Agreed - it’s much more difficult to purchase alcohol now than it used to be. This is partly, like you say, due to much stricter punishments for those who sell alcohol to under-18s - even the person selling the booze gets a large fine, not just the company (shop, bar or supermarket) they work for.
Though the InBetweeners did show that reasonably well; in the 90s, almost any off-licence would have sold booze to an older teenager without checking, but Will had to make a big effort to buy booze (and only managed it the once when they were underage IIRC). Also, from what I can tell from my daughter and nieces and nephews and friends’ kids, there are wide differences between different social groups - my daughter and her group of nerds never drank much at all (and all their parents would have been fine if they’d had the occasional drink; we even gave them booze), but some other kids I know get pissed all the time. Will is nerdy but his friends aren’t.
Parents condoning drinking at places like the caravan site is still pretty normal. I mean, we’re talking older teens, not 12-year-olds. Beer tokens at a school event would technically be legal but I’d be really surprised if many ordinary schools do that.
So yeah, the Inbetweeners is somewhat realistic and does portray the legalities factually.
Well, you can get more whiskey or whatever in your drink if you want, you just to have pay for extra shots. I guess the point is so that you know how much you’ve had to drink, so can judge if or when you’ll be safe to drive.
