James Buckley, famed for his role as Jay Cartwright in the hit E4 sitcom The Inbetweeners, and his wife Clair are the epitome of a hilarious, down-to-earth couple. The pair, who got hitched back in 2012 after bonding over a shared "obsession" with the Beatles, have kept their spark alive through 12 years of marriage and raising two sons – Harrison, 13, and Jude, 11. Speaking exclusively to OK!, it's clear their fiery banter and deep affection for each other hasn't faded.
Despite having no plans to renew their vows ("What’s the point? " quips James, 37), they've been candid about the realities of marriage on their popular vlog At Home With The Buckleys and podcast In Sickness And In Health since its 2022 launch. The couple opens up about their upcoming new podcast and whether James still catches up with his fellow Inbetweeners cast mates....
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Dave J. Hogan/Getty Images)Hi, you two! We love watching your marital mayhems on social media. Was it daunting at first, to open up about the ins and outs of your relationship?
Clair: Truthfully, not really. We’d already opened up our lives on our vlog, plus we’re very much just ourselves. I mean, it’s probably quite annoying because we get on very well.
James: Yeah, even our arguments are funny because they’re so stupid. Nowadays, if I’ve done something that I know will annoy Clair, I’ll actually save it and tell her on the podcast. I want her genuine reaction.
It sounds like you’ve got a good balance. After 12 years married, would you consider renewing your vows?
Clair: Do you know what? Two people I know renewed their vows and got divorced, like a month later. I think there’s some sort of curse with that, if I’m honest.
James: Nah, I hate weddings. That’s not for us, weddings are so stressful. Some mornings we’ll wake up, look at one another and just think, “The amount of money we spent on that one day”.
What about parenting. Would you say you’re “good cop, bad cop” kind of mum and dad?
Clair: I think any parent can fall into “good cop, bad cop”, it’s bound to happen at some point. But we are very similar on the bottom line stuff.
James: Yeah, we agree on what needs to happen – like, be kind and work hard – but the differences show a little bit more on the day-to-day.
Clair: James loves playing video games with them, whereas I probably “mother” them a little bit too much [laughs].
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YOUTUBE)James, we have to ask. Do you stay in touch with The Inbetweeners cast?
James: Yeah, I talk to the boys quite a lot. We’re trying to meet up for something to eat, but it’s being pushed back to 2025 at this rate. There’s six of us – me, Simon [Bird], Joe [Thomas], Blake [Harrison] and the creators of the show, Iain [Morris] and Damon [Beesley]. So, trying to find a night where we’re all free and not working isn’t the easiest.
We guess life is a little different now than what it was when you were filming the show...
James: That’s it... We spent so much time making the show and we’d usually all be staying in the same hotel, which meant having dinner together most nights and seeing one another the next morning. That went on for years and I think if we didn’t get on or loved being around each other so much, making The Inbetweeners would have been impossible. But we do really get on. I miss them.
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Manchester Evening News)So, tell us about your joint new podcast, The Buckleys…
Clair: Our podcasts have always been an extension of our YouTube channel, At Home With The Buckleys. But our previous one [In Sickness And In Health] was really about us as a married couple, whereas this one will be broader and include a lot more things. We’ll talk about everything, from music to James’ craziest purchase because he keeps buying pointless stuff.
James: They’re not pointless at all…
Clair: The new podcast is still very much about us and what we’ve been up to but we’ll have some exciting new segments, too. Plus, James moans a lot. Well, we both do, to be fair.
What do you think is the most entertaining thing about the podcast?
James: I always feel like the funniest thing about our relationship is how much I enjoy winding up Clair. She’s married to the biggest fool and I think that’s pretty entertaining. Anything we do, it’s usually me trying my hardest to get a reaction out of Clair [laughs].
Clair: We try to get our listeners involved, too. We’re lucky that we’ve got a core audience who seem to come back every week. very much about us and what we’ve been up to but we’ll have some exciting new segments, too.
It must be important to always keep the “unfiltered” approach, though...
James: I like to think we are relatable. There’s this idea that everything needs to be a brand these days and show how great things are, but I don’t think there’s anything funny or interesting in that. Real life is funny. Screw-ups are funny.
There’s something fascinating about couples working together. Does it ever get a bit much though?
James: We’re not weirdos every single second with each other. We do spend some time apart.
Clair: It’s actually a running joke between us that when we turn the camera on, it’s the first time we’ve been in the same room together in a while. James is very annoying, but I do still like him. Jokes aside, we just all enjoy hanging out together, the boys included.
Are there any reality shows you’d like to do together?
Clair: Anything we can do from our living room, we’ll give it a go.
James: I’m not going to climb up a mountain with Clair or live in a submarine. Actually, maybe that would be quite funny…
Clair: No, I think Gogglebox would be the perfect one for us.
James, we hear you’re set to star in a new film with Martin Clunes called Mother’s Pride...
James: I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say, but we’ve just finished filming, and it should be out next year. It’s a really lovely one that my kids will be able to watch, which makes a change from, you know, a show where teenagers vomit over each other.
James and Clair Buckley enjoy an ultimate night in with their PerfectDraft machine, see perfectdraft.com/en-gb/
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