Supporting two worthy causes

By Simon Wright - Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

Landing the current full-time role back in the middle of July felt great.  Not only did it provide a comfortable income for the first time since the end of those student loans we all relied on during the University days, it gave me the encouragement to do something else I’m happy to do.

Starting last month, I am giving something back to a couple of worthy charities, who need all the promotion and support required to make lives better for those who are more unfortunate, or had a real unlucky break in life.

Despite my bad run of luck when it came to job applications, I can claim to be one of the fortunate ones.  I might be unlucky in love, but am very privileged with what else I have.

I have a loving family, some close friends, professional acquaintances, decent health, a good income, clothes to wear, regular foot to eat and the odd luxury here and there.  When I say luxury that is being able to treat yourself to a new shirt for work, or a new autobiography to read from Amazon or Waterstones, not things like swimming pools, tennis courts or Lamborghinis!

Others in the United Kingdom are not so lucky, and if you expand that to a worldwide scale – then think about the people trapped in Syria at the moment.  You can’t imagine what they are going through as they try to flee a country that is in the news for all the wrong reasons at the moment.

Go further back in time and think about those affected by natural disasters, such as the Asian tsunami of Boxing Day 2004, the earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010 and the horrific Japanese tsunami of March 2011.  All of these have happened because of the force of Mother Nature.  No-one deserves this kind of element, but it is sadly a cruel part of the world we live in.  I made a donation to those who suffered in Haiti because it was something I wanted to do, and felt they needed the aid.  For example, while I might have been enjoying my University experience, some of the sufferers in Haiti would probably have been struggling to get a proper meal or a clean glass of water. 

For me though, the people and the families I utterly feel for the most is when they get a devastating health setback that can change their lives forever.  For the majority, this is another wicked form of the planet we share together.

I’ve always wanted to give something back, and that meant making donations to charities that most definitely deserve my support in their battles to make life easier for more unfortunate people.  It is something I’ve wanted to do for a while too, but never been able to, until I got into a settled financial position with suitable income coming in.  Now I have this, I am happier to make a contribution back to the less fortunate.

Therefore I am proud to announce that from last month, I set-up a regular monthly donation to two great charities and they are the British Heart Foundation and Teenage Cancer Trust.

The BHF are doing some fantastic work

The British Heart Foundation is the nation’s leading charity for tackling heart disease.  Currently, there are almost 2.7m people living in the UK with coronary heart disease and the numbers are rising.  That statistic shocked me when I read the booklet the BHF sent to me on the donation I started recently, but I know they are doing some incredible work to change these numbers for the better.  I know that with my small contribution on a monthly basis, I could be helping research for understanding heart disease and how it occurs and how it can be cured.  There are so many ways where you can help out, whether that is doing charity events or making a regular contribution which is what I’m doing.  The BHF’s official Twitter channel sent me a tweet last month to thank me for my donation, and it is one of the main charities I always wanted to do something for in close proximity.

Teenage Cancer Trust is an amazing cause that I'm delighted to be a part of

Teenage Cancer Trust (logo pictured) is another amazing cause that I only really started researching more recently.  Every day, six young people across the UK are told they will have some form of cancer, whether that is lung, pancreatic, testicular or any other form of this deadly disease.  Being a young adult myself, this is something that you simply can’t comprehend if you received this devastating diagnosis.  Teenage Cancer Trust is working very hard to build specialist teenage cancer units in NHS hospitals up and down the UK.  They might have only been around for two decades, but they have been supported by many famous people.  They include boyband Blue, film star Nicholas Hoult and the England football team. 

While I haven’t personally been affected by any family loss to these diseases, I am fully aware of their hard work and a couple of scenarios – one fiction and one in the real world made me want to support both causes even more.

