Skins (Series 5 Wrap-Up)

I really loved this series. To be honest, based on the the last series, this generation of Skins would always be brilliant!

The storylines in this series explored issues that have previously been seen on the show, such as taking drugs, exploring parent-child relationships and exploring sexuality. In addition, a couple of issues emerged that haven't been dealt with in the same way previously; relationships where the girl feels pressured into sex and mental illness; in a sensative way, as opposed to a melodramatic way like in the last series.

Character-wise, pretty much all of the characters are pretty likeable, maybe with this exception of Nick (Sean Teale), who is probably the only character that gets very little real development in the series. Although we get a glimpse into his rather troubled home life, domianted by wayward brother Mattie (Sebastian de Souza) and their pretty hideous father (Dorian Lough), little is developed in his journey. In this series there was less investigation into lives of the parents; in previous series' we learned about as much about the parents as we did the children, whereas in this series the only family we really spent much time with was that of Grace, whose parents David (Chris Addison) and Sonia (Jenny Jules) are pretty overbearing.

The acting in this series was also a return to form. The entire ensemble of teenagers are quite good, with perhaps the only weaker performance coming from de Souza, who seemingly only has one facial expression. I think special mention should probably go to Dakota Blue Richards as Franky, Freya Mavor as Mini, Jessica Sula as Grace and Will Merrick as Alo all of whom develop their characters thoroughly and step away from the possibly stereotypical ways in which their roles could be played. Also, despite being saddled with a less than great character, Teale does a pretty good job as Nick.

I'm really looking forward for this cast to return next year (which is a scary thought). I really like how the writers have taken a slightly gentler approach rather than attempting to be pverly 'gritty' in a way that removes the realism of situations.