School reunions are usually better in theory than reality. You attend out of curiosity, rose-tinted nostalgia or wistful desire to reconnect with one’s lost youth. Suddenly you’re standing awkwardly by a depressing buffet, having stilted chit-chat with a portly, balding braggart you barely recognise and with whom you have zilch in common, except for sharing a stuffy classroom when you were riddled with acne, attitude and hormones.

It was a similar story with The Inbetweeners: Fwends Reunited (Channel 4). This 10th anniversary celebration of the cult comedy set at Rudge Park Comprehensive had its moments but was awkward, overlong and even involved name badges. The only things missing were a cheese-and-pineapple hedgehog and some visibly past-their-best vol-au-vents.

The show’s four stars – Simon “geeky Will” Bird, Joe “soppy Simon” Thomas, James “fibbing Jay” Buckley and Blake “goofy Neil” Harrison – arrived in their characters’ trademark custard yellow Fiat Cinquecento (shades of Del Boy Trotter’s three-wheeled Reliant van) for a clip-cum-chat show, hosted by stand-up Jimmy Carr.

In May 2008, writers Damon Beesley and Iain Morris’s knowingly puerile sitcom about suburban sixth formers debuted on E4 to a mixed reception. We heard how ratings were slow to grow and it was only recommissioned on the strength of strong DVD sales.