In March 2012, the football world came together in support for the footballer Fabrice Muamba.  Muamba was a fit athlete at the peak of his powers and playing in the Premier League for Bolton Wanderers when he suffered a shock cardiac arrest and collapsed on the turf at White Hart Lane during an FA Cup quarter-final between his side and Tottenham Hotspur.  Despite being clinically dead for 78 minutes, Muamba miraculously survived and recently became a dad for the second time.  Although his football career came to an end, he still has his life and he is working with the British Heart Foundation to get defibrillators into football grounds up and down the country.  Football has always been a huge part of who I am as a personality, and when you see something like that, it does shake you up and you want to help out as best as you can. 

Earlier this year, E4 teen drama Skins took the brave decision to hand a cancer storyline in their final series to one of their leading characters.  Naomi Campbell played by the talented actress Lily Loveless was given the shock diagnosis that she had cancer in Skins Fire.  Sadly, this would have an unhappy ending and as treatments including radiotherapy and chemotherapy didn’t work, the cancer spread and ended up being incurable.  Naomi would end up dying at a young age, and whilst there was anger at the heartbreaking ending given to the popular ‘Naomily’ couple in Skins, it was a brave and sensitive issue that the production team tackled.  While it could have perhaps been given better coverage, it did highlight the threat of cancer to youngsters, even in their early 20s.  Watching these episodes was really sad, and although I disagreed with the final outcome, I accepted that it had a powerful impact for the following watching the show. 

These two tales, one that happened in real-life and one that happened in television portray the emotions that can be felt when lives are suddenly turned upside down.  It encouraged me to support these two charities even more and I’m delighted to now be doing that. 

I can now say that I am supporting two tremendous causes and this gives me joy and happiness to be part of the fight to tackle two health issues that need more public attention because they deserve it.  I hope that with my regular donations, I will be helping to make lives better. 

Together, the numbers can decrease of those who have to live with heart problems and cancer and I am proud to be joining the fight to tackle the statistics.

Categories: Asia, Blue, Boxing Day, British Heart Foundation, Charity, E4, Fabrice Muamba, Haiti, NHS, Nicholas Hoult, Syria, Teenage Cancer Trust, Tsunami, UK

Skins Fire - A dark and unhappy ending

By Simon Wright

A few weeks ago, I shared some of my memories and also vindication of the impact Skins has made on British television drama.  However, after the first part of the final series, all it has seen to do is alienated fans even further than it has managed before.

The two-part Skins Fire was the first episode, held over the last two Mondays of the seventh and final series.  Set in the heart of London, it promised much, especially after the trailers and the interviews in the lead-up to the series.  Unfortunately, all it provided was heartbreak, devastation and an ending that provided more questions than closure.

The plot

Effy's job was the main plot for Skins Fire - it ended badly

Skins Fire was mainly based around the character of Effy Stonem (pictured), played by Kaya Scodelario.  Effy was a mysterious character who was part of the first two generations (series 1-4).  Her character by the end of the last time we saw her was one who had gone nuts and ended up in a psychiatric ward.

When it was picked up last week, Effy has landed a job in The City, working initially as an assistant in a financial company.  The job doesn’t hold many prospects, mainly focusing on photocopying documents and making tea and coffee for the big bosses.  However, when Effy stumbles on a financial deal that is dodgy, she uses this to her advantage.

She starts making huge investments for the company, earns a promotion and eventually, starts an affair with her wealthy boss Jake, played by Kayvan Novak.

Eventually, Effy’s actions see her reaching the top, then crashing back down to earth in typical fashion, when the FSA investigate her actions, worth £11m of dodgy asset dealings.

Hoping to be protected by her lover, Effy gets a shock when her boss ships her in.  Realising she has been used; Effy eventually makes a statement to the FSA implicating Jake’s knowledge in the dealings.  However, she is told by ice queen Victoria, played by Lara Pulver that she faces time in jail for what she has done.

A secondary story runs through and that is the declining fortunes of Naomi Campbell.  Played by Lily Loveless, Naomi has not managed to find work since leaving University, and is doing very little in London, annoying Effy who is flat-sharing with her.  Even a crazy idea as a stand-up comedian doesn’t go to plan for Naomi, who left college with perfect scores of three A grades.

