Skins

Not sure if this has crossed the Atlantic but either way thought it deserved a thread. It's to the Noughties what Human Traffic was to the Nineties in it's painting of today's UK society. Obviously neither have the whole spectrum and there's also Shameless which treads a similar line and does well and what it does but for me Skins captures the essence of today's youth almost to a tie.



It features an varied group of friends studying at college i.e. 17-18 with each episode focusing more so on one character than the rest. Each character is identifiable and equally likable, the main character Tony (from About a Boy), outsider Sid, gay Maxi, Indian Anwar- there's someone from almost every walk of life yet none fall into stereotypes and are all loving crafted and performed perfectly by the young stars. For a show it manages to pull of some great humour, verging surreal, while managing to keep it's realistic tone and deal with issues in a subtle manner without the heavy handness or preaching other shows tend to adopt.

Anyway, watch or discuss it if you will...

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Series one was superb. Totally loved and it and loathed and loved the character sin equal measure. Last nights episode though...was a bit too dark and serious. Was hoping for a more mental funny return to the series. Each episode before has had a more defined narrative based around only one of the characters, where as last nights one was muddled and didnt really make sense in places. Who were we meant to be focussing on? Tony? Or Max?

I'm still hooked though. Count me in for episode 2. It obviously also helps with how pretty they all are.

(By the by Pyro, your pic link aint workin')

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Pumpkins scream in the DEAD of night!

Hmm it's working for me.

I actually liked last nights episode, was hoping it would be a bit more offbeat as well but still had some pretty funny moments in- the chav girls and especially Bill Bailey. Was surprised how well they handled Tony, was quite touching. Didn't find it as muddled, thought it was clearly Maxi's episode and Tony happened to be a part of it. Don't think any episodes solely focused on one character though.

Oh, and my friend goes clubbing with the cast at his Uni, but i can never find enough cash to get down there

From what i gathered each episode in the last series focused solely on one character and the others obviously jumped in and out. We had Tonys first episode all about his life. Then we had the one with Maxi being gay in Russia, then the one with the Clarinet playing girl. And several with Sid and crazy anorexic girl. I just didn’t think last nights episode stuck with that format at all and it seemed a bit crap. But I’m well up for next weeks fo sure.

As for your pic, still not working for me...weird.

My housemates used to live in Bristol and used to see the cast all the time. Apparently Sid and Maxi worked in Topman every weekend until recently. Weird.

Just caught the first 2 seasons of this for the first time (5 years since the last post on this thread, so I'm a tad behind ). Excellent show, great casting, acting and writing, very well done all around. Fun guilty pleasure series.

BTW, I tried to watch the US version of the first episode --absolutely horrible; it was completely hollow, and lacked all the subtleties of the original.

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Under-the-radar Movie Awesomeness.
http://earlsmoviepicks.blogspot.com/

First two series are the best, then it's downhill from there. Series 3 and 4 were decent but no series has been up there with the first two.

Sad to hear that, I'm enjoying season 2 -- season 1 was great!

I'm late but i can't help it, I've watched 3 seasons in the last 10 days, IT'S AMAZING. Yeah without the original cast, I'm sure the intereste will decrease but I will still watch it. will you?

PS: I love Kaya Scodelario