Summer on Radio 1

[Jono]

According to The Guardian Harry Enfield and Morwenna Banks will be reprising their guest star roles.

MacKenzie Crook, Sally Phillips and Geoffrey Hughes will also be making cameo appearances, along with BBC Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills.

[MissCorsham]

Looking forward to Skins being back... not sure how the complete character change is going to affect it, but it should freshen it up.

[Ryan16]

i cant wait i think its going to be better than before

[Sam]

Digital Spy

Ready to meet the class of 2009?

Skins is back for a third series - and this time, there's a whole new gang to get to know.

Heading up the cast is Tony's younger sister Effy (Kaya Scodelario), the beautiful and elusive queen bee. At her side is naive best friend Pandora (Lisa Blackwell).

Cook (Jack O'Connell) is the cocksure leader of the guys, always up for a laugh or a dare. His best friend is Freddie (Luke Pasqualino), a skateboarding pretty boy who sets his sights on Effy.

The boys' triumverate is completed by JJ (Ollie Barbieri), the clever one - and master magician. Naomi (Lily Loveless) is a feisty gal - passionate, principled and often locking horns with others in the group.

[Sam]

Finally, we have twins Katie (Megan Prescott) and Emily (Kathryn Prescott). The first is a social beast, with an older footballer boyfriend and scant regard for others, while the other lives in her sister's shadow, crippled by shyness.

Earlier this month I caught up with Skins co-creator Jamie Brittain to find out more about the show's new era.

Did you film the new series in the same kind of locations as the first two?

"Yeah, well mostly Bristol. Generally there are new locations though - it's quite different from the first couple of series so there's lots of new places and new things to see. We do have college in there as a base, but other than that it's all over the place."

What can we expect from the new characters?

"They're a really interesting bunch, actually. I think once people see them, they will warm to them quite quickly because they're all quite interesting. Unlike the characters in the first two series they're very much people in development. There's no-one like Tony, who could spout clever non-sequiturs and all that stuff."

Series two was more grown-up than series one and tackled more hard-hitting themes. Will series three mark a return to that naivety of the first series?

"I think it's more of a synthesis between what series one was and what series two was, to be honest. It's got a very slick variety of tones, which we're very proud of. This year it's a lot about the simple things - growing up, working out who you are and working out where you exist in your social group. It's a classic teen story really, but within that there's a wide variety of stories and characters."

What would you say are the main differences from the old Skins then?

"To an extent - and this is just to an extent - the first time round the characters were archetypal. I think that was required to give the audience a way to get into the show, but now we're much better writers and better at creating characters, so the characters this time are much more complex, real and vivid. That isn't to do down the characters from the first time round - they're brilliant - but this time we're playing a slightly different game. It's a bit more in-depth."

When we spoke earlier this year you said it was "possible" the old cast could come back for cameos. Any movement on that?

"There's some nice references to them and stuff like that, but I don't think they'll come back. For one thing they're all off doing their own things now. Dev Patel (Anwar) has Oscar buzz around him for this Slumdog Millionaire film. Mitch Hewer's (Maxxie) doing well in Britannia High, Nick Hoult's (Tony) off doing a play, Larissa Wilson (Jal) and April Pearson (Michelle) have just been in a film and Mike Bailey's (Sid) just been in a drama for the BBC. If I were them I wouldn't want to be tied down to Skins, even though it's something to be proud of. What we hope is that when people see the new cast, they'll think 'this lot are as good as the last lot' and they won't miss the last lot."

You said the reason you ditched the previous cast was because they had a natural two-year lifespan. Would you do the same with the new cast if you went to a fifth series?

"Yeah, I think so. That's the idea. We're not really thinking that far into the future though, we do it series by series. It's hard enough to do a series on its own without thinking about the future! I would love to work on Skins as long as it's around. I think we could come up with another lot, yeah. Teenagers are so interested and varied, there's a lot you could do. We are thinking about series four already, which will of course be with the same lot, but beyond that is unknown."

Do you think the show would ever move out of Bristol?

"We never have talked about that. It's an idea, I suppose. If we felt that we'd kind of done everything we could with Bristol, we'd consider that. It's a good idea."

Finally, are you nervous about the audience reaction to the new series?

"I am nervous. But I'm also fairly confident because I think this series is really good. Just the quality of the acting, writing and directing is better than ever before. We've shown it to a few people and everyone who's seen the first episode has seemed to enjoy it so far."

Well, I'm one of those lucky few to have seen the first episode and can confirm that Jamie's right - within minutes you've forgotten all about Tony, Chris, Maxxie et al. The new characters are all introduced well - the clear standout being Cook (Jack O’Connell), who's our new Chris and Tony rolled into one. Here's a few hints of what else you can expect from the first episode:

• Harry Enfield (Effy's dad, Mr Stonem) having a very distressing accident
  
• Cook revealing his rather interesting tattoo to the entire college
  
• Ardal O'Hanlan's first appearance as the gang's careless Irish form tutor
  
• Naomi's embarrassing surname being revealed
  
• Katie attempting to befriend Effy
  
• Cook, Freddie and JJ attempting to befriend Effy in an entirely different sense
  
• A very steamy encounter in the first aid office
  

Skins series three airs on E4 from January.

