What happened to Skins cast next – from becoming a stripper & chart-topping songwriter to horror cement truck accident
WITH wild partying, sex, drugs and booze by the bucketful, it’s not hard to understand why coming-of-age drama Skins was a Noughties success story. The TV hit, which first aired 15 years ago this week, followed a rebellious gang of Bristolian college teenagers. At the time it attracted equal acclaim and outrage, with its raunchy […]
WITH wild partying, sex, drugs and booze by the bucketful, it’s not hard to understand why coming-of-age drama Skins was a Noughties success story.
The TV hit, which first aired 15 years ago this week, followed a rebellious gang of Bristolian college teenagers.
At the time it attracted equal acclaim and outrage, with its raunchy sex scenes filling newspaper pages and sparking a number of complaints.
But Skins also served as a springboard for many of the actors we know and love today – from award-winning Dev Patel and Daniel Kaluuya to Game Of Thrones stars.
Not all of the cast went on to take Hollywood by storm, with one becoming a teacher, another trying her hand at stripping, and a third becoming a musician.
To mark the show’s milestone anniversary, The Sun caught up with some of its lesser known stars to find out what happened next – and what they’re up to now.
Abigail Stock
Onscreen she caused a stir for trying to break up lovebirds Tony Stonem and Michelle Richardson – and actress Georgina Moffat, who played the bitchy character, didn’t have much luck in love off-screen either.
She told The Sun she refused to date people her own age, fearing they only wanted to have sex with her because she was famous.
“Playing the only villain in the show was difficult,” Georgina, now 31, added. “A lot of fans didn’t like what Abigail was doing and thought she was really a b***h.
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“I felt like I was always being stared at and like I couldn’t let loose. It felt like my identity was being erased and I was just the character.
“I made a conscious decision not to date anyone my age because I was paranoid they would only be with me because of the show or do it to say, ‘Oh, I slept with that girl from Skins’.”
Georgina studied art history at UCL but switched to focus on music production and composition after the show ended, and bagged a recording contract.
The singer-songwriter, who topped the dance charts with hit Sail With Me in 2018, helped to produce songs for Dido, Keane and Japanese Pop (J-pop) stars.
She lived in Tokyo for years, as well as Los Angeles, London and Australia, where her mother lives.
Georgina, who initially auditioned for Michelle, based Abigail on the “posh psychos” she met at boarding school and claimed they “don’t know that because they are too obsessed with themselves”.
“It’s crazy to think Skins came out 15 years ago… I particularly loved the music scenes where I was performing,” Georgina added.
“I don’t regret changing my focus to music because I love it and I think the show helped me to realise that.”
Michelle Richardson
Michelle was one of the show’s main characters and, according to actress April Pearson, partially based on two of the creator’s children.
She bagged the part after showing up early to an audition and “chatting teenage b****ks” to a stranger, who turned out to be one of the directors.
April, who was the “uncool” head girl at a private girls school, said the part allowed her to be “more outrageous and cool”.
But she also felt “very exposed” on set due to the number of sex scenes she had to perform and claimed she was yelled at by strangers in the street afterwards.
“It was difficult for me because there was a lot about Michelle’s nipples, she was called ‘nips’ for short, and had one boob bigger than the other,” April, now 33, told The Sun.
“I think we all struggled with the intimate scenes too because they are so awkward and no one can prepare you to perform a sex act in front of a room full of people.”
No one can prepare you to perform a sex act in front of a room full of people
April Pearson
After the show, April tried to get an acting agent but “no one was really interested” and she “wasn’t getting auditions” so moved to the countryside for a more sheltered life.
“Every time I met people they were surprised that I had taken non-acting jobs to pay the bills, like working in a shop, but I really liked it,” she said.
“I loved that kind of work but people would say ‘Didn’t you used to be famous?’ or, ‘Weren’t you Michelle from Skins?’ and that immediately put me on the backfoot.
“It made me feel like what I was doing wasn’t exciting and reflected badly on me as a performer because I wasn’t nominated for Oscars, Emmys or BAFTAs.”
April has since had small parts in Casualty, Doctors and short films, as well as the horror flick The Kindred.
Now seven months pregnant, she hosts the podcast ‘Are You Michelle From Skins?’.
Maxxie Oliver
Maxxie became an instant hit with fans and was celebrated for being an openly gay character and talented dancer.
However, for Mitch Hewer who played him, it came at a price as he said he was often targeted by vile homophobic abuse, and was once left fearing for his life.
On a night out with cast members in Bristol, he recalled a stranger saying: “You’re that guy off Skins, you better not be gay in real life.’”
Mitch told The Sun: “He opened his coat and he had a knife in there. He said, ‘If you’re gay I’ll stab you’… I walked away as quickly as I could.”
The actor, now 32, who is straight in real life, said he never went out in his hometown again after that because he didn’t feel safe.
Mitch went on to land a part in Britannia High and starred alongside Selena Gomez in the 2014 film Behaving Badly and the Take That musical Never Forget.
While living in Los Angeles, he said a producer turned him down for a part and told him he needed to “sort his skin out” or he “would never work in Hollywood”.
This led Mitch to develop crippling OCD that meant he couldn’t be touched by partners, hug his mother or deal with human contact without needing to shower.
“I used to scrub the skin off my face and fingers until they bled, I wouldn’t go out if I had a pimple and I wouldn’t see anyone if I wasn’t perfect,” he said.
“I felt like I needed to shower if anyone touched my skin… I would freak out.”
