In My Skin: What You Need to Know About the New Hulu Series

A part of its week-long "British Binge-Cation" of full-season drops, Hulu is dropping another promising British import on its service Thursday with In My Skin. Airing this spring in the U.K., the BBC original series earned serious praise for its darkly comic tone and refreshing emotional frankness. As In My Skin makes its U.S. debut, it has the potential to become the same kind of surprise international hit. With that in mind, here's what you need to know about the series:

What is In My Skin? The series is a darkly comic British coming-of-age story (in the U.K., they call the genre "transitioning") focusing on a 16-year-old Welsh girl named Bethan, detailing her struggles to keep her difficult home life secret from her schoolmates. The show follows Bethan as she does her best to navigate the difficult, anxiety-ridden terrain of high school, all while coming to terms with the reality of her own sexuality and the emotional difficulties of taking care of her mentally ill mother and alcoholic father.

Who Made It? In My Skin was created and written by Kayleigh Llewellyn, who was named one of BAFTA’s Breakthrough Brits in 2019. The entire series is directed by Lucy Forbes, whose previous directing work includes multiple episodes of the second season of The End of the F***ing World as well as episodes of Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe and the Comedy Central U.K. original series Bad Cramps. The series is produced by Expectation, the same company behind the David Schwimmer-led Intelligence, premiering stateside this summer on Peacock.

Who Is In It? Gabrielle Creevy, a relative newcomer to the industry, leads the show as Bethan, while actress Jo Hartley, who viewers may remember for her work as June in the Ricky Gervais Netflix series After Life, plays Bethan’s mother Katrina. Di Botcher (Casualty), Laura Checkley (King Gary), Richard Corgan (Nightshooters), Poppy Lee Friar (Ackley Bridge), and Rhodri Meilir (Pride) round out the cast.

Is It Based on a True Story? In My Skin is loosely based on the real-life experiences of its creator, Kayleigh Llewellyn. Much like the show’s lead character, Llewellyn grew up caring for a mother with bipolar disorder, and did her best to hide the truth of her home life from her schoolmates, fearing she would be ostracized if anyone found out.

How Has It Been Received in the U.K.? The show’s pilot episode premiered as a short film on BBC Wales in October 2018, and received widespread critical acclaim, winning Best Television Drama and Best Actress at the BAFTA Cymru awards the following year. The response to the short prompted the BBC to order a full series, which aired earlier this year on BBC Three and was met with similar acclaim.

How Many Episodes? The season is made up of five half-hour episodes.

Will There Be Another Season? As of now, there have been no announcements regarding a second season.

Tell Me More:

• Read about the creator Kayleigh Llewellyn's real-life experiences that inspired the series (BBC)
• Learn how Gabrielle Creevy prepared for her starring role (Express)
• Find out what the show’s creator hopes viewers take away from the series (DIVA)

In My Skin is scheduled to debut on Hulu Thurs July 30, 2020.

Alex Welch has written about television and film for TV by the Numbers, IGN, The Berrics, Paste Magazine, Screen Rant and GeekNation. Follow him on Twitter @alexrwelch.