Skins is the best (and hippest) British teen drama you've never seen. And if you have had the good fortune of catching it on BBC America or on DVD you most certainly concur.
Skins ended its first season with one of the lead characters getting hit by a bus, which is an effect the show tries to impose on viewers through the implementation of more outlandish plot twists each week. Each episode focuses on one of the many characters of the ensemble cast, expertly weaving their stories together to create a promiscuous world of teenage drinking and drugging wherein these kids (only a step up on the morality ladder from the youth of
Larry Clark's
Kids) deal with some adult issues. Sexual confusion, pregnancy, disabling health issues, sex with teachers, drug addiction, abandonment, what to wear, etc. – just the typical slate of problems most kids face these days. American viewers will recognize the outstanding and hilarious
Dev Patel from his breakthrough performance in
Slumdog Millionaire; he is just one of the many impressive actors featured in
Skins. If you like your teen dramas edgy, decadent, and fun, head to your nearest indie DVD retailer or your Netflix queue: Season two premiered on a three-disc DVD (BBC Warner, $39.98) on April 14.