Skins

She gives her best friend, Michelle, a shoulder to lean on when it comes to Tony. But Jal soon discovers that she doesn't always have the answers when it comes to her own budding relationship.

Episode 1: Tony
Tony (Nicholas Hoult) is a smart kid. He undermines his dad (Harry Enfield) on a daily basis and effortlessly covers up for his little sister’s (Kaya Scodelario) covert delinquency. So smart he believes he can even get his best mate Sid (Mike Bailey) laid, and make a profit. And Abigail’s (Georgina Moffat) party seems like the perfect place to do both. Inevitably the dope deal goes wrong, and so does Sid’s quest to lose his virginity, no surprise there. But when the stolen car goes into the river and takes the unpaid for drugs with it, Tony and his mates are really in the shit.

Cassie (Hannah Murray) can trick everyone. In her magical world the skinny bonkers girl still manages to fool everyone that she's beating her eating disorder. Her parents Marcus (Neil Morrissey) and Margeritte (Naomi Allisstone) are well and truly duped. But Sid (Mike Bailey) isn't. Good old geeky Sid who inadvertently steps out of Tony's (Nicholas Hoult) shadow to win a place in Cassie's heart by being the only person to possibly notice and care what happens to her. The only person except Allan (Alan George) that is, Allan the taxi driver, who takes her to the clinic and who is the only adult she trusts, and the only person to ever see her actually eat anything.

Jal (Larissa Wilson) is not your average ghetto girl, no way near. But what's the point having the Young Musician of the Year competition within hands reach, if those around you don't even notice? Jal's problem is her Dad (Mark Monero), he may be Bristol's answer to P Diddy, but when it comes to his daughter he's lost the plot. Sid (Mike Bailey) has got a big problem of his own - a problem who goes by the name of Mad Twatter (Stephen Martin Walters). Mad T won't rest until he's got his hands on his drugs, his money or Sid and as usual Tony (Nicholas Hoult) has left his best mate to take it on the chin - literally.

Happy-go-lucky party animal Chris (Joe Dempsie) wakes up one morning with a hangover and a hard-on. Nothing unusual there. Until he discovers a grand in cash and a note from his Mum saying she's gone away. So like any not-so-average pill-popping 17 year old, Chris embarks on a bender to end all benders. But what do you do after you've thrown the mother of all parties and blown all the money? Well, you sell everything that isn't nailed down and go again - and just start hoping everything else will start to make sense. Sometimes though, life can make a little more sense than you want it to and Chris has to face up to the fact his Mum might never be coming home.

Sid (Mike Bailey) is in trouble. Deep trouble. He's failing at everything. His history coursework hasn't made the grade and he's only got a week to deliver something decent or he'll fail the year. And ofcourse he's as sexually frustrated as ever and can't get his best friend's girlfriend, Michelle (April Pearson) out of his head. Will Sid ever buckle down and focus on his future, will his Dad (Peter Capaldi) ever give him a break and will he ever wake up to Tony's (Nicholas Hoult) manipulative ways?

What happens when two friends suddenly run up against the limits of their friendship? Maxxie (Mitch Hewer) and Anwar (Dev Patel) are about to find out. And on top of that, one of them is dealing with advances from his straight male friend while the other is trying to fend off the father of the Russian girl he's fallen for. And it's all happening on the most disastrous school trip ever (mis)conceived. Surely an entire A level history class can't get deported from Russia, can they?

Time's up for Tony (Nicholas Hoult). His girlfriend Michelle (April Pearson) has had enough. She's also had enough of her mum's (Arabella Weir) latest husband/toy boy/business failure/serial idiot, Malcolm (Danny Dyer). Men! But then a shining knight appears on the horizon with the promise of a happy ending. Seventeen, heartbroken and on the rebound, Michelle jumps right in. But Tony is determined to make sure the new prince in Michelle's life turns into the biggest toad of them all.

Has nobody noticed that Tony's little sister Effy (Kaya Scodelario) never utters a word? Has nobody ever noticed that this fourteen year old school girl sneaks out at night? No-one apart from Tony (Nicholas Hoult) that is. But then Tony doesn't give a damn about anybody or anything. Except his little sister.

It's Anwar's (Dev Patel) birthday party, yet no-one is in the mood to celebrate. Sid (Mike Bailey) thinks he's got his act together, but when he tries to tell Cassie (Hannah Murray) how he feels he ends up in a padded cell. Tony (Nicholas Hoult) is also in the mood to make up, but seems his luck has run out too. There are scores to be settled. And settled they are, with some unexpected yet dangerously wonderful consequences.

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.

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?

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.

So Michelle's Mum Anna (Arabella Weir) has gone and done it again. Married another new husband. And worse, Michelle has to move in with them into their poncey new house. But even worse, this time Michelle has to contend with a new big-titted, emotionally-manipulative step sister called Scarlett (Sia Berkeley). Before she knows what's happening, Scarlett is invading her life, co-opting her friends and offering unwanted advice about what to do about her still incapacitated ex-boyfriend Tony. So when Scarlett inveigles herself onto Michelle's birthday 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, and he's always had a thing for her anyway, so she does the only thing she knows. And it's fantastic, and...hang on. How are they going to tell Tony? And who's that arriving back from Scotland and full of hope for Sid? Now that is bad timing.

Chris' college career has been a long road full of tribulations; drugs, petty theft, non attendance and resounding failure. So when the CCTV cameras catch him shagging Buck Tooth in the Science corridor, the College Director calls time. Chris is out. And out of his college accommodation as well. Homeless, family-less, Chris is going down hill fast, until Jal steps in with a challenge. She'll try to unwind a little so long as he gets his act together and gets some focus. So Chris gets a job, several jobs, in fact every time he's fired he gets another one, and he moves into the smallest bed-sit in Bristol. So Jal's got to chill out, and wow when she does she's pretty gorgeous, and talented, and cool, and...Could Chris have had his eyes opened wider than any drug could do?

Tony's world is a strange one. Isolated, alone, he is desperate to find the way back to himself. Since the accident he lives in a world of half understood dreams. He tries to act normal, but bumping into Sid and Michelle at a club sends him spiralling again. Nobody understands how the world looks to him, nobody except the strange beautiful girl he meets when trying to escape from his so-called best friend and ex-girlfriend. The next day Tony heads off to a University open day and runs into her again. Who is she? His head tells him that she is an angel. But can he ever trust his head again?

What is it about Effy (Kaya Scodelario)? The mystery girl has had a lot to deal with. The Stonem family home is in disarray, while Dad Jim (Harry Enfield) is working abroad, Mum Anthea (Morwenna Banks)is also away, with the fairies; and Tony (Nicholas Hoult) is moping after Michelle (April Pearson).
On top of this, Effy has her GCSE art coursework deadline looming. So solving all her family's problems, planning her academic future, as well as sorting out the ‘Tony and Michelle', ‘Sid and Cassie' dilemma is all she needs right now. And then on top of this, whilst also trying to maintain her reputation for being the wildest kid on the block, she's lumbered with the new girl, spoddy Pandora. So how weird when suddenly Pandora turns out to be best friend material. Maybe the future's bright afterall; Effy and Pandora's future anyway.

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.

What's the matter with Cassie? She's back together with Sid, Chris is on the mend, Michelle and Tony are back with each other, A-level exams are finally over. And to celebrate, Sid has organised a dinner party where everyone can try to get along. But how can they? Jal is lying to Chris, Chris is lying to everyone, including himself. And when it finally gets too much, Cassie runs. She runs and runs and keeps on going - until she arrives at a totally magical place, where the people are friendly and she can get along. But can she be happy?

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 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.