It’s all fun and games for The First Team!

Remember hit comedy The Inbetweeners? It told the story of Will, who arrived at a new school and struck up a friendship with Jay (who fancied himself as a bit of a ladies’ man) and shy Simon. Oh, and there was also crazy Neil.

Well the creators of that school comedy have now produced a new sitcom, set in the world of Premier League football. It tells the story of new signing Mattie, who arrives at a new club and strikes up a friendship with fellow team member Benji Achebe (who fancies himself as a bit of a ladies’ man despite the fact that he still lives at home with his mum) and shy number 16 Jack.

Oh, and there’s also crazy team hardman Petey (played by Theo Barklem-Biggs, who also appeared in the Inbetweeners movie).

But are such comparisons fair? Probably not. Despite the obvious popularity of the previous serious (which is still being repeated regularly on E4), this is a much more ambitious project with a larger cast of characters – including many real-life football stars and pundits playing themselves.

It’s also the first project that award-winning duo since Iain Morris and Damon Beesley have tackled since their massive success with the aforementioned school comedy.

As Damon Morris remembers: As far as I remember – I’m very old now – we started toying with the concept of a comedy set around professional football after we shot the second season of The Inbetweeners. The idea crystallised that summer following a chance encounter Iain had with a footballer while on a transatlantic flight.”

Iain Morris continues: “We’ve been planning it for ten years, but things just got in the way I suppose. We wanted the next TV show we wrote together to be the right one”.

And so… after launching their own production company, executive producing other writers’ work and various solo projects, the pair have finally found the time to revisit their football idea.

This week sees new arrival Mattie befriending star midfielder Carlos Velez, only to find himself himself in another predicament when he discovers that hanging out with the experienced player was not quite what he imagined. Meanwhile, Benji is approached by a mysterious Malaysian businessman and Jack tries online dating.

The big question is – do the cast actually know their way around a football pitch?

US-born Jake Short, who plays Mattie:”Huge fan, it’s the sport I grew up playing. However, I would never speak the word ‘soccer’ in the UK because every time I did, they would thoroughly roast me”.

Shaquille Ali-Yebuah (Benji) may have some way to go before he is signed up for real: “When everyone was playing football in primary school, I was either having rap battles or playing kiss chase in the playground!”

And how about Jack McMullen (Jack)?

“I’ve always loved playing football and still play regularly. A big group of us used to play 11-a-side every Friday morning which is a great laugh. The standard can be pretty shocking though. Safe to say football’s always the winner!”

And any pre-game rituals like Jack in the series? “The left boot goes on first!”

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