Blake Harrison interview – he is shocked by on-going appeal of The Inbetweeners

Actor Blake Harrison admits that the enduring popularity of sitcom ‘The Inbetweeners’ has taken him by surprise.
36-year-old Blake Harrison is “surprised” by the enduring popularity of ‘The Inbetweeners’.

The star who played Neil Sutherland in the popular teen sitcom that aired on E4 between 2008 and 2010 and admits that he is taken aback when people tell him that their young children are big fans of the comedy.

“You’d be amazed at how young some kids are when they do watch it.

“I’ve seen it. People come up to me, ‘He loves the show.’ I’m like, ‘How old is he?’ ‘He’s nine.’ I’m like, what are you doing, you’re not being a good parent. But I’m surprised it’s still being watched now, if I’m honest. We filmed it in 2007 with series one, and the fact that 14 years later, it’s still being shown and there are still teenagers now watching it and enjoying it… that to me is really surprising.”

Blake also explained that he is happy to see social issues explored in comedy shows even if ‘The Inbetweeners’ was known for the opposite style of humour.

The star – whose other TV credits include ‘A Very English Scandal’ and ‘Kate & Koji’ besides Waitress The Musical in the West End said: “Nowadays we’re getting comedies that are sacrificing sometimes – and in a good way – humour for social commentary.

“I think it’s great… if you have to sacrifice a few laughs to do it, I’m all for it, I’ll still watch it.”

Blake continued: “But our show was not that… We start the scene with a joke, we end the scene with a joke, every single time.”

On his singing voice? he told us “I sang a lot when I was younger, but it had been a while” adding “It would be quite arrogant of me to say “yeah it’s good”. I’m just going by the reaction of the audience, which has been great so far. I’ve had a lot of people saying to me “I had no idea you could sing!” So I’m taking that as a positive.”
Blake went to drama school was at the Brit School before that andfelt like he had done a lot of theatre and was desperate to do TV and film.

Since graduating he craves the buzz you get from being on stage.