However, it is a shock health diagnosis that rocks her world.  Naomi is diagnosed with cancer, and the second episode sees her having to deal with protecting the information from her girlfriend Emily, played by Kathryn Prescott, but also attempt to get treatment.

When radiotherapy and then chemotherapy don’t go according to plan, Naomi’s health starts to decline rapidly and by the end of part two, the audience is left shocked by knowing that she is going to die.  Emily, who has been on a photography internship in New York, doesn’t find out until it is too late and a heartbreaking end for one of TV’s most popular couples sees Emily breaking down in Naomi’s dying arms in the hospital.  If anyone watching last night didn’t feel a tear when this scene played out, then emotional control is not one of your strengths.

Skins Fire also saw Craig Roberts appear as Dominic.  He is another financial worker who has a serious crush on Effy, and is left used by Effy’s devious ways to gain the information she wants.

Too many questions

As Effy’s character was the longest serving in the three full generations of Skins previously it was understandable for Skins Fire to focus intensely on her activities three years on from college.

However, the main storyline was weak and at times, underwhelming.  It was difficult to follow, especially if you have no interest in the financial sector.  It did show a lot of financial greed though, which is a common theme of the British banking industry since the recession began to hit us in 2008.

This was meant to be series about closure rather than questions, but that hasn’t happened.  Effy’s final scene is disappearing in the back of a car with a smirk on her face.  That shouldn’t be the case for someone who faces time behind bars?  The ending to Fire was far-fetched and didn’t provide closure.  At times too, everything seemed rushed.  Perhaps the story should have been told in two 90-minute parts rather than two 60-minute episodes.

While the cameo characters played their part, and Novak, who played Effy’s boss, was an interesting character, the lack of information about what happened to the other members of generation two was startling.  While the audience didn’t need too much background information, the majority of us would want to know whether Pandora had been a success on her History scholarship, or where JJ and Katie were nowadays.  

Most importantly, there were no mentions of Freddie McClair, Effy’s former boyfriend who was beaten to death with a baseball bat by mad psychiatrist John Foster (Hugo Speer) in the penultimate episode of series four.

It means we have no clue whatsoever of how Effy found out Freddie was dead, and it was noticeable how much of a lookalike her new boyfriend was to the one she was in love with throughout generation two.  That was a massive disappointment. 

Naomily’s happy ending turns sour

The biggest let down of all though was the unhappy ending the writer gave to Naomi and Emily’s story.

All smiles here, but it wasn't the ending Naomily fans hoped for

Three years ago, fans of ‘Naomily’ (couple pictured) got the happy conclusion they wanted, when after months of punishment and hiding away true feelings, Emily finally forgave Naomi for her fling with a girl at the start of series four.  After new events, Naomi’s emotional speech, which included the words: ‘I’d die for you,’ sound even more touching and poignant now.

It was brave for Skins to go with a cancer storyline and credit has to be given for that.  However, everything again seem rushed and hassled, and when it became clear that there was no chance of recovery for Naomi, social media on Twitter and internet forums probably went into periods of rage and disgust. 

Naomi was a popular character with many, and to give her a storyline like this was brave, but turned out to be massively unpopular.  Why did they mess with the ‘Naomily’ pairing three years on?  It would have been best for them not to have returned for the final series.

As most of us know, happy endings in television don’t happen too much, especially in soaps, but also in dramas.  They probably look too soppy for the writers, and on occasion, too boring to watch for the audience.

However, if one television couple deserved to break that tradition, it was ‘Naomily.’  The relationship between Naomi and Emily was one of the most beautiful portrayals of a same sex relationship.  At the end of the day, it wasn’t just this fact; it was a love story between two characters that fell for one another, without any concern for their sexuality.  

The storyline broke down new boundaries for relationships between two women on television, especially in the UK.  Skins had been the ground-breaking for this, and as the actresses have said in numerous interviews in the past, they’ve had letters of support from people who’ve come out to their families and friends on the true identity of their sexuality, inspired by the story of Naomi and Emily.

