The WORST episodes of Skins

Every episode of Skins ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Skins!

Fast-paced and full of angst-ridden fun, this British drama may be based on teenage characters and aimed at a teenage audience, but its content is strictly adult. Watch as eleven teens struggle with highly-charged issues of race, religion, sexuality, drugs, and food disorders. With a solid set of good actors, expect the drama to consist of a lot of well-played emotional ups and downs.

Last Updated: 3/21/2024Network: E4Status: Ended
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Thomas
star
6.82
572 votes

#1 - Thomas

Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/28/2010

There's a party at one of Thomas' club nights and all the gang are there; Cook is still up to no good, Freddie is learning increasingly more about love and the girls are busy dancing. An accident during the evening, however, leaves Thomas feeling guilty and alienated from the rest of the group. Will their friendship survive?

Directors: Neil Biswas
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Mini and Franky
star
7.04
456 votes

#2 - Mini and Franky

Season 6 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/19/2012

Mini and Franky are still held up in Mini's bedroom, but with Matty back in Bristol and Mini's ever-growing baby bump, time is quickly running out for the girls. Things come to a head when Mini's health takes a turn for the worse leaving them isolated and under pressure from family and friends. Grace appears through a phone call in this episode.

Directors: Ian Barnes
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Franky
star
7.09
787 votes

#3 - Franky

Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/27/2011

Franky starts at Roundview and is determined not to be a loner and things seem to be going well until she accidentally challenges Mini's position as queen bee and when she doesn't conform to Mini's expectations, she's spat out. Franky then meets Matty who understands and empowers her giving her the strength to stand up to Mini. Grace admires Franky, and a new gang is formed with Alo, Rich and Grace. Franky has finally found friends, but in doing so has started a war with Mini.

Directors: Amanda Boyle
Writer: Sean Buckley
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Grace
star
7.09
550 votes

#4 - Grace

Season 5 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/10/2011

Grace believes in fairytales but she finds herself forced to face reality when Rich meets her father and he threatens to send her back to Mayberry's College for Young Ladies if her grades suffer. Grace's father ends up going back on his word, sending her to Mayberry's anyway even though her grades haven't dropped. Rich ends up asking her to marry her.

Directors: Dominic Leclerc
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Pure (1)
star
7.16
457 votes

#5 - Pure (1)

Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 7/15/2013

Cassie, now aged 23 is adrift, alone and invisible in London, trying to make sense of her life. Slowly she realises that someone is following her. Cassie turns towards the unknown. A strange and poignant friendship is carved out of mutual loneliness, but can it survive exposure to the real world?

Directors: Paul Gay
Writer: Bryan Elsley
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Cook
star
7.18
959 votes

#6 - Cook

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/29/2009

It’s Cook’s (Jack O’Connell) 17th birthday, and half the college have been invited to his uncle’s pub to witness a night Cook believes will go down in history. The girls get are about to leave when Freddie (Luke Pasqualino) gets a phone call from his sister Karen (Klariza Clayton). She’s at her best friend Kayleigh’s (Amy Burnett) engagement party and they want to get the party started. The gang head off uninvited. Cook attracts the attention of Kayleigh’s dad, notorious local gangster Johnny White (Mackenzie Crook). The party is a timid affair, so - ignoring Freddie’s warnings about Johnny White - Cook decides to do as the Cookie monster does and up the tempo, and the evening takes a turn for the worst. The gang manage to escape, but split up afterwards after Cook tries to come onto the girls. Freddie tells him he is tired of looking after him and leaves Cook and JJ to go to a local stripclub/prostitute agency, where JJ refuses to go further than kissing and Cook overhears Johnny White in the next room. He plans to blackmail him, and the gangster antagonises him until JJ has to forcibly restrain Cook from beating him. Cook realises what he's done when Johhny tells him: "The next time I see you...you're dead." He leaves and ends up outside Freddie's house at six in the morning, and the two share an intense heart-to-heart about their friendship, while Freddie agrees to look after him again.

Directors: Simon Massey
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Nick
star
7.23
644 votes

#7 - Nick

Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/24/2011

Nick is the star of the school but following Matty's reappearance he becomes unsettled and as he sees Matty slip effortlessly into new friendships, old wounds come back to the surface. After realising that everything he thought he wanted is crushing him, Nick leaves it all behind and puts his faith in Matty.

