Skins: Series 2 - Episode guide

E4’s landmark drama series Skins is back with ten brand new episodes that follow the chaotic lives and lusts of a group of spliff-toting British teenagers. Series 2 starts on E4 on 11th February 2008 and on Channel 4 on 14th February 2008. Take a look at the official synopsis for each episode of Series 2.

Episode 1: Tony and Maxxie

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 (new guest star Bill Bailey) is giving him hell about it. Tony wants to go back to college, but his parents (Harry Enfield, Morwenna Banks) 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.
Also guest starring Fiona Allen and Geoffrey Hughes. Written by Bryan Elsley and directed by Aysha Rafaele.

Episode 2: Sketch

Maxxie has a creepy feeling that someone is watching him. Someone close by. A hot boy maybe? No such luck. New to the series, Sketch (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) is Maxxie’s stalker. A weird loner, she spends most days shut up in a poky flat looking after her disabled Mum. So her attentions turn to the fit blonde boy who lives on the estate. Soon everything in her life is about Maxxie – If only he would even notice her, if only she wasn’t hopelessly in love with him, if only he wasn’t gay.
Meanwhile, the sixth form college production of “Osama: The Musical” is teetering towards disaster under the heavy-handed guidance of lecherous drama teacher Bruce (new guest star Shane Richie). But Sketch is prepared to do anything to get her leading man Maxxie, and if she can’t have him, she’s going to make sure nobody can – and especially not his current leading lady Michelle. But reality strikes when Sketch finally comes face-to-face with the man she’s set her heart on. So it’s time for plan B, his best friend Anwar?
Also guest starring Bill Bailey and Maria Miles. Written by Jack Thorne and directed by Aysha Rafaele.

Episode 3: Sid

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 (Maurice Roëves) 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 (Peter Capaldi) life a misery too. Especially as he’s brought Sid’s Uncle Sandy (Michael Nardonne) and his two weird cousins along for good measure too. Multiply all this by ten when Sid’s estranged Mum (Josie Lawrence) 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.
Also guest starring Kevin Eldon and a performance from new band Crystal Castles. Written by Bryan Elsley and directed by Simon Massey.

Episode 4: Michelle

So Michelle’s Mum Anna has gone and done it again. Another new husband. And worse Michelle has to move in with them into the poncy penthouse they’re going to live in. And again, even worse. Michelle hates her new big titted emotionally manipulative step sister Scarlett. Before she knows what is happening, Scarlett is invading her life, co-opting her friends and offering unwanted advice about what to do about the still incapacitated Tony. So when Scarlett inveigles herself onto the group 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, he lost his dad, so she sleeps with him and it’s fantastic, the fuck of a lifetime and…hang on. How are they going to tell Tony? And who’s that arriving at the door to say a joyous hallo; surely it’s not Cassie, back from Scotland and full of hope for Sid? Bloody hell, now they’re in trouble.

Episode 5: Chris

It’s been a long road full of tribulations, drugs, petty theft, non attendance and resounding failure for Chris at College. So when the CCTV cameras catch him shagging Buck Teeth in the Science Corridor, the Director calls time. Chris is out. And out of his college accommodation as well. And Angie, the teacher who he’s been waiting for to come back into his life, announces that she is leaving for ever. Homeless, and completely fucked, Chris is going down hill fast, until Jal steps in with a challenge. Get a job, get some focus and she’ll try to unwind a little and be a better friend. So Chris gets a job, several of them in fact; he just can’t stop being fired. Never mind, he’s got smallest bed-sit in Bristol to live in and Jal is hanging around a lot and... Oh my god, he’s just noticed that when Jal unwinds, she’s gorgeous. Totally totally gorgeous. Thus starts the affair of the century. If only, if only they’d used some contraception...

Episode 6: Tony

Tony’s world is a strange one. Isolated, alone, desperate to find the way back to himself, he lives in a world of half understood dreams. Nobody understands how the world looks to him except the strange beautiful girl he meets after a panic stricken encounter with Sid and Michelle in a club. Who is she? What is she trying to say to him? And when Tony attempts a university interview and runs into her again; his head tells him that she is an angel. The only thing is; can he ever trust his head again?

Episode 7: Effy

What is it about Effy? The mystery girl's had a lot to deal with. Her big brother's trying to recover from a serious head injury and her parents have completely gone to pieces. So Effy needs some R and R. A night out is called for at the local under age club for fifteen year olds. Except Effy is sixteen going on twenty nine. We meet some of her oh so innocent and pliant friends and marvel at the trouble she gets them into. And she really knows how to take it too the limit. Totally, all the way to the limit, and beyond; and then a little bit more. Is this the wildest, naughtiest teenager in history?

Episode 8: Jal

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.
Guest starring Mark Monero and Josette Simon.

Episode 9: Cassie

Poor little Cassie. She tried to woo Sid, won him and was then was whisked away by her parents to Scotland. When she finally made it back, she found Sid in Michelle’s arms. So she’s moved into Chris’s bed-sit, but it’s hard trying to make space for yourself in a one bed roomed flat when your room mate is having the noisiest sex life in history. And then there’s the secrets. Jal is pregnant and Cassie’s the only one who knows. And now Chris is falling ill and trying to pretend it’s not happening. Cassie tries to do a deal with Michelle for her man and put Michelle back with Tony, but Michelle’s not sure. Then the total kicker. Chris is not just ill. He has cancer. Cassie can’t take it any more. She goes to her Oxbridge interview, doesn’t get off the train and just keeps going; until she reaches New York. Yes, that’s right. New York. And she meets an American guy. He’s shy, a bit hopeless, he wears glasses and a beanie hat, and he’s called Sim... Wait a minute...

Episode 10: Everyone

It's the day of A-level results, and also of Chris's funeral. The gang have made a pact not to look at their grades til after they've said goodbye to Chris. But Jal can't face getting out of bed and Cassie's half way across the world. Then, to cap it off, Chris's Dad (Mark Heap) appears and gives Sid a problem. So who does Sid go to? Tony, even though they're not really friends anymore. And Tony comes up with an enterprising solution. So in the end our friends get to say their goodbyes to Chris, and to each other. Tony and Sid's friendship is set in stone once more. And who's that coming up behind ready to take the lead? It's Effy of course.
Guest starring Mark Heap, John Thomson, Josie Lawrence, Nina Wadia.

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