British teen drama Skins is back with a brand new cast. It's still the same glossy fantasy that bears no more than a passing resemblance to reality, reports DEBORAH ORR
The casual fan, sitting down to next week's third season premiere of teenage dramedy Skins, is in for a shock. All the carefully developed young characters that they have become involved with over series one and two are gone - no more Tony, no more Cassie, no more Sid. No
more any of them.
Skins, pretty much, is starting all over again. The show's creators always promised that they would take risks. This strategy certainly sounds like a risk.
Oddly, though, this scorched-earth policy isn't quite the wild creative gamble it might appear to be. If anything, it's a reminder that Skins isn't quite as fresh and unique as the hype around it claims.
The logic behind the innovation, after all, is dictated by something rather mundane. For all its weirdness, outrageousness and power to shock, Skins, like Beverly Hills 90210 before it, is essentially a drama about school.
And rather than follow in 90210's disastrous footsteps - when it jumped the shark and followed its ageing "teenage" characters to university and beyond - the Skins team knew they had to keep the cast young. So it was out with the old, in with the new.
But the young writers of Skins are neither brave nor stupid enough to abandon continuity completely, even if the continuity they offer comes close to self-parody.
The first episode of series one introduced us to Tony Stonem as he negotiated his way through a demanding early morning, picking up his gang - including nerdy Sid and trouble-magnet Chris - as he headed into school, organising that night's party - and the drugs for it - as he went.
The new series features a similar trope, only this time it is Freddie Mclair who negotiates his trip to college on a skateboard, leaving chaos in his wake, and meeting his best mates - nerdy JJ and trouble-magnet Cook - for a beer and a spliff before class.
The soothing balm of the familiar is further injected into this opening scenario with the appearance of Effy Stonem - Tony's sister and bit player from the first two series.
Effy, it is quickly established, is now as charismatic, sexually voracious and manipulative as her brother once was.
The new series of Skins may feature different characters, but is apparently just as hung up on keeping it in the family.
Further, those first few minutes reassure young viewers that some of the hallmark features of Skins will remain. The drug use, and plenty of it, will still be prominent, and casual. The sex, and plenty of it, will still be prominent and casual.
Needless to say, Skins has attracted much disapprobation because of its racy content, and the moral implications of that are certainly worth discussing. But it is important to have that discussion within the context of the positive achievements of the show.
It is hard to find anyone within the television industry who is entirely dismissive of the programme and its significance. Skins is generally considered by professionals to be a landmark production, not least because of the explosion of talent it unleashed.
Dev Patel, for example, is unlikely to argue that the show is "bad" for teenagers. It provided him, alongside many others, with his first proper acting job, playing Anwar Kharral.
It also provided him with fantastic exposure - so fantastic that when the film director Danny Boyle was looking for someone to play the lead in Slumdog Millionaire, his 17-year-old daughter Caitlin pointed him to Skins, and Patel.
Likewise, Jack Thorne has been helped along hugely by his involvement in writing for the show. He had already had some success as a playwright before Skins, but the association and the experience most definitely helped him to raise interest in his first film script, The Scouting Book for Boys, which will be released later this year.
Generally, teen drama is written by older people, and with short, early evening time slots in mind. The big problem with this is that, with the exception of the soaps, children aged about 14 and over aren't interested in watching this stuff, in which they feel, justifiably, written down to. Instead, they want to watch adult TV drama, or films.
Skins, by contrast, is written by young people, with hour-long AO slots in mind.
Having won the opportunity to write at length, after 8.30pm, the creators of the programme were particularly keen to back away from any of the conventions that trammel those who write for soaps.
Series like Home & Away or Shortland St may tackle young people and drugs, and young people and sex - but always within a context that demands a moral framing and, usually, a post-show helpline.
Instead, Skins takes a more tabloid approach - devoid of morals, manners and often reality. The characters do what they want, when they want, with a total disregard for the consequences - and next to no intervention from any adults.
It is, by all counts, completely unrealistic. But therein lies its pleasure. It is melodramatic, sensationalism at its cutting-edge best. Pure entertainment.
Getting under our skin: The new cast
1. Thomas Merveille Lukeba Thomas arrives at Roundview College, Bristol from the Congo and takes a while to find his feet. Polite, reliable and kind but probably not immune from some kind of trouble - it is Skins, after all. Lukeba has appeared on The Bill and played a child soldier in the film Ezra.
2. JJ Ollie Barbieri Aka Jonah Jeremiah Jones. He is the brains of the operation, the child-like visionary behind the gang's schemes. A little bashful, he uses magic tricks to disguise his social awkwardness.
3. Naomi Lily Loveless Passionate, political and principled, the deliciously named Naomi Campbell likes to start arguments with her friends. The fiery one.
4. Freddie Luke Pasqualino Cook's laid-back wingman. Freddie likes skateboarding, smoking weed and staying cool. Bound to be popular.
5. Effy Kaya Scodelario The only main character to survive the cull after series two, Effy is Tony's little sister. Once shy and retiring, she's become queen bee of the gang and the school sweetheart.
6. Cook Jack O'Connell The leader of the boys. Irresponsible, irresistible and bound, one imagines, for an affair with Effy. O'Connell is the most experienced actor on the new Skins slate, having played Pukey in This Is England and starred in the Brit horror film Eden Lake.
7. Pandora Lisa Backwell Effy's loyal best friend, rather sweet and naive. Think Cassie Mark 2 - but a little less weird.
8, 9. Katie and Emily Megan and Kathryn Prescott Ooh, twins. Katie and Emily are yin and yang. Katie's desperate to shed her double and make her way in the world (and is going out with a footballer); Emily is shy and desperate to hang on to her sister. Watch out for Katie's growing rivalry with Effy.
10. Karen Klariza Clayton Freddie's older sister. Karen wants to be a star and is scarily focused on her goal. A bit of a brat, really.
LOWDOWN
Who: An all new cast takes over Skins, proving themselves every bit as debauched as the last.
What: Skins, season 3
When: Monday, 9.30pm
Where: C4
- INDEPENDENT