Directors: Jack Clough
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Alo
star
7.27
575 votes

#8 - Alo

Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/3/2011

Alo is bored with his life on Creevey Farm and he ends up going to the city so that he can party and try and get laid. His parents decide to take him out of college in an attempt to force him to buckle down on the farm. Alo ends up throwing a party at the farm which ends up ruining the place. After his dad is hospitalised he finally realises that it's time for him to grow up.

Directors: Jack Clough
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Alex
star
7.27
539 votes

#9 - Alex

Season 6 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/6/2012

It's Alex Henley's first day at college, but he's not worried about fitting in or making new friends. He catches the eye of a fellow student and they hit it off immediately. Alex sees something special in Liv and draws her into his strange and wonderful world. But it can't last. Alex isn't used to having friends, and Liv invests a little bit too heavily in the distraction he provides.

Directors: Samuel Donovan
Writer: Jack Lothian
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Everyone
star
7.32
1017 votes

#10 - Everyone

Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/22/2009

It’s the first day of term at Roundview College and a new gang is forming. Best friends Freddie (Luke Pasqualino), JJ (Ollie Barbieri), and Cook (Jack O’Connell) are en-route to college. Their world collides with Effy’s (Kaya Scodelario), and Cook is intrigued – this trouble maker has met his match. However, both Freddie and JJ are equally smitten. Identical twin sisters, Katie (Megan Prescott) and Emily (Kathryn Prescott), prepare for their first day; as per usual, Katie walks all over her sister Emily. Once at college, Effy and Katie clock one another immediately, whilst Effy’s best mate Pandora (Lisa Backwell) tells Effy she wants to lose her virginity "asap". At college, Cook tries to charm the girl sitting next to him but instead winds her up. Naomi (Lily Loveless) doesn’t suffer fools gladly and grasses Cook up. Effy issues smitten Freddie, JJ and Cook with a challenge to be completed by the end of the day. The winner will get to ‘know her’ better. And so the first day at college begins...

Directors: Charles Martin
Writer: Bryan Elsley
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Pure (2)
star
7.37
441 votes

#11 - Pure (2)

Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired 7/22/2013

Directors: Paul Gay
Writer: Bryan Elsley
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Rich
star
7.39
720 votes

#12 - Rich

Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/3/2011

Rich - or metal Rich to give him his proper name - uses his taste in properly extreme music to keep the world, especially girls, at bay. But when bromantic buddy Alo finds Rich's perfect woman, he is forced to harden the eff up and face his fears. To help him get there, he turns to Grace. Grace has to learn the ways of metal in order to impersonate a metal chick, but Rich doesn't make it easy, refusing to believe a lame-streamer could understand him. Will she crack his hard metal exterior? 

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Liv
star
7.42
585 votes

#13 - Liv

Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/17/2011

Mini knows how to get revenge. She befriends Franky, Rich, Alo et al. so she can totally isolate Liv who's is still having a scene with Nick. Throw a free house, a load of weed and an impromptu house party into the mix and it all gets a bit much for our Liv.

Directors: Amanda Boyle
Writer: Ed Hime
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Katie and Emily
star
7.47
879 votes

#14 - Katie and Emily

Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/19/2009

What a difference a party makes. Since their disaster in the forest, the twins’ lives have descended into chaos. Katie is refusing to leave the house and must face her lack of control, while Emily is struggling with her feelings for Naomi. With the college ball approaching, a showdown is imminent.

Directors: Charles Martin
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Tony
star
7.50
1616 votes

#15 - Tony

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/25/2007

The first episode of Skins introduces viewers to a gang of friends through their leader, Tony. Tony is good looking, intelligent and ambitious, and he plans to help his best mate, Sid, lose his virginity at posh Abigail's party, with the help of some illegal drugs. However, things don't go quite as planned...

Directors: Paul Gay
Writer: Bryan Elsley
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Liv
star
7.52
458 votes

#16 - Liv

Season 6 - Episode 8 - Aired 3/12/2012

Liv has been partying non-stop since her new best friend Alex came to Bristol, but after he goes away during the weekend she needs him the most, Liv seeks comfort in all her other friends, only to find out they have excluded her from their lives. Without anyone to rely on, Liv is forced to face school alone, and discovers she might not be as strong as she think she is.

