The first episode of Skins introduces viewers to a gang of friends through their leader, Tony. Tony is good looking, intelligent and ambitious, and he plans to help his best mate, Sid, lose his virginity at posh Abigail's party, with the help of some illegal drugs. However, things don't go quite as planned...
Cassie's family and friends are too wrapped up in their own worlds to notice she is not eating and that her health is at risk. Will this change when Cassie gets to know Sid?
Jal has reached the finals of 'Young Musician of the Year', but do her family want her to succeed? Her untalented brothers won't let her practise, and her father, who resents Jal's resemblance of her mother, seems more concerned about his younger pretty blonde girlfriend. Meanwhile, it looks like Sid is not out of trouble yet.
Pill-popping Chris wakes up to discover his mother has left home, but given him £1,000 to cover bills - so he blows all the money on drugs and partying, before facing up to the fact that she may never return.
Sid is in trouble, deep trouble. His coursework hasn't made the grade, he's as sexually frustrated as ever, and he can't get his best mate's girlfriend, Michelle, out of his head!
A school trip to Russia provides plenty of opportunity for the testing of friendships, as Anwar's religion and Maxxie's sexuality collide.
A distraught Michelle breaks-up with Tony after he fails to own-up to cheating on her with Maxxie in Russia. Michelle also faces conflict at home, with her latest young step-dad. However, things start to look-up when Michelle meets Josh, Abigail's brother. A jealous Tony is determined to sabotage the new relationship though, but will Michelle take him back?
Things get dark this week as Tony's silent little sister, Effy, goes missing. Desperate to find Effy, can Tony rely on any of his old mates, or have they all shunned him forever?
The last episode in the series involves Sid attempting to pull himself together and tell Cassie how he feels about her, but with tragic consequences. Meanwhile, nobody is in the mood to celebrate Anwar's birthday, and Tony is out of luck when he tries to make amends.
Tony is recovering from the massive head injury he sustained at the end of series one. Sid and Michelle are nowhere to be seen, caring for an invalid friend has just been too much for them. So Maxxie is looking after Tony for the day. But Maxxie has his own problems. He desperately wants to leave college and follow his dream to become a dancer, but his Dad Walter is giving him hell about it. Tony wants to go back to college, but his parents won’t agree to that either. Their world has been rocked to its foundations and they just don’t know what to do with their son. So Maxxie wants out and Tony wants in and they’re going to have to help each other. That’s if the gay hating, ASBO boys on Maxxie’s estate don’t get them first. And all the while Maxxie has a strange feeling that someone else nearby is on his case too.
Maxxie has a creepy feeling that someone is watching him. Someone close by. A hot boy maybe? No such luck. Sketch is Maxxie’s stalker. A weird loner, who spends most days shut up in a poky flat looking after their disabled Mum. So their attentions turn to the fit blonde boy who lives on the estate. Soon everything in their life is about Maxxie – If only he would even notice them. Meanwhile, the sixth form college production of ‘Osama: The Musical’ is teetering towards disaster under the heavy-handed guidance of lecherous drama teacher Bruce. But Sketch is prepared to do anything to get leading man Maxxie, and if they can’t have him, they’re going to make sure nobody can - and especially not his current leading lady Michelle.
Sid hasn’t coped at all well with the fact that his best friend Tony is a shadow of the man he was. And his ‘girlfriend’ Cassie moving away to Scotland hasn’t helped either, particularly when he catches her looking like she’s having the time of her life with a pair of tartan-clad boys. So his mood is not improved much when his Grandad, a notorious Glaswegian hard bastard arrives, dying of cancer, to say his final goodbyes. He has never liked his son and he likes his Grandson Sid even less. So his arrival makes Sid’s Dad’s life a misery too. Especially as he’s brought Sid’s Uncle Sandy and his two weird cousins along for good measure too. Multiply all this by ten when Sid’s estranged Mum joins in to play happy families. So it’s Jenkins family meltdown. And when Sid comes down for breakfast he ends up making a discovery that nothing could have prepared him for. Sometimes life is just too sudden, just too cruel. So Sid’s life crisis deepens into a chasm of despair, what he really needs now is his best mate, he needs Tony.