We have to remember that this is just a television drama and it didn’t happen in real-life, but it was such a massive shame that the audience and particular fans of the pairing got such a sorry and heartbreaking ending to a passionate storyline.  The only consolation is to remember the happy moments and that Emily was with Naomi in her final moments.  If she hadn’t been, the ending would have been even more insulting.

So, with Effy in jail, Naomi dying and Emily now alone and miserable, a sarcastic round of applause should be given to the team behind Skins Fire for creating such a dark and devastating two-part series.

Time changes people

However, I don’t want to sound bitter, and there were some positives from the story.  Jess Brittain was the writer of Skins Fire, and it would have been massively difficult for her to come up with an idea, write a detailed and emotional script and see it all play out from there.

I didn’t agree with the way how things ended, but she tried her best, and that is all you can ask for at the end of the day. 

Some criticised the Skins team for the way the show has changed, but the aspect is that this is Skins in an adult life.

The days of raving parties, boozing on regular drugs and sexual encounters are a thing of the past.  This Skins series was always going to be different.  There were elements of these in Skins Fire, and so there should be as the show’s identity and appeal would be totally lost otherwise.

However, people grow up and that is a natural aspect of life.  Effy, Naomi and Emily will have all developed by at least three or four years since we last saw them, so they were now playing characters in their early 20s, a time where the excessive partying and not having much of a care in the world should really have stopped. 

Kaya, Lily and Kat stand out

Skins has been the foreground for some young actors and actresses to really go and make their mark.  Joe Dempsie, Nicolas Hoult, Hannah Murray and Dev Patel from generation one have had great success post-Skins.  Jack O’Connell and Luke Pasqualino from generation two stood out, and Freya Mavor and Dakota Blue Richards from the final generation.   

There are bright futures for Kat, Kaya and Lily

However, Skins Fire once again portrayed the stunning work of three actresses (all pictured) who are among the best talent around.  I’d even go as far to say they are three of the best the UK has at the moment.

I never appreciated how strong Kaya Scodelario was in the main series before, but she really stood out in Skins Fire.  Kaya has already made her name in movies, and she will only go onto bigger and better things. 

She has a confidence element to the characters she plays and no-one could have played Effy’s role better.

I’ve said it before, but Lily Loveless is an outstanding actress.  Her comic timing, the emotion she shows in her scenes and the way she portrays her expressions are up there with the best in British television.

Lily has had roles in Bedlam on Sky One and in BBC Three’s powerful drama The Crash earlier this year, but she has the world at her feet.  The cancer storyline for Naomi was a sad ending to a popular character, but Lily played the scenes exceptionally, especially the close heart-to-heart moments with Scodelario.

In Kathryn Prescott, Skins has uncovered another gem.  Gone are the days of the timid, shy Emily Fitch from the first few episodes of series three.  The scenes Emily has in Skins Fire see a confidence, a conviction and a belief in her character, helped by the internship work in New York.  It was a real shame that we didn’t see enough of Emily in Skins Fire; her scenes were kept to an absolute minimum.

Like Loveless, Prescott has had a guest role in Bedlam, and also appeared in one-off episodes in BBC medical drama Casualty and in another supernatural drama called Being Human.

Kat is also making her name in photography.  Her first official photographic exhibition is taking place in September, in collaboration with her continued work with The Big Issue.  I’m sure the four-week exhibition, titled ‘What Makes Us Care,’ will be a total success.  It is something I even hope to go and visit when I get a spare day from my new job.

So, high praise for three actresses who made their characters in Skins stand out with incredible acting.  I hope they go on and achieve the success they deserve.  The performances of Scodelario and Loveless in Skins Fire were so good, they should be recognised at award ceremonies, but will probably sadly be ignored like on so many occasions before.

Skins Fire was tough to watch, and far too dark for the show’s usual unique identity.  At least the performance in terms of acting couldn’t be faulted.

