you find, not solace, but 'something' alive:
on British tv, a teen drama (who can resist a british tv show? - high brow, right? and a drama? with the chaotic energy of youth?). . . of course the Pakistani social interactions in the last episode are fascinating...... one of those things to be P2P'ed of the net since I'm not in England...
called SKINS (literally and metaphorically an apt title)..... oh, and its not the WALTONS.....
last August 11, 2007 (when I was looking for a home in AKRON!!!, the Guardian wrote:
Revolutionary when you look at the likes of Dawson's Creek and Buffy, which
embarrassingly tried to pass off actors in their mid-20s as hormonal teens. "The
show represents teenagers as they are," starts Nicholas Hoult, 17, who plays the
show's arch-bastard, Tony. "Unlike Hollyoaks, it's all very real, and doesn't
preach to anyone. Watching the OC is all very interesting, but it's hard to
relate to it." Aside from Hoult, who starred alongside Hugh Grant in the film
adaptation of Nick Hornby's About A Boy, the cast were all unknowns, picked from
Bristol's youth drama clubs and GCSE classes. The show was the brainchild of the
teen son of the show's executive producer and was also written by a team with an
average age of 22, including sardonic Never Mind the Buzzcocks host Simon
Amstell and recent Guide cover star Josie Long.
the finale's finale - cat stevens would be proud....:
Cat Stevens - Wild World Lyrics
Now that I've lost everything to you
You say you wanna start something new
And it's breakin' my heart you're leavin'
Baby, I'm grievin'
But if you wanna leave, take good care
I hope you have a lot of nice things to wear
But then a lot of nice things turn bad out there
+++++
The Guardian
August 11, 2007
The Guide: Teenage riot: The stars of Skins make Grange Hill look like The Waltons, and who better to soundtrack their antics than Foals? Leonie Cooper joins them all on set for a MySpace special. Play nicely children...
Leonie Cooper
THE GUIDE
Living adverts for American Apparel's Lycra goods and Primark droogs wander the corridors. Glitter drips from the ceiling. And the beautiful people - not one of them a day over 21 - frolic against the heavily graffitied walls of an abandoned, half-derelict cathedral in the outskirts of Bristol. Everyone is knocking back pink pints of a non-specific vodka and Bacardi Breezer-based drink served from a Victorian marble bath. Red velvet draped four poster beds and huge pillows are strewn underneath the massive mock Tudor posts, all covered with elegantly wasted teens babbling happily to each other about life, the universe and everything. As parties go, it doesn't quite put Alexandra Palace's 1960s freak-out - the 14 Hour Technicolor Dream - to shame but something, however, is not quite right. It's only 6pm, and amongst the debauched, decadent hubbub people - grown ups, no less - dash about with clipboards and stern looks on their faces. Expensive and highly technical lighting rigs are being shuffled about while a group of rather over-lubricated and endearingly smarmy youths are treated like demi-gods every where they choose to roam, being barraged with requests for mobile phone snapshots, high fives and hugs. They are the cast of Skins and this afternoon is, without a doubt, theirs.
Everyone has been here since 9am, which might account for the various early evening casualties littered about the glorious venue, for the filming of a 10 minute special of the teen drama that set E4 aflame earlier this year. Skins not only brought the new wave of danceable indie to the nation - most notoriously the Gossip's remarkable Standing In The Way Of Control - but also stood out for its honest depiction of teenagers as the pill-popping, fag-smoking shag-monkeys they really are, whilst making its stars some of the most famous teens in the country.
"Not many people know what it's like to be recognised everywhere you go," begins Mike Bailey, 19, who plays Sid the show's chic-geek and desperate virgin, "but I'm certainly enjoying it. Girls come up to me and tell me they love me."
Today's show is not to be screened on E4 however, it's for MySpace, the social networking site for music fans. This special episode is hung around loveable pillhead Chris, who decides to put on the party to end all parties - yet while Nicholas Hoult is hanging around the press room sipping gratis Red Bulls, he's not actually in the show, so as to not give too much away about his somewhat precarious plight at the end of the first series. The short is to promote the first series' Channel 4 debut and today is an example of viral, or the more ominously sounding "stealth" marketing taken to its very peak. Alongside the cast and featured extras, there are 300 kids at the party picked solely on the basis of their MySpace profiles, which might account for the fact that everyone here is rather gorgeous. "Apparently you had to cover your MySpace page in loads of Skins banners to get here," says Amelia Sgroi, 19, from Exeter, an elegant six footer with legs up to her armpits and whirlpool eyes. "I didn't do anything like that, my page was just a bit colourful." Alongside the early evening ravers being shot for crowd scenes for the special show is an interviewer for E4's website and DJ, who were also picked on the basis of their MySpace pages. 18-year-old Liverpudlian Joe Nelson's online indie-disco electro mix won him the pleasure of spinning discs at today's shindig. He's a big fan of Bailey's Sid - who seems to have taken to wearing his character's trademark beanie hat in the street to ensure he gets recognised and of who there are roughly seven lookalikes here today. "Sid's just dead cool," says Joe. "He's laidback and tells it like it is, and that's what teenagers are like."
