“Skins” – the British version of teenagers

I’ve recently gotten into the BBC America series “Skins.” And by “gotten into,” I mean I watched the entire first two seasons in a matter of four days. In my defense the seasons are only nine to ten episodes long. Those silly Brits actually call them “volumes” or “series” instead of “seasons.” Isn’t that cute?

If you are unfamiliar with the show, I like to describe it as “Degrassi: The Next Generation” meets Britain, meets HBO.

If you are also unfamiliar with Canadian teen dramas, you probably have no idea what “Degrassi” is. Allow me to elaborate further.

“Skins” follows nine British teens that attend Roundview College in Bristol. (They refer to high school as college, and refer to college as university. Try to keep up.) The list of characters is as follows:

Tony – The popular one, womanizer, and ringleader of the group. Tony is played by actor Nicholas Hoult, who you’ll recognize as the cute, pudgy kid from the film About a Boy, also starring Hugh Grant and Toni Collette. Well, Hoult grew up and lost the baby fat, and he’s hot now.

Sid – Tony’s sidekick, and “the virgin.” Apparently in Britain it is embarrassing to be sixteen and still a virgin. You should know the legal age in Britain is sixteen. But still…sixteen.

Michelle – She’s Tony’s girlfriend and really nothing else.

Jal – She’s Michelle’s best friend, and also the voice of reason for the group. She’s a champion clarinetist and the only one with any talent other than smoking and swearing.

Chris – The fun-loving pill popper that loves nothing more than to party hard. He’s got plenty of demons, and is also the charmer that scores with their psychology teacher.

Cassie – The crazy one. She’s absolutely adorable but suffers from anorexia and other issues. She’s also a fan of the pills. But really, they all are.

Anwar – A “practicing” Muslim that doesn’t let his religion get in the way of sex, drugs, and alcohol. Anwar is played by Dev Patel, the star of a little film you may have heard of called Slumdog Millionaire.

Maxxie – The openly gay one. He acquires a female stalker in the second season. Things get weird in the second season.

Effy – Tony’s little sister and extreme underage rebel. Her time to shine is really the third season as she’s the only original cast member to stay on past season two.

The first episode alone covers all of the following: a love triangle, weed, pills, underage drinking, sex, and full-frontal nudity. Lots and lots of nudity. I wasn’t exactly sure at first where the name for the series came from. Two minutes into it I realized “Skins” is the most accurately named television show. Skin, skin and more skin.

So what am I really trying to say about this show? Ultimately the first season is really good (for a teen drama). It’s not for everyone but those who like it get addicted. I was duped instantly because I’m a sucker for British accents (who isn’t?) and honestly, the accents disguised the fact that it was really kind of cheesy.

But nothing, not their adorable faces nor their adorable voices, could distract from the fact that the second season was insane. Not in a “wow that was so good it was insane” kind of way, but a “wow this show is so weird it’s insane.” I don’t know if the acting or the writing got worse, but something was off. However, fans keep watching because they fall in love with the characters, no matter how ridiculous they get (Tony, Cassie, I’m looking at you).

All in all, I suggest checking it out, if not just to observe the life of teens over the pond and “have a laugh.” They are, after all, quite witty. Seasons one and two are available on instant Netflix.