Categories: Britain, Cancer, Craig Roberts, E4, FSA, Kathryn Prescott, Kaya Scodelario, Kayvan Novak, Lily Loveless, London, Naomily, Skins, The City, TV, University

Skins - All good things have to end

By Simon Wright

I can speak for the majority of people who follow a television programme closely, so much so that they want to know everything about it – from transmission dates to filming behind the scenes and cast interviews.

It doesn’t matter if that might be TOWIE, Big Brother, Shameless, even Coronation Street or Deal or No Deal – we all have prime favourites.

One of mine of recent years has been the E4 teen drama series Skins.  On July 1, the seventh series of this gripping phenomenon will begin.  However, it is the last series to be aired – which is a sad feeling, but also the right decision.

But why has Skins had a core audience, and is a final flourish the right way to go out on?

Core audience

When Skins burst onto the television screens back in February 2007, the show was completely different from your normal brand of drama.  This wasn’t a predictable series of classic actors playing stereotypical characters in a plotline that can often get quite repetitive. 

Admittedly, I never really liked the first generation and only saw the odd clip of the first two series, but that all changed with series three in 2009.

Skins started off with an audience which has now grown up.  For example, those who first watched it six years ago probably weren’t following it so much when the final full series ended around Easter last year, but that is a good thing.  It has a specific core audience range of around 16-22, and I would be concerned if a 50-year-old individual listed it among their favourite programmes.  After all, it is about teenagers and life at college, and that’s as far as it goes.

The second generation of Skins characters were my favourites

Audience figures have generally been impressive, always just under the one million mark.  In fact, the series four opener which began with the death of a mysterious stranger in a nightclub attracted 1.5m combined on E4 & E4+1.  Even the final major generation still were receiving decent figures, despite the decline in writing ability and storylines.

I was a religious watcher of series three, four and five, and watched occasional episodes from series six, mainly if a character’s episode had been impressive in the fifth series (Mini and Franky) as examples.  

Although my interest in the show waned towards the end of series five and into series six, I will be tuning into series seven and see how things have progressed for the cast of the past.

Giving youngsters a chance

I should know this more than anyone, but in David Cameron’s Britain of today, the chances for youngsters are predominately thin.  Things could be better in terms of job prospects, or choices of what we can do.

One thing that has impressed me with Skins is the determination to give young actors and actresses a real chance.  The talent that has come through with Skins has been impressive, and often, the acting really does shine through, especially if a storyline is weak (series four was a prime example of this).

Dev Patel and Nicholas Hoult had the best success out of the first generation.  Patel went on to star in the award-winning sensation Slumdog Millionaire, whilst Hoult has gone into major roles in film, especially in the X-Men trilogy.  

In generation two, Jack O’Connell has come on leaps and bounds.  He has had roles in film and two powerful TV dramas, Dive and United.  Fellow lead cast member of this generation Kaya Scodelario has appeared in a host of music videos for the artist Plan B, whilst Ollie Barbieri, Lily Loveless and Kathryn Prescott have also had a host of different roles since Skins ended.  

Dakota Blue Richards was one of the stars of the third generation, and recently had a lead role in the ITV five-part drama Lightfields and Freya Mavor is currently starring in the gripping BBC thriller The White Queen. 

For the majority of these actors, these opportunities would never have come about had it not been for the successful breakthrough of Skins and the producers must take great credit for this.

Of course, that doesn’t mean to say that famous faces never appeared in Skins – far from it.  

There were plenty of guest characters playing minor roles, from comedians and impressionists, to presenters and normal actors.  Among fans favourites were Harry Enfield, Sally Phillips, John Bishop, Ronni Ancona, Pauline Quirke, the late Geoffrey Hughes, and Scott Mills.

And its success has been recognised.  Skins won the Audience Award at the 2009 BAFTAs, and Best TV Show at the 2011 NME Awards, as well as various other high-profile nominations and critical acclaim.

What happened to the movie?

In 2010, the green light was given to Skins: The Movie, as indicated on my first blogging website.  However, this never happened.  Ultimately, it was probably a good thing.