Skins tapped into the trend for all-ages gigs and club nights like London's Underage Club, an under-18s night that held its first all-day festival this week, from which anyone over 19 was banned. What set Skins apart from other Brit teen shows like the middle-aged men's wank fantasy of Brighton lesbian comi-drama Sugar Rush, and the glossy hi-octane madness of Hollyoaks, was the use of actors who were actually the same age as their characters. Revolutionary when you look at the likes of Dawson's Creek and Buffy, which embarrassingly tried to pass off actors in their mid-20s as hormonal teens. "The show represents teenagers as they are," starts Nicholas Hoult, 17, who plays the show's arch-bastard, Tony. "Unlike Hollyoaks, it's all very real, and doesn't preach to anyone. Watching the OC is all very interesting, but it's hard to relate to it." Aside from Hoult, who starred alongside Hugh Grant in the film adaptation of Nick Hornby's About A Boy, the cast were all unknowns, picked from Bristol's youth drama clubs and GCSE classes. The show was the brainchild of the teen son of the show's executive producer and was also written by a team with an average age of 22, including sardonic Never Mind the Buzzcocks host Simon Amstell and recent Guide cover star Josie Long.
Even before Skins was aired, the marketing wheels had been set in motion, with fleshed-out MySpace pages created for all the show's main characters. On Cassie's page - the show's spaced-out anorexic who's madly in love with Sid - you find out that she loves David Bowie and Joanna Newsom. "She sounds like an elf, she plays the harp," says "Cassie" Newsom in her favourite music section. "She's the closest to magical a human can be." While Jal, the clarinet-toting daughter of a fictional Bristol music legend rambles on candidly about her family on her page, telling us that "I've come to the conclusion that my brothers were adopted since they both appear to have grown up in South Central LA. They also subscribe to a ridiculous but popular religious belief that Tupac is the murdered son of God, and that God is actually Queen Latifah (or Lil' Kim, I forget which one)".
Today's party music is provided by up and coming punk-ravers Foals, who've spent three hours miming to their single Hummer for the party shots, but haven't actually even seen the show. "I haven't had a telly in five years," admits guitarist Edwin Congreave, "but we heard some kids on the bus saying it was cool," before adding "I'm only 23, but I feel really old today," casting his eye over the bubbling neon-clad youth skipping across the venue.
East London's new rave don Kissy Sell Out, 22, is also DJing to the party-goers. Alongside the Dayglo pop he plays remixes of Nirvana and Seal. "It's about nostalgia as well as all the new stuff, Skins is about diversity," he says in a tone that'll make anyone over the age of 25 feel ancient.
Kissy bounds offstage at 9pm sharp, before the coaches turn up to transport the comp winners and extras back to Bristol train station where they'll nip to the offy, and do the whole thing over again, but this time it'll be for real *
Skins Special, MySpace.com from Fri; Skins, 10pm, C4, Aug 21
++++++++++
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a41980/skins-star-mike-bailey.html
Sunday, February 18 2007, 13:55 GMT
By Neil Wilkes, Editor
Every school has at least one of them. The nervous, nerdy kid who always finds himself in embarrassing predicaments and the butt of everyone's jokes.
In Skins that honour falls to Sid, who takes centre stage in next week's episode. The reluctant virgin continues to fight his feelings for his best mate's girlfriend, at the same having to deal with an overbearing - and always-disappointed - father and fighting off the affections of an increasingly besotted Cassie.
Actor Mike Bailey tells DS more about what's in store for Sid - and spills the beans on who will eventually win his heart.
How would you describe the series?
"It's about a bunch of kids who live in Bristol, and it's basically going through their lives at a certain point in time. It's supposed to be about student life and teen life, but it's more of a comedy and also drama, because there are certain aspects in it which are funny, but it deals with a lot of issues. The good thing about it as well is that with this show, it doesn't always come right at the end of [each episode]. It's definitely different to what you'll see on TV these days."
Tell me a bit about Sid, if you could?
"Sid is best mates with Tony, he sees Tony as his best friend. Sid looks up to Tony but also he's in love with Tony's girlfriend Michelle. He's close to all his friends, even though his friends don't notice - there will always be a time when they're close to the different characters, so he is close to everyone but he still gets bullied a lot. He doesn't realise it, especially from Tony. It's not the bullying you see every day - not the physical, the mental, but Sid sticks with it and builds that as he goes through. He moves further away from Tony and becomes more of an independent person."
