Series 7

The seventh series of Skins began airing on E4 July 1, 2013. It featured six episodes in total, two for each of the three returning characters.

Series 7 has been confirmed to be the final series of the show.

In terms of the show's continuity, Series 7 begins 4 years after "Everyone" (episode 6.10), as it takes place sometime in the Spring (implying that a new year has passed).

First Generation
Note: Unless otherwise noted, all castmembers listed below are returning after last appearing in "Final Goodbyes" (episode 2.10).

Hannah Murray returns as Cassie Ainsworth, and in the years since her last appearance, she has moved back to the UK after living in New York. Although she romantically reunited with Sid in New York, she seemingly moved to London alone.

Second Generation
Note: Unless otherwise noted, all castmembers listed below are returning after last appearing in "Everyone" (episode 4.08).

Kaya Scodelario returns as Effy Stonem, Effy began to study at university and in the years since her last appearance, and had moved on from the death of boyfriend Freddie Mcclair. She has got a job at the London Hedge Fund.

Jack O'Connell returns as James Cook, and in the years since his last appearance, seems to have survived his encounter with Dr. Foster unscathed and ran away from the scene. He is now living in Manchester dealing drugs.

Lily Loveless returns as Naomi Campbell, and in the years since her last appearance, has moved to London and become flatmates with Effy; however, has been unfortunate finding work, making her depressed and causing her to smoke weed more than usual.

Kathryn Prescott  returns as Emily Fitch, and in the years since her last appearance, has moved to New York for a photography internship whilst carrying on her relationship with Naomi.

Third Generation
During the initial stages of pre-production, the third generation were planned to be included, but it was later that all of the character's storylines had reached a natural conclusion at the end of Skins Series 6. If the plan would have gone forward, a two part episode would have focused on Franky or Mini.

Additional cast
Other lead castmembers of "Skins: Fire" include Kayvan Novak as Jake, Effy's boss; Lara Pulver as Victoria, Effy's other boss and Jake's girlfriend; Craig Roberts as Dominic, a researcher for leading companies who has a crush on Effy; and Amy Wren as Jane, Effy's coworker and friend.

Other lead castmembers of "Skins: Pure" include returning castmember Neil Morrissey as Marcus Ainsworth, Cassie's father who now lives with her brother Reuben in Wales; Daniel Ben Zenou as Yaniv, Cassie's co-worker who ends up sleeping with her; Olly Alexander as Jakob, Cassie's co-worker who is a photographer; and Charlene McKenna as Maddie, Cassie's apartment-mate and friend.

Other lead castmembers of "Skins: Rise" include Liam Boyle as Louis, Cook's employer in Manchester; Hannah Britland as Charlie, Louis' girlfriend and Cook's eventual crush; and Lucien Laviscount as Jason, Cook's co-worker and another romantic rival for Charlie's affections.

Crew
After leaving the show after the conclusion of Series 5, Jamie Brittain returned as a showrunner for the final Series, alongside show co-creator Bryan Elsley.

The executive producers for the seventh series were Bryan Elsley, Charlie Pattinson and George Faber.

The seventh series was produced by Company Pictures.

The main staff writers for the seventh series were Byan Elsley, Jamie Brittain, and Jess Brittain.

Chris Clough served as a producer for the seventh series.

The directors for the seventh series were Paul Gay, Jack Clough and Charles Martin.

The seventh series' incidental music was composed by Fat Segal, who also composed the show's opening theme; however, it is also a different remix from the ones used for Series 2, Series 3, Series 4, Series 5 and Series 6.

Episode List
* A^ All ratings are official ratings taken from BARB's database, unless otherwise stated. Total viewers include official BARB ratings for E4 and unofficial overnight ratings for E4+1. * B^ All ratings are official ratings taken from BARB's database, unless otherwise stated. Total viewers include official BARB ratings for E4.

Commercial
To advertise seventh and final series of Skins, E4 created a trailer featuring the three main characters of the series; Cook, Effy and Cassie. In the trailer, which has a somewhat dark tone, shows each character as a teenager before it transitions to show their young adulthood. The song used in the trailer is "The Deserters" by Rachel Zeffira.



Character centric trailers for each of the main leads were also released. The songs used in these trailers include "Smashed To Pieces In The Still Of The Night" by Esben & The Witch (Effy)  and "y" by iamamiwhoami (Cassie)  and "Etude" by Nero (Cook).