Directors: Benjamin Caron
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Franky
star
7.53
452 votes

#17 - Franky

Season 6 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/13/2012

Franky is in a bad place - it's the week of her mock exams and she's unable to concentrate on her studies. Her friends are avoiding her, parental support makes her feel smothered and in her isolation she feels propelled towards Luke. He's bad news, but she feels as if he's the only person who understands her and she's intoxicated by him. Drawn into Luke's dangerous world, she finds an outlet for her anger and frustration. Burning bridges with family and friends, Franky is in more trouble than ever before. But help comes in unlikely forms, and out of the darkness a new friendship is born.

Directors: Ian Barnes
Writer: Sean Buckley
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Nick
star
7.53
463 votes

#18 - Nick

Season 6 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/27/2012

Nick is in love with Franky, but the feelings aren't returned. He attempts to deal with the fact that Franky is nothing more than a friend but his feelings towards her increase. Matty gets in touch with his brother, Nick who is also in love with Franky and needs Nick's help to get him out of Morocco and back to Bristol.

Directors: Jack Clough
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Everyone
star
7.54
642 votes

#19 - Everyone

Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 3/17/2011

The gang are pulling together for the happy couple and putting their various differences and total messed-up situations aside for the day. But with lovely-but-shambolic Alo as best man, it's hardly a surprise that they run into trouble and become separated in the wilds of Somerset.

Directors: Dominic Leclerc
Writer: Sean Buckley
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Mini
star
7.55
594 votes

#20 - Mini

Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/10/2011

Mini is the Queen Bee at Roundview, right? But she’s feeling under threat when Grace brings her new bf Franky to the charity fashion show meeting. What to do, hmmmm? She ends up sacking them both, she hasn’t time for 'friends' like Grace.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Finale
star
7.57
749 votes

#21 - Finale

Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/26/2009

When Freddie and JJ fall out over Cook, the confusion surrounding the gangs' love lives reaches a dramatic conclusion as the series' infamous love triangle is potentially brought to an end.

Directors: Simon Massey
Writer: Ben Schiffer
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Alo
star
7.58
430 votes

#22 - Alo

Season 6 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/5/2012

Alo still has no clue that Mini is pregnant with his baby. He attempts to get over her by going out with a new girl called Poppy Champion. Mini is soon a distant memory as things progress between the two of them. As Franky's efforts to convince him to see sense fall on deaf ears, Alo's days of refusing to grow up appear to be running out.

Directors: Benjamin Caron
Writer: Laura Hunter
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Sketch
star
7.62
997 votes

#23 - Sketch

Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/18/2008

Maxxie has a creepy feeling that someone is watching him. Someone close by. A hot boy maybe? No such luck. Sketch is Maxxie’s stalker. A weird loner, who spends most days shut up in a poky flat looking after their disabled Mum. So their attentions turn to the fit blonde boy who lives on the estate. Soon everything in their life is about Maxxie – If only he would even notice them. Meanwhile, the sixth form college production of ‘Osama: The Musical’ is teetering towards disaster under the heavy-handed guidance of lecherous drama teacher Bruce. But Sketch is prepared to do anything to get leading man Maxxie, and if they can’t have him, they’re going to make sure nobody can - and especially not his current leading lady Michelle.

Directors: Aysha Rafaele
Writer: Jack Thorne
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Thomas
star
7.68
860 votes

#24 - Thomas

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/5/2009

In this episode, Thomas (Merveille Lukeba) arrives alone in the UK from the Congo. His family are due to join him in a few days, and he has to find somewhere for them to live. He finds an abandoned flat on an estate, but little does he know that local gangster Johnny White (Mackenzie Crook) is his new landlord, and there’s no way Johnny’s going to let him live there for free. Thomas has to fend for himself, but a chance encounter at a bus stop, and a mutual love of doughnuts brings him together with Pandora (Lisa Backwell) and Effy (Kaya Scodelario). They head to Effy’s house, where they find Effy’s mum, Anthea Stonem (Morwenna Banks), has a surprise visitor, her husband’s boss, Steve (David Baddiel). It’s fate for Pandora and Thomas, who hit it off immediately: she takes him to see her Aunt Elizabeth (Maureen Lipman), who just might have the answer to Thomas’s insolvency, with a rather unconventional money-making scheme. This episode was written by Daniel Kaluuya, the former Posh Kenneth in the two first series of Skins and Bryan Elsley.

Directors: Simon Massey
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Rise (2)
star
7.68
355 votes

#25 - Rise (2)

Season 7 - Episode 6 - Aired 8/5/2013

Directors: Jack Clough
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV