A posh boy forced to slum it at a working class comprehensive; a Jack-the-lad prone to embellishing his success with the opposite sex; a “fit mum”. When Liverpudlian sitcom G’wed first arrived on ITV2 in 2024, it seemed like creator Danny Kenny had simply transported The Inbetweeners up the M62. But before long, the show had carved out an interesting path of its own, combining jokes filthy enough to make even Jay Cartwright blush with an unexpectedly nuanced handling of social issues. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine E4’s finest tackling the challenges of a PIP assessment.
The series is about a motley crew of high school students in Merseyside as they attempt to navigate suburban teenage life. In the early series, new boy Christopher (Jake Kenny-Byrne), a privileged Southerner – who moved up North following the death of his mother – and his fish-out-of-water ordeal took centre stage. But the comedy quickly evolved into a showcase for Bafta-nominated Dylan Thomas-Smith’s scallywag Reece, a cocksure class clown with a tendency to drop to his pants at a moment’s notice.
Now, the class are dusting off their backpacks for a third series of extra-curricular hijinks balanced with subtle cultural commentary. The first two episodes, for example, touch upon the plight of refugees, the devastating effects of alcoholism, and classism within the arts without ever descending into right-on preaching.