Reception
Reception in the UK was generally positive, with much praise given to the show's new "adult" direction while still keeping the basic "DNA" that made Skins so iconic.

Skins: Fire
For "Skins: Fire Part 1", reception was generally positive in the UK.

The Telegraph UK gave "Fire: Part 1" 4/5 stars, stating: "The fact that all the plot progression was extremely predictable, and that only the characters of Effy and her flatmate Naomi were more than, er, skin-deep, would surely have sunk most drama. But happily it did not. Skins was a triumph of slick over substance. The floors echoed pleasingly to the sound of expensive footwear; the characters were deservedly pasty and horrible."

DigitialSpy UK also gave "Fire: Part 1" 4/5 stars, stating "Skins Fire may not feel much like the Skins we knew, but Jess Brittain's script, with its winning combination of relationship drama and cutting humor, remains a compelling piece of drama in its own right. Let's just hope that next week's Fire burns bright, rather than wallowing in darkness."

Reception of "Skins: Fire Part 1" in North America was similarly positive.

DenofGeek gave "Fire: Part 1" a generally positive review, stating: "The original show broke a lot of rules when it ditched its main cast after two series, and now it’s breaking them again by throwing its otherwise eternally young characters into an adult world. This world is harsher and more realistic, and the fun that can be had there is of a different breed to the house parties and bed hopping of old...[But] those hoping for Freddie, Cook or Tony references in this Effy-centric adventure will come away disappointed, and my guess is that fans hoping for a reunion between characters not already teased are going to come away disappointed. I might be wrong, but this is an only-slightly unsatisfactory morsel in an otherwise brave, entertaining and grown-up drama. My feeling is that it would stand alone without the Skins tag, but will finish off the show in fittingly brilliant and daring fashion."

On the other hand, reception for "Skins Fire: Part 2" was much more mixed in the UK, with much of the criticism stemming from the "dark" endings for both Effy's and the Naomily storylines.

DigitialSpy UK gave "Skins: Fire Part 2" 3/5 stars, stating "Last week, I questioned the wisdom of imposing a tragic twist on the 'Naomily' romance and, having now seen how the plot played out, I stand by my original criticism. Yes, these dramatic scenes milk the fantastic cast for all their worth - but that's not the point. Sometimes, a happy ending isn't cheap or trite - sometimes, it's earned. To steal that away from Emily and Naomi here just feels mean-spirited. Effy's final fate also feels cruel. She's always projected uber-confidence but, beneath the bravado, has remained desperate for reassurance and validation from the men in her life - from Tony onwards. [...] All the grief and tragedy [throughout the episode] soon becomes overwhelming. The second part of Skins Fire is very good - the acting, script and direction are all top-notch - but, at times, the tone is pitch-black. When the laughs come, they're still pin-sharp but they're few and far between. It's telling that I always preferred those first series of Skins - the fun, the hedonism - to their more 'adult' follow-ups. This is the show at its most bleak and, for my taste at least, it leans too far to the dark side."

Similarly, reception for "Skins Fire: Part 2" was mixed in North America.

DenofGreek gave "Skins Fire: Part 2" a mixed review, stating "...Skins has never been shy about killing off beloved characters (see Chris, Freddie and Grace), but it’s always seemed to mean something before. Lost innocence for the remaining group of friends was a big theme of the original show, but what purpose does Naomi’s death serve to Skins Fire? Is it just to show Effy that life’s too short? Or that friends are more important than work? For the audience, we learnt that no matter what you do, tragedy is going to tear through your life. [...] My biggest problem with both episodes was the Naomi seemed so interchangeable – almost unrecognisable from the girl we got to know of two series. Would the effect on Effy have been any different had the second character been Pandora or Katie? The “you win again” outburst in part one would have made more sense, and we wouldn’t have had to invent a friendship between Effy and Naomi that’s obviously supposed to have developed since series four. It didn’t make the heartbreak any less shattering, however [...] Skins Fire was beautiful and brave much like the series it continued, but in terms of character development and a satisfying conclusion for certain relationships, it left a lot to be desired. Tragedy can be poignant and moving, but I can’t help but feel that it wasn’t the place of Skins Fire to replace our happy endings with something this dire. Instead of partying at Freddie’s house, happy and united at last, Effy is in prison, Emily is bereft and Naomi is in the grave. Let’s hope Skins Rise and Skins Pure are a bit more uplifting.

Skins: Pure
Reception for "Skins Pure: Part 1" was fairly positive in the UK.

