Skins: Series 4 - Episode guide

Multi-BAFTA-award-winning drama Skins returns to E4 in January 2010 for its fourth season.

> Buy the Series 1-3 boxset.

> Buy the Series 4 DVD.

The gang are back for the last time, in a seemingly protective bubble - their hedonism...

> Find out more about the characters.

> Take a look at our Series 4 preview.


Episode 1: Thomas
Thursday 28th January 2010

The gang are at one of Thomas’ club nights. Cook is in the midst of his summer of debauchery, Freddie is learning that love can take you to the edge of sanity and there is heady dancing from the girls.

Tonight is no ordinary night, however, as there is an accident leaving Thomas feeling responsible. He is shocked into questioning his role with in society and feeling alienated from his peers, he turns closer to God and the African community - and in doing so, isolates everyone around him.

> Read our Episode 1 review.


Episode 2: Emily
Thursday 4th February 2010

Emily and Naomi are back at Roundview and seem as loved-up as ever. When the police turn up, they are both called in to be interviewed. Their names were listed by the family as close friends of Sophia's, even though Emily knows they'd never met her. Emily learns that Naomi was dealing pills with Cook in the club that night and sold one to Sophia. Behind Naomi's back, Emily visits Sophia's family - she needs to know why the family had their names. She discovers that the dead girl claimed to be best friends with Naomi and Emily. Whilst looking around Sophia's bedroom Emily secretly pockets a key.

Effy's return has drawn a line under Cook and Freddie's joint denial-fest. Though they keep their distance from Effy at first, Cook later sees Effy and Freddie get together. In haste he lashes out - assaulting a random party-goer - and gets nicked. Emily realises that the key she found is for Sophia's locker and inside she finds a shrine to Naomi. Was Sophia some kind of Naomi stalker?


Episode 3: Cook
Thursday 11th February 2010

After 'losing it' at the party, Cook is up on a charge of GBH but insists on pleading "not guilty", much to the frustration of his world-weary lawyer Duncan. He's granted bail but given an electronic tagging order and curfew that applies to him residing with his mother Ruth in her imposing mansion. At the house, he is reunited with his younger half-brother Paddy whose nihilistic attitude and run-in with the police disturbs Cook who realises the example he's set is not so funny anymore.

When Cook swaggers into college, he is expelled on the spot for his brush with the law. He is further humiliated by the intimacy he witnesses between Freddie and Effy. Feeling shunned by everyone, he finally sees that his actions are his responsibility. He confides in Naomi and then goes to the police to confess to selling MDMA to Sophia. Effy comes to visit Cook in the Young Offenders Institution the day before the trial to reveal her true feelings - but is it Freddie or Cook that she really loves?


Episode 4: Katie
Thursday 18th February 2010

Katie has barely seen Emily since she walked out on the family to live with Naomi. Since Rob Fitch Fitness went bust, Katie's mother Jenna has been the sole breadwinner in the Fitch family; her new wedding-planning business, Let’s Get Fitched, is thriving and Katie is her glamorous assistant.

Their current clients are Dean & Brandy, a Bristol Rovers player and his WAG-to-be. Katie is in her element, looking forward to living the same dream one day, but Katie's relationship problems are preoccupying her, and things go horribly wrong. In desperation Katie turns to Emily for help, but things only get worse.


Episode 5: Freddie
Thursday 25th February 2010

Freddie is completely wrapped up in Effy and, with Anthea away, the Stonem house has become their private world of drinking, dancing and fucking. Freddie however is worried that he's failing his coursework and when he voices this to Effy the couple argue. Is this just a spat or is there something deeper wrong with their relationship?

After an argument with his Dad about his deceased Mum, Freddie turns to his grandfather, Norman for advice and Freddie determines not to make the same mistakes with Effy that he perceives his dad did with his mum. He puts down his coursework and tries to fix things with the girl he loves.


Episode 6: JJ
Thursday 4th March 2010

JJ has a part-time job with Thomas in a confectionery wholesalers where he has fallen in love with beautiful fellow cashier Lara. He sets about planning to get a date with her, but catching her eye is not easy. What's worse is that some of his friends don't think he's up to it, and to his horror, his mum and his doctor agree with them.

Cook however comes to the rescue - full of advice on how to handle the opposite sex. JJ sets forth only to discover that there are many more hurdles than he could ever have imagined. Is he really up to the challenge?


Episode 7: Effy
Thursday 11th March 2010

Effy has been in a psychiatric hospital, but with the help of Anthea and her counsellor John Foster she finds the will to get stronger and return home. Effy is worried, but she is assured that so long as she is disciplined she will be ok. Her life is now dictated by routine and self-control. Anthea has completely cleared out her room so there's no evidence of the old Effy remaining.

She appears happy, clear and hopeful for the future. She goes to visit Freddie and tries to pick up where they left off, but it's not that easy now that she has to live life by the strict routines she has set herself. Freddie and Anthea become concerned about her, she's stronger and more self-assured than ever, but something isn't right.


Episode 8: Everyone
Thursday 18th March 2010

The domestic situation at Naomi's has come to a head and as everyone begins to congregate in the house there's multiple showdowns as the teenagers meet the adult world in a head-on collision.