Skins: Series 1

By: Company Pictures for Channel 4
Year: 2007

Format: DVD
Purchased from: CD Wow, £13.99 (Oct 2007)

Skins premiered on E4 in early 2007, and was then repeated in the autumn on Channel 4. Anyone who only saw the trailers would have thought it was just another trashy show about teenagers having sex, drinking and doing drugs - whilst I cannot deny there is a lot of the above, there is more to this show.

I am not going to write a long synopsis of this show, frankly you can get that information and more from Amazon and Wikipedia. However, most episodes focus on individual characters whilst still allowing the storyline to develop around them. Even allowing for the contribution of others, much of the action focuses around Tony, Michelle and Sid.

Naturally, some characters are stronger than others, and as the series goes on, it feels as though some have been developed while others are largely left by the wayside. However, I maintain that it is very well-written and the acting is brilliant, especially allowing for the fact that, Nicholas Hoult and the special guest stars apart, the cast are fresh-faced unknowns.

Incidentally, Nick Hoult has the perfect face and manner for Tony; languid, and cheeky-faced; I remember when he appeared on Jo Whiley's radio show, there were many texts from girls saying "Is he really only 17? Is it wrong that I think that he is hot?" (the answers are, respectively, yes, and although it is understandable, probably).

I think it is fair to mention that, although this is supposed to be a show about 16/17 year olds, it is almost certainly aimed at people more of my age (mid- to late-twenties). It certainly cannot be for sixteen year olds as it is an 18 certificate DVD! I also asked someone who has a 16 year old son whether she minds him watching Skins, and she didn't like the idea much at all.

I could relate to the characters - Tony is the swaggering, arrogant attention-seeker who does things for kicks, with little regard of the consequences; Sid is the long-suffering best friend (that was me when I was 17); Michelle the starry-eyed girlfriend; Cassie the troubled girl who actually sees things more clearly than you or I; Maxxie and Anwar, the gay guy and the Muslim boy who struggles to equate his friends' lifestyles with his religion; Jal is the sensible one, and Chris the hedonist whose hard-partying exterior hides a load of inner turmoil.

I really liked this series. It is the first show I have watched in ages where I really cared about the characters and the outcomes. I am not the kind of person who cries at films or TV (usually I am just so mindful of the fact that it is not real) but this was the first thing I have watched in ages which has made me laugh out loud while on the verge of bursting into tears.

If you are in your twenties or thirties and you want to relive the surreal youth that you wish you'd had, then this is for you.