Roundview College forever! During its seven years on the air, the U.K. edition of Skins introduced the world to a ton of future stars, including Daniel Kaluuya and Dev Patel.
The beloved drama, which premiered in January 2007, followed a group of British teenagers over the two years of sixth form (equivalent to junior and senior years of American high school). More than a decade before Euphoria debuted, the students of Skins caused panic among parents who worried that their kids would imitate the characters’ rampant drug use.
Nicholas Hoult, who played Tony Stonem, admitted that Skins wasn’t an accurate depiction of “everyone’s teenage life,” but he defended its story lines as being plausible. “It is maybe heightened for entertainment but all of it is believable,” he told The Guardian in January 2008. “I can think of someone I know who is like every character.”
Every two seasons, producers focused on a mostly new set of characters as the previous ones graduated from Roundview. This meant that the already large ensemble cast kept growing as the years passed, with some of the show’s most beloved cast members making their debuts in season 3 or later.
Kaluuya, however, made his first Skins appearance in the second episode of season 1, which aired in the U.K. in February 2007. The Oscar winner played Posh Kenneth, an outgoing DJ and rapper who was close with Anwar (Patel).
The Queen & Slim star has since appeared in a Marvel movie and several critically acclaimed award winners, but he still fondly remembers his time on Skins. “That was sick,” the Nope actor told the BBC’s Nick Grimshaw in February 2020, recalling a season 2 episode where Posh Kenneth kissed two different girls. “I was 18. I was like, ‘This is the life.’”
Kaluuya was discussing the show as part of a segment where he tried to remember lines from his most famous roles. For his final challenge, Grimshaw asked him if he could recall Kenneth’s rap from season 2 more than 12 years later — and he could.
“I proper memorized it,” the Get Out star explained after reciting the entire song. “If I’m doing a speech, though, I will never forget it.”
He also joked that part of the reason he remembered it so well is because he helped pen the track. “I cowrote it, so I’m not like other artists that don’t write their lyrics,” Kaluuya quipped. “I know my art.”
Keep scrolling to see where the U.K. Skins cast is now.