Skins (British TV series)

Skins is a British teen drama television series that follows the lives of a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of sixth form. Its controversial storylines have explored issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness (such as depression, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and bipolar disorder), adolescent sexuality, gender, substance abuse, death, and bullying.

Each episode generally focuses on a particular character or subset of characters and the struggles they face in their lives, with the episodes named after the featured characters. The show was created by father-and-son television writers Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain for Company Pictures,^[1] and premiered on E4 on 25 January 2007.^[2]

Skins went on to be a critical success as well as a ratings winner and has developed a cult following. It has since been considered revolutionary,^[3] and continues to draw appraisal for its depiction of problems that British youth experience, which was generally not showcased on public TV at the time.^[4] Over its initial six-year run, Skins was atypical of ongoing drama series in that it replaced its primary cast every two years. Plans for a film spin-off were first discussed in 2009, but ultimately did not come to fruition. Instead, a specially-commissioned seventh and final series of the show was broadcast in 2013, featuring some of the cast from its 2007–2010 run.^[5]

Other ventures to expand the brand have included a short-lived American remake, which aired on MTV in 2011, but was cancelled after one season after advertisers abandoned the series in response to controversy surrounding the series' sexual content.