Teenage drama Skins returns tonight and along with it lesbian couple ‘Naomily’. Climax Online’s Laura Kay is excited…
Skins is back tonight. The show billed as gritty and real while actually representing a total of 0% of teenagers in the UK still draws in a huge audience of people wanting to live vicariously through these brilliant, ridiculous teenage caricatures of cool. I think this is mainly because the people in Skins are filled with heart and humour and one of the only real things about the show is the relationships which develop throughout, despite the insane storylines.
Gays all over the country nay THE WORLD, will be getting excited at the prospect of the return of ‘Naomily’ over this final series. Alright, maybe just the lesbians. Alright alright, maybe just in the UK. During my formative teenage years there were two young lesbian storylines which stood out amongst the dross portrayed on TV, one was between Kim and Sugar on Sugar Rush (K + S 4EVA) and the other was between Emily and Naomi on Skins. These were not pretend lesbians for boys to enjoy and they weren’t older lesbians going walking wearing vegan boots and gilets. These were normal teenage girls, slightly angsty, confused, self obsessed but instead of pining after boys they were pining after girls.
Despite their relentless bad luck and grief (this is Skins after all and when you have whiskey for breakfast every single day you’re going to encounter some trouble) Emily and Naomi also really loved each other in that desperate, crazy teenage way that you do. You didn’t only see the coming out struggle, a chaste kiss and then a bit of hand holding until the right boys come along. You saw the coming out struggle, the dancing around each other dating struggle, the first kiss, the first time they had sex, their huge arguments and their normal, everyday lives together. They were represented as an actual real life teenage couple, not a neat lesbian subplot.
So tonight I’ll be tuning in, excited to see what’s become of ‘Naomily’, if they’re still together and if so how many cats they’ve got and if their haircuts are matching. Let’s hope Skins ‘6 Years Later Edition’ manages to live up to its teenage counterpart.
Skins airs Monday 1 July at 10 pm on E4.
Text: Laura Kay @LauraGraceKay
Image: Gary Maclennan, Channel 4
