EXCLUSIVE: James Buckley made his name as the cheeky school-kid Jay Cartwright in Channel 4’s successful The Inbetweeners programme, but now rakes it in while paying homage to the show
Inbetweeners star James Buckley raked in nearly £1m last year – for shouting ‘bus w*****’.
The actor coined it in by flogging video messages showing him delivering the notorious catchphrase from the TV and movie franchise. Last year’s earnings took his total for video messages to fans to an astonishing £3m.
James, 37, who played Jay Cartwright in the show, received 11,707 five-star reviews for his £41 addresses on a video sharing site. He runs a firm called Itchycoo Ltd which takes in cash from his acting work. It boasts more than £900,000 in its coffers – the bulk of which comes from flogging 30-second filmed messages. James paid £199,725 in Corporation Tax for 2024 – meaning his taxable income was around £1m.
Accounts for earlier years show he had previously earned £2m from his lucrative sideline. On a single day recently he had 16 reviews added to his video message page – but only around a quarter of customers bother to leave ratings on the site.
His telly character Jay introduced the insult to the world 15 years ago when he shouted it from a car window at a queue of passengers waiting at a bus stop as he and his pals drove past in an episode of the E4 sitcom.
One of his laughing mates asked him: “Where did that come from – bus w******?’’ Smiling Jay replied: “I don’t know. It just felt right.’’ Another giggling mate in the show said: “You could see their little faces drop as they thought, `we must be the bus w******’.’’
Since then the catchphrase has spawned a commercial industry appearing on mugs, t-shirts, hoodies and in a host of GIFs and memes. James told Russell Howard’s Wonderbox podcast fans shout it at him ‘every day’ but he does not mind.
“I’m still so childish that it still makes me laugh,’’ he said. “I still find it funny. I found it funny at the time. I remember first reading the script and just being like, ‘bus w******’. I was like how harsh is that?’’
James has amassed more video message bookings than any other celeb. He tells fans on the site: “Actor, Jay – Inbetweeners. I’ll wish a friend happy birthday, maybe you want me to propose to your significant other ‘Jay style’ or perhaps you just want me to call someone bus w*****?’’
One fan’s review read: “Brilliant video, even better than I hoped. “Very funny. I’ve been chuckling to myself all morning and a great mix of personalised and Jay!!!’’
Another added: “Delivered on time. My girlfriend loved it. Thank you.’’
Big names like rapper Snoop Dog, former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson and actors Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan all flog their services on the site. US The Office star Brian Baumgartner is second most popular with 5,852 top reviews for his £146 messages.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
