant to say? I don’t want to brag to people’.
During its initial run, the sitcom spanned three series and as two movies.
The franchise wrapped in 2014 and its stars have all gone onto other projects since.
Simon Bird – who starred as the studious Will McKenzie – went on to play a long-running role in Friday Night Dinner, while Blake appeared opposite Brenda Blethyn in the short-lived ITV1 sitcom Kate and Koji and Joe starred in White Gold.
James has ‘surprised’ himself by becoming the highest-paid star on Cameo, having raked in £1 million dishing out personalised messages for fans on the celebrity greetings website.
Looking back: James, 36, who played sex-mad teenager Jay Cartwright on the E4 sitcom, is world’s away from his character now, having married wife Claire and welcomed two sons – Harrison, 11 and Jude, nine
Iconic! During its initial run, the sitcom spanned three series and as two movies
The actor recently explained that despite the success of the series, a reboot could never be on the cards because the jokes could not be done these days.
He said: ‘It was all justified because they were never the heroes. They were idiots and they got what they deserved.
‘That’s why it can’t come back – you can’t have men in their late thirties acting like they’re in sixth form and getting away with that stuff.’
James added that despite being constantly asked about bringing the show back, there is ‘no amount of money’ that would make him agree to it.
‘I always get asked if I’d ever do more and I said ‘For no amount of money’ and that quote got run away. I didn’t mean about money – it means more to me than money.’
‘I’m always surprised by the success of anything’
Meanwhile, in 2022, he became the first UK celebrity to become a Cameo millionaire as he amassed $1 million (£930,000) on the app.
Despite his popularity, he admits that when he is asked to sing songs from The Inbetweeners or recite quotes he often declines, yet admits it is not out of ignorance but more the fact that he cannot remember the requested segments.
He said: ‘On Cameo, I’m asked to do singing things, I’m asked to the Crazy Frog thing, I don’t like doing that even when we filmed it…
Happy days: The actor and his wife Clair Buckley, both 35, spoke to MailOnline ahead of the release of their new podcast In Sickness And In Health, a follow-up to their wildly-successful YouTube channel At Home With The Buckleys (the couple pictured last month)
‘Another problem I have is I can’t remember it. Even with work I can’t remember things let alone something I did that long ago.’
Shedding light on the Cameo arrangements in the house, Clair explained: ‘He goes up to the guest room, records a few away from us because obviously I have the kids downstairs and he can’t do them in front of them.’
On being married to a famous person, she went on: ‘It’s not hard being with someone famous, sometimes it’s funny and it’s sometimes lovely. They shout a rude word here or there’, while James branded The Inbetweeners’ legacy ‘lovely’.
The third episode of James and Clair’s new podcast, In Sickness and In Health, is available on all streaming platforms. New episodes every Tuesday.
