Skins
Season Three
E4
When Skins first appeared on our radar, it looked like it was going to be another painful British attempt to do teen TV - like UK kids doing an amdram ad for American Apparel. But even though it's hyper-styled, and you'd be pretty lucky if your teen years were/are as action-packed and as witty as theirs, it soon became clear that this was easily the best teen drama we've had in years... since... um... Press Gang?!
The secret seems to be in the production method. Having kids writing with seasoned writers seems to bring out the best of both: well-plotted and paced stories, without too much cringy made-up yoofspeak. The teen cast - Nicholas Hoult (Tony), Dev Patel (Anwar), April Pearson (Michelle), Mike Bailey (Sid), Hannah Murray (Cassie) and Mitch Hewer (Maxxie) - were all engaging, but also bolstered by the decision to cast a large part of the Brit acting/comedy population as their parents and teachers - Harry Enfield, Nina Wadia, Danny Dyer, Morwenna Banks, Peter Capaldi, Josie Lawrence, Kevin Eldon, Neil Morrissey, Arabella Weir, Mark Heap, Sarah Lancashire and Bill Bailey - not a bad lineup for any show.
By shifting the focus from character to character every episode, it also built up a real sense of what it's like to be in school - sometimes you're at the centre of the action, sometimes on the margins looking in - a clever way of making it about everyone, not just the initially more obvious characters like Tony (although, by S2 they'd also found a way of subverting his alphateen personality).
After the first two series took us through everything from exams, raves, anorexia, relationships, to losing your virginity and a parent, C4 came up with a pretty bold announcement: they were going to keep the third series set at the school after everyone had left for university, and start again with the next generation - effectively culling the entire cast (apart from Tony's little sister Effy, who cheekily moved into his room at the end of the last series).
It takes about ten minutes for you to get over it. At first, it's quite annoying to watch three new skivers hanging out drinking and getting stoned before school - but then Harry Enfield shows up, there's a typically daft sequence involving some ketchup and a bike and the whole thing starts to roll again, with enough energy and wit to suggest that they might be able to keep this franchise rolling for years.
This term, they've got some twins (one nerdy, one full of herself - and actually played by real twins, not some Prince And The Pauper CGI trickery), a geeky magician, an over-cocky player who fancies himself almost as much as he fancies every other lucky, lucky lady in the class, a sk8tr boi, and a kid from Africa. Would be nice if they let some of the first generation show up from time-to-time - and it would be great to see Bill Bailey dancing with a dog again) - but on the strength of this opener, it seems like they've made the right call to stay in sixth form, and not head off to uni.
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6th Jan 2009 - Tumblr
3.5