Thankfully, Mitch found solace after meeting his girlfriend, a mother-of-two, just over a year ago. He moved to Port Talbot, Wales and three months ago they welcomed a daughter, Aria, whom he credits with helping to lessen the effects of OCD.
Reflecting on Skins’ 15 year anniversary, he said: “I feel like I learned a lot from playing Maxxie and definitely took a lot from him.”
Katie Fitch
Megan Prescott played wild red-headed twin Katie Fitch in Skins, but after leaving the show she struggled to find work.
She claimed she faced “elitism” in the industry because she wasn’t classically trained, but did land parts in Silent Witness, Holby City and several short films.
At the age of 22, Megan’s career took a different path after a number of odd jobs including working as a party princess, in security, pubs and admin.
After complaining about having “zero money” a stripper friend suggested she should try becoming a dancer and she worked in a number of clubs in London.
Very few people recognised Megan and she tried to keep a low profile because she feared it was a “career ruining move for a woman”.
However, she told The Sun: “I love the thought that fans went home and days later were like, ‘Oh my God, it was the girl from Skins, I saw her giving a lap dance.”
Megan, now 30, also participated in three bodybuilding competitions, qualifying for an international championship in one, and continued to work on her own plays.
When coronavirus crippled the hospitality and arts industries, she turned to OnlyFans and said she “wouldn’t have been able to survive the last two years” without it.
Megan claimed the sexual scenes she had to perform in Skins prepared her for X-rated performances in stripclubs and posting saucy content to OnlyFans.
“I would easily make a lot more than I did working in a pub and it was more empowering than having to clean maggots off the bottom of a beer pump,” she added.
Sid Jenkins
After Skins, Mike Bailey, who played speccy virgin Sid, starred in a few indie TV series and a short film before giving up acting altogether.
“I kind of thought, ‘What the f*** am I doing with my life?’ … and decided that those who can’t act teach,” he said in 2017.
The 33-year-old admitted work “kind of fizzled out over the years” and now he’s reportedly a supply drama teacher.
The notoriously private star doesn’t have publicly-known social media accounts but was filmed teaching in a classroom in a 2020 Tiktok video that got over 200,000 views.
Emily Fitch
Quieter twin Emily, played by Kathryn Prescott, continued to enjoy acting success after Skins and starred in the 2017 Netflix flick To The Bone alongside Keanu Reeves.
But last year, the 30-year-old was rushed to hospital after being struck by a cement truck while crossing a road in New York.
Megan flew out to take care of her sibling, who broke her pelvis in two places, both of her legs, her foot and left hand.
She shared an update to Instagram, writing: “She is incredibly lucky to be alive. She narrowly avoided paralysis. The doctors are hopeful that she will make a full recovery but this will only be possible with the correct care right now.”
Tony Stonem
Before taking on the Skins role, Nicholas Hoult had already found fame after starring in the 2002 film About A Boy, alongside Hugh Grant.
Since then, he’s taken Hollywood by storm and appeared in the X-Men franchise, Mad Max, The Favourite and Mission Impossible 7.
Nicholas, now 32, dated his Marvel co-star Jennifer Lawrence for four years before having a child with American model Bryana Holly.
Cassie Ainsworth
After Skins, Hannah Murray ditched ditzy Cassie, who struggled with an eating disorder, to study English at Cambridge University.
Since then she has starred alongside Johnny Depp in the 2012 film Dark Shadows, Bridgend in 2015 and Detroit with John Boyega in 2017.
Hannah, now 32, was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) award for her performance as Gilly in Game Of Thrones.
‘Posh Kenneth’
Daniel Kaluuya has found major success since starring in Skins – something that “surprised” some of his castmates because apparently his passion “was always writing”.
Aside from playing ‘Posh Kenneth’, he also co-wrote some episodes of the teen drama before turning his focus to performing.
He had breakout roles in Johnny English, Charlie Brooker’s series Black Mirror and eventually was cast in horror flick Get Out and Marvel movie Black Panther.
Daniel has scooped a number of awards including a BAFTA and Oscar for his portrayal in the black panther biopic Judas And The Black Messiah last year.
Effy Stonem
At 14 years old, Kaya Scodelario was the youngest member of the Skins cast and played Tony’s depressed little sister Effy, who was a mute until overdosing at a party.
She played the role for four seasons and also featured in a 2013 catch-up episode – but that’s not all she’s done.
The half-Brazilian actress, now 29, appeared in music videos for rapper Plan B, The Maze Runner film franchise and Pirates Of The Caribbean.
Kaya also landed a part opposite Zac Efron as Ted Bundy’s wife Carol Ann Boone in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile and the Netflix drama Spinning Out.
She recently gave birth to her second child with her husband of six years, fellow actor Benjamin Walker. The couple already share a son.
Anwar Kharral
Dev Patel was the first of the Skins cast to reach global superstardom after clinching the lead role in box office smash Slumdog Millionaire in 2009.
He also had hits with The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, HBO series The Newsroom, Lion, and The Personal History Of David Copperfield.
He recently showed off a gritty transformation in The Green Knight.
Dev, now 31, dated his Slumdog Millionaire co-star Freida Pinto for six years but is now with Australian actress Tilda Cobham-Hervey.
Chris Miles
Joe Dempsie, 34, was about to give up acting before landing the role of party boy Chris in Skins, and since then he hasn’t looked back.
He’s appeared in several Doctor Who episodes, played Higgy in This Is England ‘89 and recently starred as Gendry in Game Of Thrones until the finale in 2019.
The actor admitted he did “envy” the success of some of his co-stars who had become “hugely successful” and hoped to follow in their footsteps.