The Dawson Bros claim the series represents the everyday lives of adolescents: Skins revolves around the lives of a group of 16–19 year-old friends who live in Bristol and attend the fictional Roundview Sixth Form College. Each episode has a self-contained theme and focuses on a different character, although several story arcs span different episodes. Accompanying the episode title at the beginning of each episode is a short montage of that episode's central character. The show's co-creator Bryan Elsley said that as Series 2 ends with the cast going off to university, it will not be possible to keep on following them in the future, and the show will operate in two year arcs with new casts. The first generation of Skins comprises Series 1 and 2. The main characters include: a popular, but manipulative boy (Tony), his mysterious and powerful sister (Effy), a Muslim boy (Anwar), an openly gay boy (Maxxie), an overbearing and talented clarinet player (Jal), a party animal with family problems (Chris), a pushover (Sid) who is in love with his best friend's girlfriend, a girl who is worried her boyfriend is only using her (Michelle), a mentally unstable girl with an eating disorder (Cassie) and a girl who has a strong infatuation with her gay neighbour (Sketch). Series 1 introduces (most) of the first cycle's main characters, Episode One, (Tony) is more of an ensemble piece, which introduces the characters and the format. Episodes 2 (Cassie), 3 (Jal), 4 (Chris), 5 (Sid) and 7 (Michelle) focus on specific characters, whereas Episodes 6 (Maxxie and Anwar) and 9 The Series Finale focus on multiple characters whose stories are interlinked. Each episode starts with the eyes of the main character (this is not carried through to series 2). Episode eight "Effy" focuses less on its namesake, and more on the central characters' search for her and is an ensemble piece like the pilot. The series finishes with the main cast singing Wild World. The second series began on 11 February 2008, however it was made available in four instalments to MySpace users prior to airing. This series' guest stars included Bill Bailey, Harry Enfield, Shane Richie, Sean Pertwee, Geoffrey Hughes, Mark Heap, John Thomson, Fiona Allen, Peter Capaldi, Josie Lawrence, Arabella Weir, Josie Long, Mark Monero, Kevin Eldon and Jan Ravens. The series is set six months after the conclusion of the first. Tony is alive after being hit by a bus, but he is now severely impaired. The first episode focused on Maxxie and Tony and features comedian Bill Bailey as Maxxie's father. In Episode 2 Shane Richie starred as a college drama lecturer named Bruce. The second episode also introduced a new character known as Sketch, who has been stalking Maxxie. In Episode 3 the series featured its first death, with Sid's father being unexpectedly killed off. Episode 4 was set on a camping trip to Wales where Sid and Michelle end up sleeping together (leading to a short lived relationship). Also Cassie returns from Scotland. In Episode 5 Jal finds out she is pregnant with Chris's baby. Episode 6 sees Tony visit the University of Exeter where he meets a strange, (possibly imaginary) girl. Episode 7 resolves many of the teens' relationship problems, as Sid reconciles with Cassie, Tony with Michelle. Episode 8 was written by Daniel Kaluuya (who plays "Posh" Kenneth) in this episode Jal continued to do battle with her conscience over her pregnancy, while Chris was rushed to hospital with a blood clot in his brain. In Episode 9, Chris has discharged himself from hospital and seems well. Cassie attends her exams, but later Chris has another brain haemorrhage and dies in Cassie's arms. Cassie simply packs her bags and runs, ending up in New York. In Episode 10 Chris's father turns up at Sid's house and explains how he does not want any of Chris' friends at his funeral. Upon hearing this Sid and Tony decide to steal Chris's coffin, but Jal finds out and forces them to return it before the funeral. In the same episode during the evening the central characters sit around a campfire and read out each others' results. Everyone gets the grades they need apart from Anwar who spontaneously heads off to London with Maxxie and his boyfriend, James, leaving Sketch behind in tears. Tony buys Sid a ticket to New York without him knowing and he leaves to go and find Cassie. Finally Tony and Michelle talk things through and decide they were 'better than' a good couple. They intended to leave for Cardiff University and University of York respectively. The last scenes are of Sid looking for Cassie in New York, passing by the cafe she is working in, followed by a shot of Effy under Tony's bed cover where she smiles and raises her eyebrows. By looking directly at the camera, she is once again breaking the infamous fourth wall. This shot is also the same shot used as the opening shot of the pilot with Tony.