So Michelle’s Mum Anna has gone and done it again. Married another new husband. And worse, Michelle has to move in with them into their new house. But even worse, this time Michelle has to contend with a new big-titted, emotionally-manipulative step sister called Scarlett. Before she knows what’s happening, Scarlett is invading her life, co-opting her friends and offering unwanted advice about what to do about her still incapacitated ex-boyfriend Tony. So when Scarlett inveigles herself onto Michelle’s birthday camping trip to the Gower and starts to move in on the emotionally fragile Sid, Michelle’s got to do something. Sid needs Michelle, he’s her friend, so she does the only thing she knows. But who’s that arriving back from Scotland and full of hope for Sid? Now that is bad timing.step in. Sid needs a friend, Michelle. But Sid has always had a thing for her so she does the only thing she knows. Now they have to live with the consequences. Are they going to tell Tony? And who's that arriving back from Scotland and full of hope for Sid? Now that is bad timing.
Chris’ college career has been a long road full of tribulations; drugs, petty theft, non attendance and resounding failure. So when the CCTV cameras catch him shagging Buck Tooth in the Science corridor, the College Director calls time. Chris is out. And out of his college accommodation as well. Homeless, family-less, Chris is going down hill fast, until Jal steps in with a challenge. She’ll try to unwind a little so long as he gets his act together and gets some focus. So Chris gets a job, several jobs, in fact every time he’s fired he gets another one, and he moves into the smallest bed-sit in Bristol. So Jal’s got to chill out, and wow when she does she’s pretty gorgeous, and talented, and cool, and...Could Chris have had his eyes opened wider than any drug could do?
Tony’s world is a strange one. Isolated, alone, he is desperate to find the way back to himself. Since the accident he lives in a world of half understood dreams. He tries to act normal, but bumping into Sid and Michelle at a club sends him spiralling again. Nobody understands how the world looks to him, nobody except the strange beautiful girl he meets when trying to escape from his so-called best friend and ex-girlfriend. The next day Tony heads off to a University open day and runs into her again. Who is she? His head tells him that she is an angel. But can he ever trust his head again?
What is it about Effy? The mysterious one had a lot to deal with. The Stonem family home is in disarray, while Dad Jim is working abroad, Mum Anthea is also away, with the fairies; and Tony is moping after Michelle. On top of this, Effy has her GCSE art coursework deadline looming. So solving all her family’s problems, planning her academic future, as well as sorting out the ‘Tony and Michelle’, ‘Sid and Cassie’ dilemma is all she needs right now. And then on top of this, whilst also trying to maintain her reputation for being the wildest kid on the block, she’s lumbered with the new girl, spoddy Pandora. So how weird when suddenly Pandora turns out to be best friend material. Maybe the future’s bright after all, Effy and Pandora’s future at least.
Jal’s got a secret so big she can’t tell anyone until she works out what the hell she’s going to do about it. But Spanish A-level revision, music school auditions, and needy best friends are pressing down on her, all while the ‘secret’ is starting to leak out. What’s more, Chris has asked her to move in with him into his pokey love nest. Jal needs someone, but will a visit from her estranged Mum make everything better? What Jal doesn’t know is that Chris has been hiding a secret all of his own.
What's the matter with Cassie? She's back together with Sid, Chris is on the mend, Michelle and Tony are back with each other and A-level exams are finally over. So to celebrate, Sid has organised a dinner party where everyone can try to get along. But how can they? Jal is lying to Chris, Chris is lying to everyone, including himself. And when it finally gets too much, Cassie runs. She runs and runs and keeps on going - until she arrives at a totally magical place, where the people are friendly and she can get along. But can she be happy?
It's A-Level results day for the gang but not all of them are present. Decisions are made as they all prepare for the next chapter of their lives.
