How exactly do you go about topping a teenage-led, British cult smash?

If you’re Skins, you have to raise the level pretty high. The first series captured over 60% of their target audience viewing age, paving the way for near-overnight fame for the young cast members, impressionable youths countrywide recreating Skins parties, and that song by The Gossip.

The finale of the first series left a weight of confusion hanging over the series. With Tony becoming a little too well acquainted with the front end of a bus, and a singsong ending of Wild World by Cat Stevens, it wasn’t quite the ‘fixing loose-ends’ finish that could’ve been expected.

It’s something that creators Jamie Brittain and Bryan Elsley managed to resolve in the darker, introspective second series. The addition of guest directors and writers, varying from Harry Enfield to Daniel Kaluuya (who plays wannabe gangster Kenneth) works well with individual episodes that generally focus on one particular member of the Bristolian group; allowing character traits to be specifically honed.

Understandably, the character of Tony Stonem (Nicholas Hoult, About A Boy) takes a leading role, with his mentally impaired state (and recovery) working alongside the fallout from that fateful night. Long-suffering girlfriend Michelle (April Pearson) is left in limbo as she tries to help him remember his (and their) forgotten past, whilst soft-touch Sid (Mike Bailey) is trying (and failing) to keep everything together – especially with Cassie (Hannah Murray).

This doesn’t mean that the remaining cast members are left to fill in the gaps – in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Alongside Sid’s highly charged (and potentially best) episode, party animal Chris (Joe Dempsie) turns into a fully three-dimensional character that is forced into the ‘real world’ whilst the others carry on at college. In fact, by the final third of the series, he’s become the plot protagonist.

Maxxie (Mitch Hewer) (complete with stalker Sketch) is once more the foil for Anwar (Dev Patel), who has a constant battle between his Muslim religion and his friends’ lifestyle, whilst Jal (Larissa Wilson) is given a greater role than previous, with her disappearing mother just the tip of the iceberg.

The greatest success about the second series is watching some of the characters grow up (sometimes quickly) in the face of adversity. Sid’s constant battles with himself throw out some underdog style victories, whilst Chris and Jal’s blossoming relationship see them become the unintended group kingpins, whilst dealing with a never-ending list of personal problems.

Even Tony is forced to do some soul-searching as he no longer has his friends’ undivided attention, although he – like everyone – still has some way to go to perfect it. It is then with a twist of irony that his younger sister Effy (Kaya Scodelario), whose character has her head on the straightest, provides the weakest episode.

Inconsistencies do seem to hinder Skins, providing a fair few moments to let attentions slip by, providing a frustratingly large gap between its highs and lows. For every moment of comic genius, such as Osama: The Musical (including Shane Ritchie), or tear-inducing death, there are moments of sheer frustration with Effy’s bratty friends, or Cassie, Sketch and Pandora rambling on.

There’s still no denying that it is a show worth watching – and indeed buying. A lot of Skins requires a secondary watch due to its fast-paced nature, and for some of its subtle references, like Tony’s university trip that centred on psychiatrist Carl Jung’s ideas of schizophrenia and the unconscious world.

Extras-wise, there’s a near hours’ worth of bonus footage, which sheds a little extra light on the young cast when they’re off set, as well as including some of the ‘unseen’ episodes that were first featured online. It’s fairly straightforward, but after the mad world that these characters have been though, it’s almost strange to see them out of role.

With only Effy remaining as a permanent fixture from the original cast, series two will always be a milestone in the Skins’ lifespan. While the peaks and troughs were far more noticeable than in series one, one can only hope that Skins as a whole continues to enthral another generation.