Skins - Series 1 (3 Discs)

Skins is a bit of an odd one. For a start you have these trailers that advertise some kind of wild mindless, x-rated version of Hollyoaks but then what you get in the episodes is a very serious, sometimes touching series about the lives of a group of friends that are often dysfunctional. Some early episodes are duds like Jal the flute player (who cares?) there's a very camp episode set in Russia that ends with a near-shootout and some dodgy fighting (well, Simon Amstell did write it) but then there's an episode for Cassie (the blonde one with an eating disorder) which could serve as pilot for another kind of series entirely. Also, when the dynamic of main character Tony's manipulative schenanigans turning against him is introduced later into the series, it takes a more interesting turn as his largely one-dimensional friends turn on him and he is forced to confront what he does to people. The eighth episode plays out like a thriller (the sister is kidnapped by some new raving preps)… more »

Skins is a bit of an odd one. For a start you have these trailers that advertise some kind of wild mindless, x-rated version of Hollyoaks but then what you get in the episodes is a very serious, sometimes touching series about the lives of a group of friends that are often dysfunctional. Some early episodes are duds like Jal the flute player (who cares?) there's a very camp episode set in Russia that ends with a near-shootout and some dodgy fighting (well, Simon Amstell did write it) but then there's an episode for Cassie (the blonde one with an eating disorder) which could serve as pilot for another kind of series entirely. Also, when the dynamic of main character Tony's manipulative schenanigans turning against him is introduced later into the series, it takes a more interesting turn as his largely one-dimensional friends turn on him and he is forced to confront what he does to people. The eighth episode plays out like a thriller (the sister is kidnapped by some new raving preps) but the finale is a bit of a shrug as it ends with a cringeworthy singing number (apparently the shows producer did a similar thing on his other show, Shameless) but all in all, its well worth a look and maybe even a purchase when the price comes down.