Don't Let My Gran See

Skins star Dakota Blue Richards says her sex scenes in the new series are so raunchy she has banned her gran from watching. The 17-year-old actress – who plays troubled Franky Fitzgerald in the hit E4 teen drama – got away without appearing in any of the controversial show's trademark frisky scenes in her first series in January. But she gets four sex sessions in just one episode of the new run, which begins next month.

She says: "I did think I'd got off quite lightly in my first series, then this time I was quite excited that Franky got to be in a relationship and have some fun. But with the first sex scene I freaked out a bit. I thought I'd have a panic attack because I might do it wrong and I thought, 'What if it looks really bad?' I was scared it wouldn't look realistic. But everyone was so nice about it and laid back and after the first one it became quite fun. It is quite easy having a laugh doing it. Later I realised it was nothing to worry about."


But Dakota Blue says her gran won't see her character go through a huge sexual awakening. She says: "My family and friends haven't seen it yet. I told my nan she can't watch it. I don't ever want her to see it. She said, 'I don't really want to watch it anyway.' She said she'd watch the other episodes – but not mine. It's not just the sex in my episode that is quite explicit – there is a lot of violence as well in terms of what is going on emotionally. It gets quite dark towards the end and I don't really want Nan to see it."

Dakota Blue, who first came to prominence as a child star in the 2007 Hollywood movie The Golden Compass, is loving her time in the risqué Skins. She says: "A lot of people don't realise it was me in The Golden Compass as I have changed a lot – I have grown up. I'd like to think my acting has developed and changed since then too. But I love doing this. I love acting in really tense situations."

Each Skins cast makes only two series, with a question mark still hanging over whether the show will be back after the next series. But Dakota Blue is fine about leaving Franky behind and says: "I am looking forward to being able to go home and get some sleep and try to get my A-levels. I am doing them in January, then more in June but I have done very little work for them. I am hopefully going to get time to cram for them over the holiday."