BBC Television series to recommend for older teens - Skins

[Storymama]

I really, really liked Slumdog Millionaire this spring, and was interested to know what else the actors had done - it was only Dev Patel's second gig, which blew me away. I decided to watch his first thing, and it turned out to be this amazing series called Skins (http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/328/index.jsp). (Apparently that is slang for cigarette wrapping paper, I was sort of braced for something about skinheads/racism.)

The series follows a group of older urban teens (still in school, equivalent to our 11th or 12th grades in the US) and their daily lives - difficult families, difficult group dynamics, loves, losses, etc. The characters are so finely written, and the kids who portray them will break your heart with the portrayals - it's just brutally honest and close to the bone . . . but also funny and worth the time, you know?

I guess BBC America has shown the series, but it's edited. I've been watching it unedited on Netflix on Demand, and then getting the disks for the rest of the series.

It is pretty graphic in content and depiction, it would probably be NC-17 in the US, just be forewarned. It's probably for mature 15 year olds - with parents involved and watching it with them - at the earliest.

[lunita]

I didn't realize it was edited on BBC America. It must be REALLY risque in its true form. :)

It is a really great program.

[sarahs]

This is very popular with my DD and her friends. (Geeky theater/book nerds ages 15-17, same cohort that loves An Abundance of Katherines and Spring Awakening.) The episodes are available online and I am thinking they are not edited. But frankly, I prefer that grit and realism to Gossip Girl. Blech.

[Storymama]

Just bumping this again with another thumbs up from Amelia and Tori, too - I've got the series coming again (I watched it alone, first) and after we got past the foot dragging involved because anything Ima suggests can't possibly be really THAT good (:eyeroll2:) they are totally immersed, and having fun discussing the episodes, etc. Tori is a huge Anglophile anyway, so she's really enjoying the accents, the slang, etc.

[saffron]

I really, really liked Slumdog Millionaire this spring, and was interested to know what else the actors had done - it was only Dev Patel's second gig, which blew me away. I decided to watch his first thing, and it turned out to be this amazing series called Skins (http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/328/index.jsp). (Apparently that is slang for cigarette wrapping paper, I was sort of braced for something about skinheads/racism.)

The series follows a group of older urban teens (still in school, equivalent to our 11th or 12th grades in the US) and their daily lives - difficult families, difficult group dynamics, loves, losses, etc. The characters are so finely written, and the kids who portray them will break your heart with the portrayals - it's just brutally honest and close to the bone . . . but also funny and worth the time, you know?


Thanks for the recommendation! Dh and I are watching this and really enjoying it. (nt)