Skins Trivia | 50 facts about the popular British series

“Skins” was a successful British teen drama series, that also gained its American version.

Let’s find out more about it!

1. Skins is a British teen comedy-drama television series.
2. It follows the lives of a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of sixth form.
3. Its controversial story-lines have explored issues like dysfunctional families, mental illness (such as depression, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder), adolescent sexuality, gender, substance abuse, death, and bullying.
4. Each episode generally focuses on a particular character or subset of characters and the struggles they face in their lives.
5. The episodes named after the featured characters.
6. The show was created by father-and-son television writers Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain for Company Pictures.
7. It premiered on E4 on 25 January 2007.
8. Skins went on to be a critical success as well as a ratings winner and has developed a cult following.
9. Over its initial six-year run, Skins was atypical of ongoing drama series in that it replaced its primary cast every two years.
10. Plans for a film spin-off were first discussed in 2009, but ultimately did not come to fruition.
11. Instead, a specially-commissioned seventh and final series of the show.
12. It was broadcast in 2013
13. It featured some of the cast from its 2007–2010 run.
14. Other ventures to expand the brand have included a short-lived American remake.
15. It American version aired on MTV in 2011.
16. It was cancelled after one season after advertisers abandoned the series in response to low ratings.
17. Also, the series created a significant controversy which arose over its depiction of teen sexuality.
18. Bryan Elsley’s philosophy explored how teenagers believe adults act in corrupted ways, which explains why most adults in the show appear to be crooked, in poor relationships, swearing, and overall poor parents
19. The show’s writing team has an average age of 21.
20. In addition, it included several “teenage consultants”.
21. In January 2011, Jamie Brittain announced a writing competition open to the public to help with the developing and writing of Series 6.
22. According to Brittain, the winner will receive “a four-month placement in the Skins writers’ room, where you’d be invited to attend at least 10 of our top secret meetings, working with [Brittain] and the other Skins writers,” as well as monetary compensation.
23. The winners of the 2011 competition were Sophie Boyce (18) and Joe Hampson (21).
24. The winner of the 2008 competition, Dan Lovett, went on to become an official member of the Skins writing team.
25. The show is filmed almost entirely in Bristol.
26. Scenes at Roundview College were shot at Henbury School for series four, having formerly been set at the John Cabot Academy and SGS WISE Campus^, and multiple scenes are located around College Green.
27. Special locations for individual episodes have included the Gower Peninsula, Sharpness Docks, the University of Exeter and New York City. The series was shot entirely in High Definition, using Sony HDW-750P cameras for the first two series, and Sony HDW-F900R thereafter, both supplied by Panavision.
28. It was edited by BBC Studios and Post Production in Bristol, using Autodesk Lustre and Autodesk Smoke.
29. “The trip to Russia” episode was actually shot in Lithuania, near the capital Vilnius. This episode was shot in co-operation with Lithuanian Film Studios and professional Lithuanian actors.
30. It was announced in April 2008 that all of the original cast (except Kaya Scodelario and Lisa Backwell) would be replaced for series 3
31. Speaking at Broadcast’s television drama conference, he also confirmed the show would stick to its pattern of introducing college-age characters, moving them on in the next series, then letting them go. “The first year is about getting to know the kids, and the second gives us the advantage of being able to explore their psyches a little more,” said Elsley.
32. Brittain said that the new cast would be quite different from the original characters, although people may still spot some similarities.
33. Open auditions for the second generation of cast members were held in Bristol, which attracted 1,500 16- to 18-year-olds, followed by a further two days of auditions in London
34. A variety of videos have been released on the Skins website, including character profiles, and “Unseen Skins” mini-episodes that interweave with every aired episode.
35. In addition to character profiles on the official E4 website, accounts for the lead Skins characters are maintained on popular social networking website MySpace. Each series is launched on MySpace, with previews of the first episodes a few days before they are aired on television. After every episode, a tracklist of the soundtrack was released onto the E4 website.
36. There is also an official Skins Internet bot for Windows Live Messenger, which allows users to receive automated messages throughout the airing of each episode with music credits, trivia, and behind-the-scenes gossip.
37. The pilot episode of Skins averaged 1.5 million viewers
38. During the auditions, Kaya Scodelario, who was 14 at that time, claimed to be 16 on the forms to get herself noticed. She later felt that she was too young for the show and was about to leave. But a producer told her to stay and encouraged her to read for the part of Effy.
39. Luke Pasqualino (Freddie) originally auditioned for the role of Tony Stonem
40. Tony, Effy, Sketch and Rich are the only characters who break the fourth wall by looking directly into the camera.
41. In one episode, JJ performs a “magic trick” by blowing fire. As soon as the flame bursts out, you can see (and hear) the reactions of Cook, Effy and Freddie. According to Ollie Barbieri, the reactions of Luke Pasqualino and Jack O’Connell, even the scream of Kaya Scodelario, were all genuine. It was told to them that there will be a fire-blowing scene, but it won’t be real. What they didn’t know was that Ollie Barbieri would actually blow fire
42. The part of Effy Stonem initially went to another actress. Kaya Scodelario replaced her after she dropped out
43. Jack O’Connell (Cook) and Kaya Scodelario (Effy) dated in real life during filming.
44. The first show ever created for the channel E4.
45. The show’s pattern to change from a teenage drama with comedy elements to a more serious coming-of-age drama is intentional.
46. In each generation, the first season introduces the characters, while the second season focuses on their psyche.
47. While filming the lake scene of the episode Skins: Naomi (2009), Kathryn Prescott went into a hypothermic shock after jumping in, because the temperature of the water was really cold. The scene was actually planned to be longer, with Emily and Naomi playing around in the water, but the scenes didn’t get made because of that.
48. Many people think Effy is the only character to appear in 4 seasons, (or 2 generations) but the characters Pandora Moon, Anthea and Jim Stonem (Effy and Tony’s parents) and the teacher, Doug all reoccur in multiple seasons.
49. Hannah Murray and Mitch Hewer who plays Cassie and Maxxie in Generation 1 both shares the same birthday (July 1st 1989)
50. It remains unclear if the name of Aimee-Ffion Edwards’ character, Sketch, is either her nickname or her surname. Everyone calls her like that, except her mother, who calls her “Lucy”. Although it hasn’t been confirmed, many people believe that her full name might be Lucy Sketch.