Too many beers, countless sexual intercourses, and billions of skins to envelop tons of weeds; it’s not the life of a social outcast, though. Instead, it is an honest portrayal of the Bristol teen generation in the early 2000s. An insight into their lives when their parents can’t see them in the shadow of wild nights. A destructive existence that makes them feel alive. It’s a revolution in teen drama: it’s Skins UK.

Created by the father-and-son duo Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain for Company Pictures, the show aired from 2007 to 2013. With seven seasons, it received several nominations and accolades, including three BAFTA Awards. In 2011, an American remake was released, but critics underlined that it offered nothing new compared to the original.

Back at the beginning of the 2000s, most teen dramas used to depict a glossy generation living in luxury houses, as in The O.C., or at least coming from well-off families, as in Dawson’s Creek. Skins‘ protagonists, on the contrary, represent an accurate section of a problematic and frail generation. Years after its finale, the show is still considered one of the most revolutionary for its rough, though realistic narrative.

Chronicles of Reckless Pleasures

Tony (Nicholas Hoult) is an attractive, intelligent, and popular young manipulator. He has a story with Michelle (April Pearson). Nevertheless, he has no problem sleeping with random girls and maltreating her. Michelle seems vain, while under her appearance hides a high sensibility and is totally dominated by Tony. Only Sid (Mike Bailey), a shy and clumsy guy with a crush on her, understands her nature. The first one to notice it is Cassie (Hannah Murray), Michelle’s best friend, who, for her part, struggles with an eating disorder. The group also counts Chris (Joe Dempsie), a party animal abandoned by his parents, Jal (Wilson), a talented clarinetist daughter of a crime boss, Maxxie (Mitch Hewer), a gay dancer with a prosperous future on the best stages, and Anwar (Dev Patel), his best friend constantly struggling with his Muslim origins.

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They are all students from Bristol’s final two years of high school. They’re very different from each other and suffer from very different flaws and ailments. But they share a passion for destructive pleasures, such as drugs, alcohol, extreme parties, and wild sex. Although they’re partially aware of the risks they run, they seem not to care about them, as if they were immortal. Even Michelle, who probably more than the others feels the consequences, pauses her consciousness for crazy moments. For them, it’s a risk worth taking anyway because those reckless pleasures seem to be the only things that make their life bearable.

The multiple, dark faces of adolescence

Skins UK attracted the attention of critics and the audience for the employment of actual teenagers, both screenwriters and actors. Indeed, many teen dramas of those years were criticized for casting people in their twenties (if not in their thirties) to play teenagers. Co-creator Brittain was a little over twenty when he accepted to work on the show with his father. He aimed to tell how teenagers are bound to poor behavior and extreme experimentation, and to achieve it, he opted for a writing team that had an average age of twenty-one and was really close to the experiences they wrote about. As Easley declared in an interview for The Guardian:

We’re about letting our audience feel they are not alone. […] We’re always having people miss [writing] meetings because they’ve got A-levels or even GCSEs.

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Skins UK count on a highly mixed ensemble cast to embrace the complexity of adolescence’s world. The seven seasons follow three generations of students during their last two high school years. Each episode focuses on a particular character, entering any character’s point of view. This narrative device allows the viewers to face very different addictions and issues while it also gives a glance at their inner perception.

The first generation sheds light on emotional dependence and dysfunctional relationships, but also drug and alcohol effects, mental and eating disorders, bullying, and sexuality. And how the feeling of being young and immortal could be just a lie.

The presence of Effy (Kaya Scodelario), Tony’s younger sister, connects the first generation to the following two. The new students face similar issues and a reckless existence, told from slightly different perspectives. Unfortunately, they couldn’t reach the shock caused by the first season.

What comes next

Recent teen dramas, such as The End of the F***ing World or Sex Education, followed Skins‘ path, both for the casting choice and facing tricky aspects of teenage. The show deals with the darkest experiences of adolescence but with their consequences, too. Some behaviors result in undesired pregnancies or bad brain injuries after a car crash, so crazy parties lead to terrible hangovers. Those effects and the impact on the characters’ evolution are investigated without mercy. There’s no leniency for poor conduct at a young age: life always gives the bill.

Only a handful of the shows, such as Shameless, still perform similarly cruelly and harshly toward characters. A drama that shares with Skins UK also a final message: sometimes, trying hard is not enough. But only those who try hard sometimes succeed.

The generation gap, a common theme in many teen stories such as the sitcom That 70’ Show, and in novels like The Eight Mountains, emerges in the distance between the young protagonists and their inept parents. In Skins, adults live a poor life and are entirely unaware of their children’s real lives, as they are strangers.

Years after it was first broadcast, the show can still talk to teenagers about their reality. As reported by Rebecca Nicholson in The Guardian, “It’s still funny, still outrageous.” It left a cultural mark, leading to the development of a cult following and affecting the style of Gen Z, too. A success that affected the following television productions and teen dramas in particular. Shows such as Euphoria or Misfits, which depict problematic, marginalized teenagers or addiction issues, followed its steps. Yet, thanks to its cold narrative, its slightly raw cinematography, and the increasingly daring storyline, Skins is confirmed to be the trigger of teen drama’s revolution.