Skins Series 5 review (DVD) ★★★★

As Johann Hari recently observed, professing a love for Channel 4’s teen drama Skins can come across as a little bit creepy once you’re over a certain age. Here’s a series about a group of teenagers whose chief preoccupations are drugs, drinking, fighting and fornicating, and to be over the age of, say, 26 and watching it can feel a little like voyeurism – or vicarious wish fulfilment, particularly in light of the fact that most peoples' A Level years bore little resemblance to those depicted in the show, but were much more likely to be spent doing homework, staying in a lot, and managing to avoid having any kind of sex whatsoever.

Skins also attracts more than its fair share of snobbery – casual viewers who’ve caught an episode here or there will point to some dodgy acting, or some of the more cringey melodrama that tends to crop up, as evidence that it’s little more than Hollyoaks Late with higher production values.

But there’s much more to Skins than that. Sure, some of the young actors might not be the greatest thespians around, and even the most die-hard fan would have to admit that the drama can tip over into the cringeworthy every now and then. However, what Skins does brilliantly is create extremely well-developed characters who become more and more compelling the more you get to know them, and it places them in situations that, while maybe not realistic depictions of teenage life, nevertheless contain elements of truth that are instantly recognisable to anyone who’s grown up in Britain over the last 10, 20, maybe 30 years. Add to this a consistently great soundtrack and some stunning cinematography, and you have one of the best TV series of recent years.

Series Five introduces a new set of characters (there’s a ruthless near-total change of cast every two series.) The Golden Compass’ Dakota Blue Richards plays Frankie, an androgynous misfit who forms an uneasy friendship with college queen bees Minnie and Liv. Their fractious relationship serves as the jumping off point for eight episodes of rows, parties, awkward fumblings, anti-social behaviour, care-free substance abuse, and overall some of the best on screen depictions of teen angst since Heathers.

It’s also a marked improvement on the previous two series, which frequently like awkward fan fiction and arguably overdid it on the credibility-stretching elements that have been a part of Skins since the beginning. This latest outing feels far more grounded in reality, and although some episodes work less well than others and it would have been nice to see some strands of the storyline given a bit more space to develop, this might just be the best series yet.