British College kids comedy drama

Skins is a British TV series about the life and times of a group of college kids based in Bristol. It documents their daily lives in college, at home and especially their interaction with each other. They very much live the sex and drugs and rock and roll lifestyle, except there’s no rock and roll, but lots of Doof doof dance music.

I believe that Skins was a major hit in the UK and is now in its 4^th season here in Australia. This season however seems to be a bit more down beat than the first three. So far this season we’ve had a suicide, infidelity, relationship break ups, infertility, depression, an attempted suicide and a lead character going to prison for an extreme assault.

Skins series 1 and 2 lead characters Chris, Anwar, Tony, Sid Maxxie, Michelle, Psycho stalker, Jal and Cassie

Now the previous seasons dealt with the downside of the hedonistic, party lifestyle that the teenagers lead, but this season does not seem to show any upside. No laughs and no wins for any of the lead characters. Although this makes it a bit harder to watch than the previous series it is no less compelling. .

Series one and two of Skins had a completely different set of lead characters to series three and four. The only link being that they were attending the same college and Effy from series three and four is the younger sister of Tony from seasons one and two. She appeared occasionally in some of those episodes.

Each episode of the show is named after one of the lead characters, but all of the others are featured to varying extents. This week’s episode was called Freddy, but heavily featured his girlfriend Effy, who had a complete mental breakdown and finally slashed her wrists in a suicide attempt. This appears to be all too much for Freddy, whose Mother also committed suicide, which he has always blamed his father for. Now he seems to have gained some insight into the problems and frustrations that his father had to cope with.

Skins series 3 and 4 lead characters Thomas, JJ, Naomi, Freddy, Effy, Cook, Pandora, Emily, Katie, Karen

There are nine main characters in series three and four.

Effy (Kaya Scodelario) – As I already mentioned she is the younger sister of Tony from seasons one and two and the main link between the seasons. Her parents and Tony’s obviously, have appeared in all seasons too. She is small and beautiful and so far three of the main male characters have fallen in love with her. She has a voracious appetite for drink, drugs, sex and encouraging outrageous behaviour in the boys who are attracted to her.

Thomas (Merveille Lukeba) – Is an African boy new to the country. He is religious and does his best to support his mother and younger sister. Although he has submitted to the temptations of the others, he has a strong conscience. He tries to do the right thing and encourages the others to do so. But this did not stop him from cheating on Pandora with his Pastors daughter when the opportunity arose.

Pandora (Lisa Backwell) – An unworldly girl and possibly not so bright. She has a strong West Country accent, a hippy mother, hence her name Pandora Moon and she is Effy’s best friend, but she struggles to understand her sometimes. Pandora chose Thomas as her first real boyfriend and lost her virginity to him, but then had an affair with Cook, didn’t everyone? Thomas forgave her for her infidelity, but she could not forgive him when he reciprocated with the Pastors daughter.

Want to meet the Skins cast and crew? Just click below

Emily and Katie ( Kathryn and Megan Prescott) – Are two stunning identical twins, but with quite different personalities. Katie is loud, dominant and states in the first episode that she has always had a boyfriend. Emily is more reserved and thoughtful and has never had a boyfriend; this is probably because she is a Lesbian. She eventually reveals this to her friends and family and starts an affair with Naomi.

Naomi (Lily Loveless) – Her mother runs some sort of women’s refuge and Naomi follows her principals and individualism. She has a brief thing with Cook, as I said doesn’t everyone, before she begins her Lesbian relationship with Emily. This hits rocky ground when Emily discovers that she has had an affair with Sofia, the girl who commits suicide early in series four.

So as you can see, one crazy mixed up bunch, especially the girls. The stories are good and the acting is great, especially for such young actors. Numerous well known British actors have appeared in cameo roles in the show. Either as the parents or family of the lead characters, or other supporting roles. This says something about how highly the show is regarded.

Talking of crazy mixed up and beautiful girls, I must give a mention to Cassie (Hannah Murray) the spaced out anorexic from series one and two. She was just a joy to watch and I can’t wait to see Hannah on TV again. I understand that she has appeared in 3 or 4 shows in the UK post Skins that are yet to be shown here.

OK I could go on for several more pages about Skins and I will probably revisit it in a future post.  But suffice to say it is well worth watching. You will see it advertised as a Comedy/Drama in the guides. But I believe that most of the comedy is in series 1-3, but don’t let that stop you watching series 4.

Get Skins on DVD

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Technorati Tags: Cook, Effy, Emily, Freddie, JJ, Katie, Naomi, Pandora, SBS, Skins, Thomas

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