大象传媒

Bethan (Gabrielle Creevy) desperately tries to keep the truth of her home life a secret from her friends. But when your mother (Jo Hartley) is sectioned in a mental facility near your school and has a penchant for breaking out, and your father (Rhodri Meilir) is a Hell’s Angel who drives a rag-and-bone truck, flying under the radar isn’t so easy.

Nevertheless, Bethan is determined to save her own blushes. But her cheek and wit can only carry her so far, as she digs herself deeper and deeper into a hole of her own lies.

Along the way there are lesbian infatuations, tough love from her Nana, and non-stop interferences from her bulldozer teacher, who is always on her case.

It’s funny, raw and heartbreaking at times, as we vicariously relive our adolescence through Bethan - the confusing, intoxicating, painful mess of it all.

MJ/CR2

Introduction from writer Kayleigh Llewellyn

In My Skin is a coming of age story set in Cardiff, told through the eyes of a teen girl, Bethan - portrayed exquisitely by Gabrielle Creevy. The show is a reflection on my teen years - a time when I felt deep shame to be from an underclass Welsh family that was living with mental illness. My mum has bipolar disorder and when I was growing up would frequently be sectioned for long spells in a mental hospital based minutes away from my school. I lived in fear that my friends would find out, that they would judge us, that I’d be ostracised. It’s only now, in writing my story 15 years later, that I’ve realised just how many other people are living through similar situations. Mental illness affects so many lives and yet it’s still so surrounded by stigma. I wish I could go back in time and tell my teenage self that she didn’t need to hide. But since I don’t have a time machine, I thought I’d write a TV show and tell everyone else instead…

I feel so lucky to have had the backing of the 大象传媒 and Expectation Entertainment in telling this story, which has been brought to life by an exceptional cast and the incredible talent of our director, Lucy Forbes.

There’s heartache, laughs and sometimes an almost too-hard-to-look quality as In My Skin echoes a time that was the most difficult for us all: Adolescence.