Is there a point where he realises Tony is a bit of a twonk?
"There are definitely a few moments where he thinks 'do I really want this, are you really a friend if you treat me like this?' But then he sympathises with Tony in the same way, because Tony is always having a hard time throughout the whole series. There are times when he thinks 'Actually, get lost, I don't want to do anything with you any more', but he always goes back."
This is your first TV role - how daunting has it been?
"I'm at college at the moment doing performing arts and the only things I've done before that were plays and stuff at college. I haven't even done extra work on Casualty, which it seems that everyone in Bristol had! So, this is the first big thing for me, and it's such a good experience to go from doing absolutely nothing to being a lead character on TV. I'm so proud of myself for getting it, I'm so glad I got it. There's not many people who can say they had the same possibilitiies and experience as me. So, I mean, I'm well chuffed with myself."
How strange is it to think that your face is on giant posters across the land?
"It's really weird. You can guess what you feel like, but until you actually see it, when you're like 'that's a bit weird'. Me and my mate were talking about this yesterday, saying there might be someone in Manchester looking at my face right now and it's so, so weird. But I love it, this is what I wanted to do, this is my dream, kind of, so I love every minute of it."
What was it like filming some of the more risqué scenes?
"When you're filming it, you don't really think about it. The full naked shots, which all of the male members of the cast had to do at some point, were really different to what you expect it to be - everyone's so professional when you're there. The cast and the crew all sympathise and help you realise it's not the easiest thing to do. When I'm under the covers doing what needs to be done, everyone was having a laugh with that, because it's something everyone can have a laugh with, admit they did it, everyone's talked about it. It's not that bad doing it, but when I have to sit down with my family and watch doing it - well, that's a whole different story. I'm not looking forward to that - having a quick one in the morning and the family walking in on you - it's not going to be fun!"
As you mentioned, he's in love with Michelle but it's clear that Cassie is in love with him. How does that triangle develop?
"It starts off with him madly in love with Michelle, and that pretty much sticks out through the whole series. He gets to this point where he realises that he really does love Cassie. He just sees her as a friend, somebody he can sympathise with, somebody he can relate to in some respect, because she's kind of an outcast from the group. You can tell Cassie's falling in love with him, but he just doesn't realise it. Then, when he actually has the chance to snog Michelle, he thinks, 'Actually, I can get a much better thing with Cassie'. He juggles between the two of them through the series, and I'm not going to tell you how it ends! You'll have to wait and find out on that one."
What can we expect from Sid's episode?
"The focus of my episode is more based on my family, the fact that my parents - who are played by Josie Lawrence and Peter Capaldi - are breaking apart. It starts off with Sid failing exams, failing a piece of coursework, and it just shows how some of the smallest [things] are affected by the family drifting away. His mum leaves, and Sid just loses it with his dad, as he realises 'you're more of a waste of space than I'll ever be'. Sid's dad is always bringing him down, saying 'what are you doing with your life, is there any point to it?' At the end of it, he gets his own back on his dad.
"My episode is definitely an episode where lots of things come in. He's watching his parents fall apart, he tries to get with Michelle but loses it, he's trying to do this essay, and at the end of it he doesn't - nothing good comes out of it. That's one of the good things about my episode, it isn't one of those ones where in about twenty minutes time Sid's going to be okay."
And Josie Lawrence as your mum! How good was that?
"It's really good, because I got to learn so much. The thing with Josie as well, she's known as a comedy actor, so working with her in a serious way is just so good, because you get to see the two ways in which she works - she can do the serious stuff, and she can do the comedy stuff really well. Also, there's Peter Capaldi who plays my dad. He was really, really good, because he properly came into the scene, he'd thought about it and stuff, and we'd talk it through and everything. The older actors and younger actors have all been amazing - there's not one person I wouldn't want to work with again. I've enjoyed it so much and I've been so lucky at this age to work with all these great actors."
How well did the cast get on?
"Everyone gets along, we were all so happy. Joe [Chris], Nick [Tony] and Dev [Anwar] don't live in Bristol, so they used to come down and we used to go out on nights, we used to have a laugh on set. There wasn't any friction, everyone got on well the whole way through. Since we finished filming, I've missed everyone so much, and to have a job where you're working with really, really great people, it's amazing as well."
What are your thoughts on a possible second series?
"Everyone is keen, I really want to do a second series. I loved doing the first series, so a second series would be absolutely amazing. But, I'm thinking of it as we're not doing it, so when we find out if we are doing it, then it'll just be like, so much better. I definitely want to do it. "
Thanks for chatting, Mike!
Skins airs Thursday at 10pm on E4
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