Hello everyone,

I know I don't use the discussion boards very often, but felt some of you may be interested in this. Did anyone see this week's episode of 'Skins'? I was surprised to see that it acquired a new character for the episode, who is a young carer. (If you havent seen it and want to, I'll try not to put in too many spoilers, but just be aware of it!)

I thought it could be a good thing and at times it does show a bit of depth to it, but I was so shocked at how they presented this character - she's completely mad, manipulative, socially inept, and no one likes her. And they seem to use her being a carer as a justification for this. Maybe I'm judging it too harshly and other people may disagree, but I thought it was quite irresponsible of them to introduce a character who is a young carer, then show a blatantly negative view. Like even in her caring, she intentionally hurts her disabled mother. It just seemed like a unique opportunity to get issues of caring into a popular programme aimed at young people, but instead of doing something positive with it they made her into a total 'psychopath,' as the other characters call her. And I think the episode would have worked without her being a carer anyway - I suppose the writers wanted an easy label to pin all her weirdness onto to explain it. Rather disappointing, really.

If no one here watches Skins, this is a bit of a waste of time, but I was left feeling quite strongly about the whole thing and thought other people here might be too. Did anyone see it? Any opinions?

 S
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