10 Great TV Shows That Are Ugly On Purpose

There's a reason The Inbetweeners became a smash hit and invaded the UK's culture so hard that quoting it became second nature. It's because every British kid watching found it relatable, perhaps too relatable, in fact, painfully relatable.

The Inbetweeners was grounded in the nitty-gritty realities of British school life. There were ugly classrooms, uncomfortable uniforms, childish banter, embarrassing moments and a general sense of cringe that you couldn't escape. Of course, with ingredients like that, the series needed to look the part.

The show's visuals deliberately presented something murky and cheap. Its natural lighting, bland set design, basic camera angles, and overall lack of polish gave it an effortlessly low-budget vibe. This would be a death sentence for most programmes, but for this E4 classic, it was essential to giving it the feeling of an authentic English secondary school.

If you don't think the importance of that grimy aesthetic was a big deal, then just look at the US remake of the show. This adaptation completely forgot that sense of grit, going with something far more glossy. Just look how things worked out for that one. "Bus turds?" - yikes.