DigitalSpyUK gave the episode 3/5 stars, stating "Anyone still reeling from the pitch-black Skins Fire and hoping to find a little light relief in Skins Pure can guess again. As with its predecessor, there's little of the debauchery here that once made E4's teen drama so notorious - in its place is the grim notion that once your youthful exuberance has dried up, there's little waiting for you in the 'real world' but disappointment [...] It's perhaps not surprising that Skins Pure shares the same strengths and weaknesses as Fire - with uniformly solid acting, writing and direction, it's definitely worth buckling down and persevering with. But lacking as it does a sense of fun, some may find it too heavy-going to handle. So far, this series of Skins has been easy to admire, to really enjoy. On that basis, I'm hoping Cassie gets a happy ending and a good root next week - us Skins fans could use it."

Reception for "Skins Pure: Part 1" in North America was a bit more positive.

DenofGeek gave the episode a generally positive review, stating "Skins Pure is much more and much less like a traditional episode of Skins than Fire simply because, while it’s still set away from Bristol and with no known supporting characters, you can imagine it fitting back into the original series quite easily. This is a different kind of young adulthood than the one encountered by girls like Effy Stonem, and that doesn’t make it any less real or worth exploring. I’ll be honest and admit that my expectations for this farewell series have been lowered by the second half of Skins Fire, but this episode did set up some interesting things to explore next week. It’s surreal and ridiculous, and a world-weary Cassie is hard to take at first, but it’s strikingly different from what the show has done before. Crucially, it stays true to the character, and hopefully we’ll see her get her happy ending at last."

Reception for "Skins Pure: Part 2" was generally positive.

DenofGeek gave the episode a generally positive review, stating "Out of all the characters over three generations of Skins, Cassie holds a special place in most fans’ hearts. That makes the fact that Skins Pure, as a complete 2-hour adventure, leaves you feeling so good amazing in a number of ways. It’s faithful to the character without being afraid to adapt her to an adult world, for one, and the happy ending here feels earned, rather than tacked on for the fans. Always reliant on others for a sense of belonging, now Cassie has stepped in and created her own family, taking in her little brother while her dad gets away for a while. It’s not the way I expected things to go, but that last “everything’s good” is wonderful."

On the other hand, Whatculture.com gave the episode 2/5 stars, concluding that "But the really disappointing [thing] isn’t that Pure Part 2 was bad. It’s that it could have been good. There were a lot of plot points with a lot of potential that could have been built up more, particularly Cassie’s relationship with Marcus which felt seriously undeveloped. Or how about her actually pursuing her a career as model only to get sucked into that world too much and ultimately suffer a relapse of her anorexia. This was a missed opportunity and an anti-climatic end to Cassie’s story."

Skins: Rise
Reception for "Skins Rise: Part 1" was generally positive in the UK.

DigitalSpyUK gave the episode 4/5 stars, stating "Skins Rise thrills in a way that its predecessors didn't - it's plenty dark in places, but also engaging and outlandish in all the ways that classic Skins was. It may have its flaws, but part one of Rise is certainly the stand-out installment from these final Skins episodes, with Jack O'Connell anchoring Jamie Brittain's script with a typically magnetic central performance.

Similarly, reception for "Skins Rise: Part 1" was generally positive in North America.

DenofGeek gave the episode a positive review, stating "It might prove a blessing and a curse to finish with this story, as I can’t see a happy ending on the horizon. Where else it would have been placed, I don’t know, but the strength of this first episode suggests that, even if Skins goes out on a depressing or tragic note, it’ll also go out on a creative high. I guess that’s all we can ask of this seventh series for, while it has defied expectations to good and bad effect, one thing it can’t be faulted on is the realisation of and love for its characters. This episode, like the others, will split opinion, but Skins has never shied away from controversy, has it?"

Whatculture.com gave the episode 4/5 stars, stating "Jamie Brittain does it again. After the last time he wrote an episode featuring Cook (Series 4 Episode 7), there was some doubt in my mind about how well he’d pick up on the character and his story but here he has excelled himself with an episode that’s well-paced and exciting but also manages to have a lot of depth, along with a shockingly dark climax. But as with basically everything, this episode’s not completely perfect. The first ten minutes are a little slow and the first of the episode’s two sex scenes feels a bit gratuitous and played for laughs, which feels somewhat at odds with the darker tone that builds up later on but those issues aren’t enough to negatively affect the whole episode."