[Jono]

Pandora and the first twin looks alright I guess

[dstrkzn]

I miss the old cast Effy and Pandora will be good though

[Nik B.]

Hes quite hot actually, I spose I might watch this series after all!

[Mike]

I'm not quite sure what to make of it yet, I'll watch the first episode and see what happens i guess.

[kitty]

Hmm, I think the new cast are a bit young for me to perv over-they look like children! Dunno if I will watch this time around...

[Sam]

Hm??

[Bumble_85]

Naomi (Lily Loveless) is a feisty gal - passionate, principled and often locking horns with others in the group.

I hate when people in things have my name, I'm far too easily confused.

[Ryan16]

there is no token gay one this time

[Nik B.]

there is no token gay one this time

They should of called me

[Jono]

They should of called me

Whys that? Can you do a good stereotypical gay performance on the telephone?

[Ad]

there is no token gay one this time

Which is good in some respects, I didn't think he was a strong character anyway.

Effy was a good character back in the first & second series, so it will be great to see more of her.

People are always a bit cautious of any change, however there is only so much you can do with the characters and they often want to move on to other 'projects'.

[MissCorsham]

Hes quite hot actually, I spose I might watch this series after all!

Oooh yes, he's the one to watch... closely...

I withhold judgement until I see it.

[Nik B.]

Whys that? Can you do a good stereotypical gay performance on the telephone?

Actually... No. as Gays go I'm pretty straight Although I could probably pull one off if I put my mind to it...

... That sounded wrong.

[alexj]

I was two days too young to audition for Skins!

How much of an arse is that?

I'm not very good at acting though so I probably wouldn't have got a part anyway.

It looks okay - dunno if it will be as good as 1 and 2 though but they'll probably amaze us all with an amazing series.

I expect all the scene kids will be getting exctremely excited again soon.

[kitty]

Watched this last night, it was quite entertaining but is a strange mix of very juvenile humour combined with some quite explicit scenes/ language- obviously aimed at teens but to be honest if I was a parent I wouldn't be too impressed with my kids watching this!

Liked the introduction of Ardal O'Hanlon's character, am reserving judgement a bit on the new kids until we see a bit more character development.

there is no token gay one this time

Does look like they are setting it up for a bit of lesbian action though!

[Jono]

I thought the Asian chap was gay? Must have misunderstood one of his jokes somewhere along the lines then!

I think the geek is poorly casted. He didn't seem like a true geek to me. Not the sort you'd get in typical secondary school life anyway.

[DelDalek]

Could someone answer a Series 2 question for me? My DVR somehow missed taping the second to last episode. So basically, I saw Jal tell Chris while he was semi-conscious about the baby, and then next thing I know, Chris is dead. Did he ever find out about the baby? Or did he basically die in the hospital and never came to again? Also, was the girl at the end in Tony's bed Effy or the stalker girl? I assumed it was Effy. (Sorry, it was more than one question.)

[Jono]

Well I'm pretty sure Chris didn't know about the baby as far as I'm aware. It was the Asian who that the stalker slept with in the end so not sure who was in the bed. Check YouTube?

[Sam]

Could someone answer a Series 2 question for me? My DVR somehow missed taping the second to last episode. So basically, I saw Jal tell Chris while he was semi-conscious about the baby, and then next thing I know, Chris is dead. Did he ever find out about the baby? Or did he basically die in the hospital and never came to again? Also, was the girl at the end in Tony's bed Effy or the stalker girl? I assumed it was Effy. (Sorry, it was more than one question.)

The episode starts with a montage of the main characters carrying on their lives around Chris, who suffered from a Subarachnoid haemorrhage. Cassie goes to take her final exam, A Level Philosophy, and ends up seeing the real person behind the strict principal after they dance together. Michelle and Tony seem to be 'just friends', both leaving for different universities, Michelle to University of York, and Tony to Cardiff University. Cassie is adamant that she and Sid will have to split when she leaves for university, because he didn't apply, even though they are in love. Jal finally tells Chris about her pregnancy, but Chris is worried he won't be a good father, seeing as his own father left when he was a toddler. Chris' mum comes to see him, but ends up giving Cassie a message for him. After having a spliff and tea with Cassie, Chris has another subarachnoid haemorrhage, and dies. Cassie leaves the flat, and mysteriously ends up in New York City. While there, Cassie meets Adam, a waiter from Iowa, and ends up staying with him. They go out clubbing and dance to the song "Hummingbird" played live by band Born Ruffians. Adam then leaves Cassie a note in the night saying that he has to leave for a while to which Cassie is deeply upset and bursts into a fit of tears. The episode ends with a cliffhanger as Cassie runs through the streets of New York for reasons unapparent as of the end of this episode.

The Effy bit is a visual metaphor for several elements of Jungian psychology.

[Link]

[Behelzebub]

I have to admit I was a bit disappointed by last night's episode - it just doesn't feel like Skins any more, it feels like some crappy third-rate spin-off. I think they should have either ended it altogether at the end of the last series or kept a few more of the old cast for this series. Who knows, it may improve as the weeks go on.............. but so far I'm not particularly impressed.