''In My Skin'' is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

comedy drama television series written by Kayleigh Llewellyn that premiered on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...

on 14 October 2018. The series was initially ordered as a short film for

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is ...

, but this later acted as the pilot episode after BBC ordered ''In My Skin'' as a full series. The series stars

Gabrielle Creevy Gabrielle Creevy is a Welsh actress, known for the leading role of Bethan Gwyndaf in the BBC series '' In My Skin''. For her performance in the role, she won a BAFTA Cymru award. Early life and career Creevy is from Port Talbot and lived in a ...

, James Wilbraham,

Poppy Lee Friar Poppy Lee Friar (born 16 April 1995) is an English actress. She has portrayed television roles including Eve in the CBBC series ''Eve'', Missy Booth in the Channel 4 drama ''Ackley Bridge'' and Lydia in the BBC Three series '' In My Skin''. As ...

Jo Hartley Joanne Victoria Hartley (born 12 March 1972) is an English actress born in Oldham, Lancashire who has appeared in the films ''The Young Victoria'', ''Eddie the Eagle'', ''Slaughterhouse Rulez'' and '' Torvill & Dean'' and in British television ...

, Aled ap Steffan,

Di Botcher Diane Botcher (born 2 June 1959) is a Welsh actress. She has starred in several British television sitcoms and dramas, including the Sky comedy drama '' Stella'', BBC comedies '' Little Britain'' and ''Tittybangbang'' and the ITV period drama ...

, Georgia Furlong and

Rhodri Meilir Rhodri Meilir (born 18 November 1978) is a Welsh actor. In 2018, he began portraying the role of Dilwyn in the BBC Three series '' In My Skin''. Early life Meilir was born in Pontypool. He was educated at Ysgol Maes Garmon in Mold, and Aberys ...

. In March 2021, ''In My Skin'' was renewed for a second and final series, which premiered on 7 November 2021. The series has received critical acclaim, as well as numerous awards from ceremonies including

BAFTA Cymru BAFTA Cymru (or BAFTA in Wales or WAFTA) is the Welsh branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and was founded in 1987.

and the

RTS Programme Awards The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

Premise

''In My Skin'' focuses on Welsh teenager Bethan who is trying to live a double life as she negotiates her mother's mental illness, friendships and her sexuality. Her mother has

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...

, and is sectioned in a psychiatric ward. Bethan dreams of being a writer, but attends a hostile and homophobic school.

Cast and characters

Main

as Bethan, a 16-year-old school student who is hiding her troubled home life from people at school * James Wilbraham as Travis, a gay school student who is best friends with Bethan and Lydia *

as Lydia, a rule breaking school student who is best friends with Bethan and Travis *

as Katrina, Bethan's mother who suffers from bipolar disorder * Aled ap Steffan as Stan Priest, a school student who bullies Bethan *

as Nana Margie, Bethan's grandmother *

as Dilwyn, Bethan's alcoholic father

Recurring

* Zadeiah Campbell-Davies as Poppy, a popular girl who encourages Bethan to kiss her - then drops her. * Alexandria Riley as Ms Morgan, an English teacher who supports Bethan's creativity *

Suzanne Packer Suzanne Packer (born Suzanne Jackson on 26 November 1962) is a Welsh actress, known for playing the role of Tess Bateman in the BBC medical drama ''Casualty'' from September 2003 to August 2015. She later returned to the series as a guest for th ...

as Nurse Digby, a nurse at the psychiatric hospital *

Laura Checkley Laura Checkley is an English actress and comedian known for playing the regular character Louise throughout three series of ''Detectorists'' on BBC Four, Monica in '' Action Team'' on ITV2, Terri King, wife of the titular character played by Tom ...

as Ms Blocker, a PE teacher *

Richard Corgan Richard Corgan is a Welsh actor. He was born and brought up in Cwmtwrch in January 1978. He went to Maesydderwen school, and later to Gorseinon College, Aberystwyth University and The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Corgan's television roles incl ...

as Tony Chipper, an employee at the chip shop who takes advantage of Lydia (series 1) * Georgia Furlong as Lorraine, an unpopular girl who Poppy makes fun of * Jac Yarrow as Jamie, a student who helps Bethan with her campaign posters (series 1) * Dave Wong as Alfred, a mentally ill patient at the hospital (series 1) *

