In My Skin - Series Two

Written by: Kayleigh Llewellyn

Starring: Gabrielle Creevy as Bethan

Jo Hartley as Katrina, Bethan's mother

Rhodri Meilir as Dilwyn, Bethan's father

Poppy Lee Friar as Lydia and James Wilbraham as Travis, Bethan's best friends

Di Botcher, Bethan's Nana

Premise: Set in Wales, this comedy/drama follows the life of schoolgirl Bethan as she tries to cope with looking after her mother who has bipolar disorder and living with her father who is a violent alcoholic. In this season she finds love with new girl: Cam (Rebekah Murrell) and tries to juggle her two selves: the affluent person with mundane parents that she presents to her friends vs her true and unhappy life at home.

After watching this series I can quickly conclude that Gabrielle Creevy is set for a great career. She brings a likeable, vulnerable but also an unflinching strength to the character of Bethan which was really enticing to watch.

Without giving too much away, the series seems to build on from the events from season one into a crescendo as Bethan's father performs a terribly violent act, snatching away the new life that has been promised for Bethan and her Mum.

The plot was good and unexpected but I think it might have benefited from a few more plot twists and turns. The audience needed to be given an extra punch...metaphorically speaking of course, I don't want to be watching a Drama and suddenly a boxing glove comes out of the computer screen to boink me on my unsuspecting nose... I would have also liked to have seen more interaction with Bethan and her best friends, their friendship storyline seemed to be quickly wrapped up near the end. However, it is a short series so perhaps in term of timing they couldn't squeeze in this extra: *enter Salt Bae, that I was after. We also noticeably hear less of Bethan's internal monologue in this series and I think this was an unfortunate writing choice because it makes the audience feel less connected to her despite, as previously stated, a great performance by Creevy.

However, it was interesting and heart-breaking to explore the life of Bethan and the strain she faces as a young carer for one parent and being abused by the other. She bottles up all her emotions until finally telling Cam about her life: "Why didn't you tell me?" Cam asks after she helps Bethan drive her mum away to be sectioned. "Because I'm ashamed," Bethan replies. The story between Bethan and her mother seemed so authentic, there wasn't a beat out of place in terms of the dialogue or events which follow up to Dilwyn's violent act where it easily could have become too dramatic- I just would have liked to have seen a longer story! The writer and creator of the series, Kayleigh Llewellyn, reportedly used her own experience with growing up with a parent who suffered with mental health problems to create this story. From her experience she has managed to create two great series' which are definitely worth a watch. The pain and complexity of Bethan's situation and feelings felt palpable, and this is perhaps because of Llewllyn's knowledge of this type of life.

It was nice to see Bethan have a few more wins in this series but somehow the series seemed quite melancholy. In contrast to season one of In My Skin which I think leaned more on the comedy side, season two has more shade than light. As for the ending, I thought Hartley's performance of Katrina's deterioration was totally convincing and it was nice to see the story wrapped up in a fulfilling way without the relationship development between Bethan and her Mum becoming too sentimental. In a lot of ways the last scene was  perfect although I felt it had a sense of melancholy despite being a happy ending. However, I think that it is so hard for writers to try to adequately 'live up to' the success of their last series and Kayleigh Llewellyn does a great job. Bravo!