Speechless! Channel 4 airs entire Inbetweeners movie with no dialogue

Viewers say it was 'weirdly addictive'

Viewers were left baffled last night when Channel 4 played out The Inbetweeners movie – in full – without any of the dialogue.

Bizarrely, the broadcast did carry the background sound track, featuring effects and music, but none of the words spoken by the actors.

It led to scenes such as this:

pic.twitter.com/cEHfuHDsit
— Dr Stephen Morgan (@stemorgs) October 22, 2022

The film started on the main Channel 4 at 11.35pm, after a second airing of the revived one-off version of Friday Night Live, and ran until 1.15am – and in all that time the issue was not fixed.

It appeared to affect only the HD broadcast, with the standard definition playout working fine. And some viewers reported that the real dialogue track was on the audio description feed usually used to tell the visually impaired what’s on screen.

The broadcaster has not apologised or explained the error, nor why it went unnoticed for so long, and has not yet responded to Chortle’s request for comment.

But viewers – of course – took to Twitter to share their bemusement.

If you're interested in experimental cinema, Channel 4 are currently playing THE INBETWEENERS MOVIE (2011) with the dialogue track turned off, and all you hear are music cues and sound effects.
— Dr Stephen Morgan (@stemorgs) October 22, 2022

This is mad. Channel 4 are playing out the Inbetweeners Movie right now with no vocal track, just sound effects. Weirdly fascinating. Shows how much effort goes in to the sound design. pic.twitter.com/jjzxVXScyu
— Dave Brain (@Ornsack) October 22, 2022

The Inbetweeners Movie is on Channel 4 with no dialogue and I can't tell if it's a genius work of art or someone has pressed the wrong button. Either way I can't stop watching
— Helholds (@helholds) October 22, 2022

Dear @Channel4 you do realise you’re showing a film for 2 hours with no sound don’t you?? #inbetweeners
— Kelvin Pritchard (@kelviop) October 22, 2022

The Inbetweeners Movie is on Channel 4 but something is wrong with the sound so all that you can hear is sound effects and music and it's actually quite a testament to the work of film sound departments
— Nick Walker (@nickw84) October 22, 2022

Been sat watching The Inbetweeners Movie for 20 minutes now and it has no dialogue what so ever, only sound effects and music! It’s weirdly addictive! pic.twitter.com/7Jyiw2nMx9
— Shari Fox (@Shari_Fox) October 22, 2022