Joe Thomas and James Buckley Reunite for Channel 4 Midlife Road Trip
Simon and Jay are hitting the road again, this time as themselves.
Joe Thomas and James Buckley will front Joe and James: Boys to Men for Channel 4, under a working title, meaning the name may still change before transmission. The order was first reported by Deadline on 28 September 2026.
Channel 4 has ordered the programme as a documentary, not a new sitcom. That keeps Thomas and Buckley on screen as themselves.
The programme is a travelogue-style road trip, meaning the story moves with the journey. Thomas and Buckley will take on unconventional adventures at home and abroad as they explore adulting and how to make the most of midlife without a crisis. Adulting is shorthand for everyday grown-up life, from money and housing to work, health and family.
It is a full-circle moment. The pair were in their early twenties when The Inbetweeners was first made in 2008. In the sitcom they played late-teens navigating school life, with Thomas as anxious Simon and Buckley as brash Jay, alongside Simon Bird as Will and Blake Harrison as Neil.
Behind the camera the team is close to home. The show is being produced by Idle Industries in conjunction with Fudge Park, the company that made The Inbetweeners. Inbetweeners co-creator Damon Beesley is producing alongside Will Macdonald, the former Monkey boss who founded BBC Studios-backed Idle Industries.
Vivienne Molokwu is the commissioning editor, the Channel 4 executive who orders the show and steers it to screen.
The documentary arrives while the franchise is active again. The Inbetweeners ran for three series plus two cinema films. A third film is now on the way at Netflix, with both Thomas and Buckley set to appear, according to Deadline.
The pair are also teaming up off screen. Their plan to launch a joint comedy podcast was reported in September 2025, a year before the Channel 4 order emerged, according to Deadline.
For fans, this means two reunions at once. Boys to Men shows Thomas and Buckley as themselves, dealing with mortgages, work and middle age rather than exams and school discos. Then comes the scripted return.
