Emily (Skins)

Lore & Background

The episode was filmed in September 2009. In the plot, Emily and Naomi spend time together, and Naomi gifts Emily a pair of goggles. They visit the Fitch house, where Emily's mother insists on a conversation about Emily's future. At Roundview College, police interview Emily and Naomi because Sophia's family listed them as close friends. Emily discovers that Naomi was dealing MDMA with Cook the night of the suicide and used the money to buy the goggles. Emily secretly visits Sophia's family and learns Sophia was gay and referred to them as her best friends. She takes a wooden box and a university prospectus with a key inside, finding photos of Naomi and Sophia that make her suspect cheating. Naomi admits meeting Sophia at a University Open Day but insists nothing happened. They open Sophia's locker at an army base and find a shrine to Naomi, discovering Sophia was infatuated with her. They reconcile and have sex in a storage closet. Later, Emily moves out after a falling out with her mother and moves in with Naomi. At a party, Emily becomes suspicious after seeing Naomi talking to other girls. The next morning, Emily meets Sophia's brother Matt at the club where Sophia died. They open the wooden box and find a sketchbook containing drawings depicting a one-day affair with Naomi. A distraught Emily leaves, and Naomi pleads for forgiveness. Emily returns home and tearfully tells her father that Naomi cheated on her. He consoles her and confesses he once cheated on Jenna. Emily goes back to Naomi's house, reading a note on the front door saying 'I'll do anything' before entering.

Reader's Guide

The episode 'Emily' is significant for its exploration of the aftermath of a romantic relationship reaching a crisis point. Writer Ed Hime wanted to write about the dark side of the couple Naomily, asking what happens after you've got the girl and walked off into the sunset. He cast Emily as the intrepid detective, citing her purity, intelligence, bravery, and tenacity as traits that make a great private eye. The episode used an illustrator, Lydia Starkey, to tell the story of Naomi's affair through Sophia's sketchbook, stylizing her visual language to suit Sophia's character and emotional situation. According to early reports, the episode drew 962,000 viewers, and the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board reported it was E4's 2nd most watched show of the week with 1,025,000 viewers. The episode maintains strong ratings from the previous week and is a key installment in the series' fourth series.

Did You Know?

• The episode was written by Ed Hime and directed by Philippa Langdale.
• Lily Loveless and Kathryn Prescott have hinted in interviews that series 4 was about their characters 'being a fully fledged couple'.
• Director Philippa Langdale told Loveless and Prescott to not look into the locker containing Sophia's shrine to Naomi before filming to get the full effect of being 'properly weirded out' on the first take.
• Ed Hime commented that during the airing of series 3, he wanted to write for Emily and then watched Naomily become a bona-fide phenomenon.

Position Within the Series Landscape

Emily exists as a character within Skins, a British teen drama that ran for seven consecutive series between 2007 and 2013. The show's episodic structure meant that characters like Emily were woven into a multi-year narrative arc, with each annual series representing a distinct chapter in the broader story. The seven-series span gave the production a long runway for character development, and Emily's presence was situated within whichever series featured her. As a British production, the show was grounded in a specific cultural context of young adult storytelling, and its format as a teen drama placed character-driven narrative at the centre of its identity. Each episode served as the primary vehicle for advancing storylines, and Emily's arc would have been developed within this episodic framework, contributing to the layered ensemble that defined the show across its seven-year run on British television.

Supplementary Storytelling and Video Diaries

The Skins franchise extended its narrative beyond the main broadcast episodes through a range of supplementary online content. Character video diaries were created to accompany the series, offering additional perspective tied to specific characters. For Series 1, known as Generation 1, these diaries provided extra context alongside the main episodes. By Series 3, the video diaries had evolved to functionally replace the earlier Unseen Skins format, with a new diary posted on the E4 website following each episode's broadcast, often relating directly to the events of that particular episode. For a character like Emily, these diaries would have offered a more intimate, first-person window into her experiences. The Lost Weeks videos, aired exclusively on E4.com, similarly filled the narrative gap between Series 1 and Series 2, explaining what had happened to characters during that interval and ensuring continuity for returning viewers.

Broadcast and Digital Distribution

Skins was broadcast on E4 and also made available through Channel 4, with supplementary content distributed through E4's dedicated website. This dual broadcast and digital presence shaped how audiences engaged with the show and its characters over its seven-series run. The character video diaries and Lost Weeks episodes were made available online, creating a layered viewing experience where the main television episodes were complemented by web-exclusive material. For a character like Emily, this meant her story was not confined to a single broadcast slot but could be explored through multiple digital touchpoints. The show's presence on both E4 and Channel 4, along with its listing on IMDb, indicates a broad distribution footprint. The online diaries, posted after each episode aired, created a sense of ongoing engagement, inviting viewers to return to the E4 website for additional character content that extended the narrative well beyond the standard episode format.

Seven Series of Continuity and Structure

The seven-series run of Skins, spanning from 2007 to 2013, created a substantial body of episodic content within which Emily's story was situated. Each series, numbered one through seven, represented a distinct annual installment, giving the show a long and steady cadence for character development. The transition between Series 1 and Series 2 was bridged by the Lost Weeks videos, which explained what had happened to characters during the gap, ensuring narrative continuity for viewers returning after the break. This structural choice meant that even characters like Emily, whose screen time might vary from episode to episode, could maintain a coherent arc across the series. The show's format as a British teen drama with a clear annual rhythm meant that Emily's storylines were developed within the constraints and possibilities of this episodic structure, with each year's series offering new narrative territory while preserving the show's overall identity and audience expectations.

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