"There wasn't anyone checking if we were OK": Kaya Scodelario calls out lack of safeguarding as a teen on the sets of Skins

British actress Kaya Scodelario reflected on her time as a young star in the teenage series Skins during an interview with the Dish podcast on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. The actress spoke about how she and her castmates did not feel safe on the filming sets.

“Back then there wasn’t the same amount of safeguarding with young actors, there wasn’t anyone checking if we were OK,” Kaya said.

Kaya Scodelario played the rebellious teenager Effy Stonem in the cult classic British television series Skins. The show also starred Nicholas Hoult, Dev Patel, and Daniel Kaluuya, apart from Kaya.

The show followed the lives of British students who were studying at a Bristol sixth form for two years. Created by Bryan Elsey and Jamie Brittain, Skins shows youngsters getting intoxicated, consuming substances, and battling mental health struggles. The show was immensely controversial due to its exaggerated portrayal of teenage lifestyles.

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Kaya Scodelario calls Dish podcast host a "safe place" for Skins' actors

Kaya Scodelario was 14 years old when she was filming the show Skins. She played the role of Effy, a rebellious teen. Following that, Kaya has appeared in multiple films including The King’s Daughter, The Maze Runner, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Extremely Wicked, and most recently, The Gentlemen.

She was interviewed by Nick Grimshaw on his Dish podcast. Kaya and the rest of the cast of Skins first met Nick in the early 2000s and she thanked him for being kind to her and her cast mates. Noting that there was no one checking on the actors, Kaya said that the cast didn't have the same kind of "safeguarding" for them.

“You really encapsulate that time for me and it’s such a pleasure to see you still thriving and still doing well. It’s true, I really adore that..."

She went on to tell Nick how his support meant a lot to the rest of the cast, many of whom were teenagers like her.

"You were like a safe place for us. Whenever we worked with you, you were always kind and gentle and lovely,” Kaya said.

This is not the first time the 32-year-old actress has raised awareness of her concerns while shooting Skins. In a 2022 TikTok video, Kaya Scodelario said that she was alarmed after watching Sam Levinson's Euphoria.

“Watching Euphoria for the first time thinking this is scary for 17-year-olds then remembering what I was doing on TV at 14… Will always be grateful. But yeah safeguarding really wasn’t a thing back then,” Kaya Scodelario said on TikTok.

The American drama follows Rue Bennett (played by Zendaya) and her struggles with battling drug addiction. It has received criticism for its mature content, which includes excessive s*xualization and nudity.

On TikTok, Kaya Scodelario also replied to a fan who asked her whether filming Skins took a toll on her mental health. The actress stated that the time spent shooting the series caused "deep-rooted issues" that she battled with for several years.

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Skins stars Laya Lewis and April Pearson share alleged mistreatment on filming set

Skins actors Laya Lewis and April Pearson have also opened up about allegedly being ill-treated on the show’s sets. The actors recalled how there were no intimacy coordinators on set, which is now a standard practice in filming areas to ensure that actors feel safe while shooting adult scenes.

"My first day was a s*x scene. I do think like, it’s fair enough, we’re actors, we’re acting. But I do think if you want to pluck children out of the street... I think there needs to be just a bit more[support]" Lewis said.

Lewis also alleged that her superiors urged her to “skip meals” ahead of certain shoots.

The Skins producers had not publicly responded to either of the allegations at the time of writing this article.