Unlike shows like The Inbetweeners, it would have been mighty difficult for Skins to have had major success at the box office, just because of the way things get portrayed in the TV series.

Consequently, work shifted more onto series five and six, and the doomed American remake, which turned into a complete failure and was axed after one highly controversial series.

Whilst there was disappointment that the movie dream didn’t quite happen for Skins, a final TV series is a better way to go out.

There has been some powerful storylines, and that is ignoring the drugs, drink and sex that is part of the teenagers’ lives in every series.  Having watched three full series, my favourite storylines were Katie Fitch (played by Megan Prescott) having to deal with the bombshell news that she wasn’t able to have kids in series four, and at the same time, attempt to keep the very popular Fitch family together as the recession starts to destroy their happy lives.  

Other favourites were the storylines that came through in Mini McGuinness' (Freya Mavor) episodes when she had to deal with an unexpected pregnancy and attempting to revive a relationship with her father, who simply didn’t care about her, and the successful pairing of Naomi (Lily Loveless) and Emily (Kathryn Prescott) as a lesbian couple in series three and four.  'Naomily,' as avid fans titled them, broke down new barriers and also proved that despite a lot of heartache, happy endings do exist in television drama.

The final fling

Last year, it was decided that there would be no more full series’ of Skins.  That might have disappointed budding actors and actresses who would have seen the open auditions as a great opportunity to get their name out there.  However, it is the right decision.

One of Effy Stonem’s lines in series four sticks with me: “Nothing’s ever perfect.”  That’s very true, and all good things at some point need to come to an end.  Last year’s series started to see some slow decline with the show, and another two years would have been a mistake, and left a mark on the legacy of Skins.

Some shows drag on and on, don’t reach a natural conclusion and then become so unbelievable, you just stop watching them.  American shows are particularly guilty of this, whilst the saucy Footballers Wives and fictional Sky football drama Dream Team both attracted huge followings, but probably went on at least one more year past their natural sell-by-date.

Kaya Scodelario returns as Effy in Skins Fire, the first of the final mini-series

The producers of Skins and Channel 4 have done the right thing, and by coming back with a mini-series over the summer is the perfect farewell.  Three classic characters in Effy (Kaya Scodelario), Cassie (Hannah Murray) and Cook (Jack O’Connell) will reprise their roles for two separate episodes each which shows how their characters have developed as they’ve left the crazy teenage world and entered the new adult planet, and how much they have changed.

Effy’s story is first, titled Skins Fire.  Effy gets a job in the city, and when she learns too much about a dodgy financial deal and has an affair with the boss of the company she works for, it puts friendships and people in grave danger.  Fans of ‘Naomily’ will be delighted to know that Naomi and Emily will return to their roles in a cameo backdrop, with Emily known to be studying a photography internship in New York, and Naomi living with Effy in London.  A trailer has been released by E4 for a sneak peak at what’s to come in Skins Fire, and that can be seen below.

Cassie’s story is next and is also set in London.  She is aged 23, two years older than the other returning main characters as she was part of generation one.  ‘Skins Pure’ will be edgy watching involving following people and the forming of a strange friendship.

In ‘Skins Rise,’ Cook is doing what he does best.  Now in Manchester, he hasn’t grown up from his teenage days of drugs, sex and violence on a regular basis, despite a brief stint in jail.  Cook is a drugs dealer and when his employer asks him to find a house for his attractive girlfriend, you can guess the rest.  Expect revenge to be served and a reminder of his previous dodgy past.

And after these six weeks, it will be all over.  Skins has left plenty of good and dramatic memories, given new actors and actresses a real breakthrough and is going out at just the right time.  Let’s hope that it ends on a high with this final mini-series.

Categories: 2009, Audience, Britain, Dakota Blue Richards, Dev Patel, E4, February, Jack O'Connell, Kathryn Prescott, Lily Loveless, NME, Plan B, Skins, Slumdog Millionaire, TV