Borderline TV shows for teens

[MissSayuri]

DD asked me this morning if she would be allowed to watch 'Skins' this Thursday night as the new season begins.
Now, I know this programme is rated 18, and up until now, it's been a straight 'no' to this and Inbetweeners, Shameless, Misfits etc etc. It's not really been an issue, we're not big telly watchers and we're out a lot so have never really managed to keep on top of anything week to week. I only know about these types of programmes as I'm a PhD student and some of the undergrads I tutor have mentioned them in a sociology class about media. Sounded a bit graphic so have made sure they're avoided, however I don't know how much longer I can censor her, or indeed if it's right for me to do so?
DD will be 16 in a few months and today she got a bit stroppy with the 'everyone in school watches it and I can never join in with the chat about it' and 'everyone will be talking about it on Facebook and I'll feel stupid'.
So, I was just wondering, how bad is it? Do your teens watch them? I should probably make the time to watch a few episodes myself but I really don't have the time, or the inclination. What's your take on it?

Agree I wouldn't have any issues re inbetweeners.

I ruin these sorts of programmes for my DCs by watching them as well and giving my own running commentary. Once you've got Mum in the corner saying "well that's not very realistic", "they're behaving like an idiot" etc etc that soon stops them being exciting .

Me too Webwiz! I also use it as a way of bringing up ishhooos - contraception, std's, emotional stuff, how to treat and be treated, etc. My favourite refrain is "& that's why you practice safe sex". My DD's is "Oh muuuuum" and "Eeeeew" .

As your daughter is nearly 16 I would have no issue with her watching any of these programmes. You most likely would definitely not approve if you watched them, especially Shameless as it is pure filth, albeit BAFTA winning filth!! She would most definitely be the odd one out these days if she wasn't watching the Inbetweeners and Skins for sure.

My son who is nearly 13 has even asked can he watch Shameless as "everyone in school is watching it". His brother was at least 14 1/2 before I let him watch Shameless and then under pressure.

Some children do seem to be allowed to watch whatever they want and this is definitely not right.

Ok, well I think it might be time for some give and take and will tell her that she can watch Skins on Thursday. She got her report card yesterday which was a pleasant surprise (only 3 teachers complained of excessive chatting in comparison to last year when they all did), so I'll wrap this up as a reward for that.
Thanks for the advice everyone.

Some good advice a friend gave me was "dont sweat the small stuff" At 16 I'd let her watch it...There are worse things that she could be doing (had my daughter picked up by police last week and friend who gave me this advice has a drug addict daughter).

I've watched a couple of series of Skins with my mid-teens. Some of the content is stuff you wouldn't want your own kids doing, but it's really good for interesting conversations with your kids. Some of it seems to be unrealistic, and some stuff spot-on.

And really, most kids of her age are watching these series. Absolutely everyone at our local school aged 14-15+ watched The Inbetweeners, it seems.

Not seen Shameless. I banned Skins after seeing the episode where, at a party, a boy injects heroin into the sister of a boy who had offended him in some way. Whilst she is comatose, he demands the boy rape his own sister or be severely punished (beaten up? shopped to police. Can't remember). I couldn't bear to watch the rest and should have written a letter of complaint in hindsight. To anyone saying Skins portrays nothing that teens don't do all ready, bollocks. Skins takes things to excess imo and helps to glamourise dangerous and tragic behaviour.

The Inbetweeners is funny but v embarrassing to watch with a teenager!

BTW DD was 17 when I banned it! DS was 14 and not allowed to watch it anyway.

I wouldn't have a problem , I was watching Skins at 16,

I would honestly prefer my 14 year old DD to watch any of these programmes (except perhaps Skins) rather than all that American dross like One Tree Hill.

Well, she watched it last night. I think she was quite shocked that I agreed. She proclaimed at the end that it was 'amazing'. I never watched, I can't bear teenagers on the telly at the best of times.
Should I expect her to come home from school today, pregnant and with a hypodermic hanging out of her arm then?

I wouldn't let DS1 watch Skins until he was 16. I think Skins glamourises the worst excesses of teenage life, and also normalises risky behaviour like drug taking, drinking to excess, and casual sex.

DS1 said his life is more Inbetweeners than Skins anyway. And I'm happy for it to be that way.

my 17 yo watches it - tbh, until last night i had never seen it - there was a gun, lots of bulying issues, gender issues - in fact it was quite interesting

I thought last night's was brilliant. I would definitely let my hypothetical 15/16 year old watch it. The characters are brilliant and diverse, the writing is great, and - while there is a lot of drugs/sex in it - I find it so much more nuanced, realistic, and sympathetic to real teenage life than glamorous US series.

I would quite happily let a 15/16 year old watch any of these programmes

my 15yo, yr 10 dd watches all these

Had an interesting conversation with a few of my students today (19-21 age range) about Skins/Inbetweeners etc. There was a concensus that Skins was less 'smutty' than Inbetweeners. Is this true? The girls seemed to think Inbetweeners was more or less entirely based on jokes about sex/genitals etc and contained scenes (albeit non-graphic) of schoolgirls giving schoolboys blowjobs? Really?
The boys appeared to find it (Inbetweeners) funnier than the girls, who all preferred Skins as they said it was more of a drama with a good storyline. I suppose girls of this age range might want to disassociate themselves from something which seems juvenile though.
I'm going to make a point of watching a few episodes, I'm quite intrigued now.
Thanks for everyone's input, it's been really valuable.