Many could say that it’s the British Degrassi, but with better accents and brief nudity. Some could simply say that it’s that show with the good guy from Slumdog Millionaire and that kid who was Hugh Grants sidekick in About A Boy.  But after you watch the artfully done first four episodes of the series, you might think differently.

This kid grows up to become every parents worst nightmare.

Set in Bristol England, Skins follows the lives of 8 teenagers and their daily lives.  The troubled teen ensemble genre has been done countless times before, and like the classic sitcom will continue to go on. Some have been done successfully enough to warrant pop culture credibility as well as become a cash crop for channels like The CW, and ABC family. We are all somewhat familiar with these hollow, sugary dramas whether we want to admit to it or not.  Who hasn’t had a Saved By The Bell, or Dawson’s Creek conversation?  Odds are if you were born any time after 1980 you have.

The difference between Skins and it’s teenage dramedy counterparts is the undeniable grittiness of it.  Christ, the name of the show is based on a slang term for condoms.  Sure it certainly has it’s gratuitous fluffier moments, but then it comes right back and slaps you in the face with dysfunction.  Let’s just put it this way, Tony Stonem would eat Chuck Bass alive, roofie Blair, then stand her up at the clinic.

The bottom line is, these are troubled kids. They party, they have lots of sex, and they punch each other in the face, repeatedly.  At any given time at least one of the characters has a black eye.  They openly masturbate and have acne, and I love them all the more for it.

Here is the hook: They are loyal and damaged.  The more you get to know them the more justified their actions become.  There are more daddy issues on this show than in a strip club on Christmas Eve.  I’m new to the show but I would not be surprised if there is an episode where the gang actually go to a strip club on Boxing Day. It wouldn’t be a stretch and I will be right there watching with my tissue paper crown in one hand and a mince pie in the other.