In My Skin

Funny, sad, horrible and brilliant. Wonderful acting, story, script and overall production. Lead actors Gabrielle Creevy and Jo Hartley are particularly brilliant and deserve awards for this.

I don't really know where to begin, here. The actors are brilliantly cast. All of them. And they all stand out with a credible personality, the students, parents, teachers, the Chippy guy...

Bethan has a harder time than most in her extremely dysfunctional home, but still manages to find the inner strength to survive. Going through all the relatable conflicts and good times in and outside of school, she balances ever so narrowly without plunging into the abyss. It's dark, but it is beautiful, it is ever so relatable, and I recommend it as one of the must-sees. If you are young, or you have young ones living at home, or you need a reminder what being young is like - watch it.

I haven't seen a lot of Welsh series, so I did need the occasional subtitle support, but the accent really has a beautiful melody to it. Now I want to visit the country!

This is one of the best depictions of a teenagers troubled life I've ever seen. The ending of the last episode of the first season was a real cliffhanger, so I am very excited to see the next season. The actors are all very good. It is labelled as a comedy, not without reason, because there is a lot of dialogues and situations that makes me smile, but the excitement and dark side of life is always there. Bethan may seem like a dandelion child, but as always there are many layers in the human life, and this drama does not simplify things. That is what impresses me most here.

I hope there's a series 2! This was incredibly acted, funny but also heartbreaking, great witty one liners then moments that are so steeped in emotion it is not like anything I have seen before. 10/10

For reasons that baffle me, in the UK this has been promoted by the BBC as a "comedy series" - go figure! OK, there are some wryly comic moments, but make no mistake: this is drama, folks. When I saw the pilot of "In My Skin" back in 2018 I was blown away, and kept my fingers crossed that a full series would be commissioned. Happily it has, and the result completely fulfils my hopes.

"In My Skin" is the tale of a talented 16 year-old Welsh schoolgirl called Bethan Gwyndaf. Bethan has a secret: everything.

Her home life is far from ideal - VERY far - to the point that she feels she needs to hide it from everyone she knows. Fortunately, Bethan is a very accomplished liar: for years, she has had even her closest schoolfriends believing the wildest "facts" about her lifestyle and background.

Maintaining such a massive construct of lies is hard work though: Bethan lives every day on a knife edge, only ever one wrong word away from exposure, and over time, the stress of keeping all her fictional plates spinning - of maintaining her facade while trying to cope with an increasingly chaotic domestic situation - gets steadily harder to bear.

Long story short: it's superb. Its depiction of the callous bear-pit of school life is so accurately drawn that, as a one-time victim of persistent playground bullying myself, there were moments I found difficult to watch. It's worth it, though: the writing is spot-on and performances are excellent across the board. Especial mention must go to Jo Hartley, who plays Beth's mother - a very challenging role.

The majority of the cast are faces new to me and little known outside Wales. However, one actor may ring a bell with anyone who's seen "Detectorists": the horrendously overbearing P.E. teacher (a darkly comedic ogre of a part) is played by Laura Checkley, whom you might remember as Louise.

I understand that "In My Skin" is about to be screened in the USA on Hulu. A note for American viewers: you might need to switch on the subtitles! Many scenes involve Welsh teenagers talking rapidly in slang, and without a little onscreen help there may be quite a few moments when you're left wondering what the hell is being said. I grew up near Wales, but even I struggled at times!