Let it get under your skin (Skins - Complete Series 1 (DVD))

Member Name: SophieRainbow

Product:	Skins - Complete Series 1 (DVD)
Date:	12/08/09 (8 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Full of energy, engaging and addictive, great characters, well acted, decent extras

Disadvantages: Rated 18

I remember before we had heard of Skins that my brother entered a Channel 4 competition to design some of the graphic stuff for the first series (he didn't win, and it was a good job because the visuals they ended up with are much better than his were). At first, the name struck me as strange and the advert as quite intimidating - as a 15-year-old with no experience of sex, drugs or rock n roll. However, after watching the second and third series I went back to basics to see how the characters were set up.

As the best series of Skins in my opinion, this is perfect for those who:
a) were (rightly) too embarassed to watch the E4 shows on digital with their parents in the living room
b) couldn't stay up late to watch the C4 repeats
c) were a little to premature at the time the first series was aired
d) just missed it and loved the second series

This DVD contains 9 approx. 40-minute episodes and 80 minutes of extras including ancillary (deleted) storylines, a video of Standing in the Way of Control (the popular theme tune for the ads from the first series), trailers and some quite bizarre video diaries from some of the characters (Cassie's is worth watching).

Most people are now familar with the concept of the show, a bunch of eight teenagers partying and smoking their way through college, with focus on the issues they face (from divorcing parents to sex, work and religion) and how the relationships between them weather in a setting where the adults around them are, without exception, uselessto them.

This series sets up the CHARACTERS well, but without sacrificing the fast-paced storylines I had come to expect from the later series'. The characters (Tony, Michelle, Cassie, Sid, Jal, Maxxie, Chris and Anwar) are young, deep, variable and both loveable and hatable: they are exaggerated forms of real human beings. This is what makes the series so completely engaging and worth discussing more intensely than the usual soap or drama - it is the characters who you find yourself discussing, rather than what happened. In this series there is perhaps too much focus on Tony as a lead character, but there is an episode focussed on each character, plus Effy (Tony's sister who takes the lead in the third series).

The contrast between the strength, energy, confidence and passion of the teenage characters and the frustration, confusion and disguised ineptitude of the parents, teachers and other adults that surround them is a subtle but revitalising feature of the series which highlights the hypocrisy of "adulthood" in real life and is uplifting.

The acting is excellent quality, believable and accesible.

The PLOTS are engaging, including the rollercoaster relationship of Tony and Michelle, Anwar's battle between religion and being an English teenager, a bizarre trip to Russia, Jal's family problem, Sid trying to lose his virginity, a teacher-pupil romance and many more. The series is set in Bristol, allowing many oppurtunties for wild parties and access to apparently infinite drugs which may infuriate some at times as being unrealistic (maybe too good to be true). The storylines are delivered to a background of (often black) humour and emotional integrity. They are not patronising unlike some more mild-mannered attempts at teenage dramas as the kids really take control - they are the focus of the drama, are shown to be decisive and often expose the adults for their weaknesses.

This is a brilliant British production; exciting, subtle and addictive. The visuals on the DVD of characters lieing in drunken piles, sunshiney credits and theme tune, and menu theme Standing in the Way of Control are a joy. Even the name 'Skins' (resonating the sexual and emotional aspects of the show, the idea of self, personality, and individuality) shows how well produced this airbrushed (or perhaps more accurately airbruised) snap shot of teenage life is.

N.B. I feel the 18 rating is perhaps unfair. Though the sexual scenes, drug smoking and psychoses and some violence warrant a 15, there are no unpleasant injecting Trainspotting-style scenes nor gruesome horror-style violence.

Summary: Brilliant British drama