Lu Corfield Lucy "Lu" Corfield (born 1979 or 1980) is a Welsh actress, known for her roles as Freya Wilson (Doctors), Freya Wilson in ''Doctors (2000 TV series), Doctors'', Ruth in ''Last Tango in Halifax'' and Joyce Edevan in ''Clink (TV series), Clink''. ...

as Head Teacher, the headteacher of the school * Ellen Robertson as Jodie, a nurse on the psychiatric ward (series 1) * Rebekah Murrell as Cam, a lesbian student who Bethan develops a crush on (series 2) *

Steffan Rhodri Steffan Rhodri (born 1 March 1967) is a Welsh film actor, best known for portraying Dave Coaches on ''Gavin & Stacey'', Reg Cattermole in ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1'' and as the voice of Drippy in '' Ni no Kuni: Wrath of ...

as Perry, a kind man Katrina forms a relationship with behind Dilwyn's back (series 2). He has a daughter with Down Syndrome. * Olivia Southgate as Ffion, Perry's daughter (series 2)

Production

''In My Skin'' was initially ordered as a short film for

, which was filmed across five days. This later acted as the

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

when

ordered ''In My Skin'' as a full series. Produced by Expectation Entertainment, it acts as the company's first scripted commission. Creator and writer Kayleigh Llewellyn stated that her draft for the series was "warmly received" by the BBC, and director Lucy Forbes joined the project due to "the power of the subject matter". Llewellyn explained that she and casting director Rachel Sheridan were focused on having local Welsh actors appear in the series, as they could bring the "characters to life". The series is filmed in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Wales. The first series was, according to Llewellyn, "written in five weeks, shot in five weeks and shot on a budget of £500." In March 2021, BBC renewed ''In My Skin'' for a second and final series. Llewellyn stated that she was excited to "finish telling Bethan's story", and that in the writing process she was "oscillating between laughing uproariously and ugly crying". Molly Manners was chosen to direct the second series, with Llewellyn voicing her excitement at Manners' involvement. Filming for the second series commenced on 29 March 2021 in Cardiff. Filming wrapped on 1 May 2021. The second series premiered on 7 November 2021.

Episodes

Series 1 (2018–2020)

Series 2 (2021)

Reception

Critical reception

For the first series, the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 7.2/10, based on 13 critic reviews.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 78 out of 100 based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' described ''In My Skin'' as "an emotional rollercoaster of a TV drama", writing that it is " a series of huge emotional heft, and an extraordinary achievement by writer Kayleigh Llewellyn, who surely has huge things ahead of her". ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' listed the series as a "critics' choice", writing that it is a "mesmerising drama", adding that Creevy and Hartley's performances were "remarkable". Annie Lord, writing for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', described ''In My Skin'' as a "hilariously dark coming-of-age drama

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

cuts deep", and that "Llewellyn's dialogue is caustic and sharp". ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' listed it as one of the best five television series of July 2020. ''Time'' wrote: "A combination of black humor, raw depictions of trauma and authentic performances mark the series as part of the same wave of British TV that includes auteurs like

Phoebe Waller-Bridge Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge (born 14 July 1985) is an English actress and screenwriter. She is best known as the creator, head writer, and star of the BBC sitcom ''Fleabag'' (2016–2019), which was based on her one-woman show of the same name. S ...

and

Michaela Coel Michaela Ewuraba Boakye-Collinson (born 1 October 1987), known professionally as Michaela Coel, is a British screenwriter and actress. She is best known for creating and starring in the E4 sitcom ''Chewing Gum'' (2015–2017), for which she won ...

. Llewellyn may not be the public face of her show, the way those women are, but she too is speaking from the heart—and her message resonates". In November 2021, the second series of this Welsh comedy drama would receive 5 stars in Rebecca Nicholson's ''Guardian'' TV review, stating that it is "a poignant must-see which deserves widespread acclaim".

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{Media in Cardiff 2018 British television series debuts 2021 British television series endings 2010s British black comedy television series 2020s British black comedy television series 2010s British comedy-drama television series 2020s British comedy-drama television series 2010s British teen television series 2020s British teen television series 2010s British LGBT-related drama television series 2020s British LGBT-related drama television series BAFTA winners (television series) BBC television sitcoms British high school television series British teen drama television series English-language television shows Gay-related television shows Lesbian-related television shows Television series about teenagers Television shows set in Cardiff Youth culture in the United Kingdom 2010s British LGBT-related comedy television series 2020s British LGBT-related comedy television series