Bristol-based teen comedy drama series, Skins, was one of the more popular shows in the late 2000s. First appearing in 2007, the show followed the lives of a group of friends as they navigated growing up and everything that comes with it.
Watched by millions, the show received 34 nominations in its time with seven wins. The Channel 4 series was often seen as somewhat controversial as some, if not most, of the topics touched on weren’t spoken about much in society at the time.
From issues like adolescent sexuality, gender, substance abuse and mental illness, just to name a few, covered on the show, Skins seemed to be way ahead of its time.
Read More: Prince Harry will attend King's coronation but Meghan will stay at home, palace says
As I was a young child in the late 2000s, I never watched the show as it was more aimed at the teen age range rather than children. But having heard what it was all about I decided to watch a couple of episodes to see if I liked it and what I thought about the topics covered.
I did only watch around four or five episodes from the first series but I found that the show was maybe a little mature for those who it was intended for. One of the topics heavily focused on and mentioned is the use of drugs and while the characters are in college, the message it seems to put across is that substance abuse is the done thing once you leave school.
I do think what the producers were trying to do was educate their audience that drugs aren’t good and can cause a lot of damage in different ways. But unfortunately looking at the show now, 16 years on, there is a glaring error in the way these lessons came across. Instead of educating, it felt confused about what the message was and they included too many of these scenes for my liking.
Another thing I wasn’t the biggest fan of was the large amount of sex talk aimed at a teen show. Yes, the characters are at the age that people start to feel more sexual but I think you can handle the topic without the copious amounts of make-out and heavily sexual scenes.
While I feel some of the issues talked about were a little mature and maybe not quite handled in the best way, I think other issues, despite maybe being ahead of their time, were well covered. I especially like the inclusion of mental illnesses, especially with Cassie. Her storyline really accurately depicted what a person with an eating disorder goes through and shows teenagers there is help out there should they need it.
In all honesty, while this wasn’t necessarily a show I would sit and watch normally, I found I actually kind of enjoyed it. It was fun trying to figure out where in Bristol each scene was filmed and even interesting to see what teens back in the later 2000s actually got up to in college. Yes some of the topics were controversial, but maybe that’s what made it so popular.
Feeling curious? Follow Curiously on TikTok , Instagram , Facebook and Twitter .
Up Next:
