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Given the obsession most young British kids have with the national sport, it is surprising that more programs like this don't exist. The BBC have certainly gone all out here, securing cameos by the likes of Carl Froch and Steven Gerrard and giving the show more mainstream advertising than perhaps any CBBC show has had before.

The premise is fairly simple - hot headed football mad young boy from a broken home learns about the trials and tribulations of life and growing up while playing for his school team. This does mean a lot of this is pretty contrived, with social plots dominating the first season and in the second the usual moral parables about 'getting too big for your boots but coming out of it stronger with more humility'. As you can imagine, many 'lessons are learned' and most story lines seem to exist for this purpose only, so the lead character can search within himself and become a better person.

The kid playing Jamie is merely adequate - he does a good line in looking sulky but is pretty wooden and monotone when delivering his lines, and not in a practised 'apathetic teenager' sort of way. He isn't helped by being handed some truly dreadful lines that an eight year old could have written - "no one bad mouths my Granddad and gets away with it" is one that springs to mind but is far from the worst. Some of the adult actors are appalling as well - whoever plays footballer "Theo Baines" manages to put in one of the most woeful performances you could hope to see, and he's only on the screen for about two minutes!

The supporting cast are a bit better, with the two antagonist bully types being well acted and believable, if utterly one dimensional - although there were signs that might change during the second season, with them becoming characters in their own right rather than nasty plot devices to put hurdles in front of the hero. Jamie's friends are reasonable enough, although his closeness with the ginger nerdy kid (who is of course unrealistically kitted out in NHS glasses and only here for 'laugh at the socially awkward geek' comedy relief) stretches the credulity of the viewer a bit too far. Not sure you will find many posh, awkward, chess enthusiast swots hanging out with angry, working class kids on the football team in most schools.

There are definitely some positive things to be said about this. It is certainly as well meaning as you might expect from the militantly left wing BBC, and in a way that doesn't feel too corny or weigh the story down. The setting and subject matter are refreshing, and the quality of filming is excellent, even if they do get bogged down by the usual football movie clichés - slow motion, zooming in, internal monologues, cheap ways of amping up tension etc. It manages to highlight issues like absent fatherhood, anger management and jealousy in a way that most idealistically sunshine filled kids television does not. It even manages to be genuinely humorous at times, especially with the character of Indira, played with a lot of spark by the promising Millie Gibbons.

On the whole, though, it just feels too predictable and wooden at times for me to rate it really highly. I have a feeling this will be most enjoyable for kids aged 5 to 11 - which I'm not sure was the target audience. Older kids will cringe at parts and see through the average script and acting, and the lack of any really engrossing, exciting story lines - this is 2017 and they have anything they want at their fingertips, usually things with more edge and creativity than this.

On a sidenote, you can be almost certain that the soundtrack was put together by a white guy in his early 30s - football matches are soundtracked by the new Radiohead album, and just about every song used on the program (and there are a lot) is by a UK indie/rock band from 1995 to 2010. Not exactly reflective of what estate kids are listening to these days, but hey ho, it seems to work pretty well.

This was a major disappointment compared to the novel and original film. Like most modern period dramas, it is style over substance, with stunning photography masking a misguided script and some unconvincing acting.

The earlier 1971 movie was a flawless adaptation, with Harold Pinter's script tending to say less with more, upping the tension with the slow, languid pace reflecting the heat of the summer and limited, meaningful dialog. Here, unnecessary lines are inserted as will, many not even in the novel, such as Leo's embarrassment about his old and ragged summer clothes after Marian accuses him of lying – this is just a cheap way of garnering sympathy for the boy, and not reflective of the times it was set. Such things would have been left unsaid. It is the same through the program; everything needs to be spelt out, rather than leaving it to the actors to subtly convey.

There are poor minor plot additions such as Ted seeming defensive about being poor – certainly not true to the book, and a far cry from Alan Bates and his worldly self confidence. Here he attempts to be brooding and moody, as oppose to charismatic and cheery but with a fiery temper, and it makes him far less likable and far less obvious why Marian would risk everything for him. Mariam herself is only passably acted, with Julie Christie an impossible act to follow. Marian's father being away is another pointless adjustment, and the production misses his steady, world weary presence, especially in the smoking room scene that was so integral to the first film. Trimmingham also loses some of his aristocratic dignity and military bearing, and the writer inexplicably takes away his fantastic line that gives him such honour and pathos: "Nothing is ever a ladies fault, Leo".

Leo himself puts in a fairly lifeless, strangely camp performance, with a certain charm combined with adolescent awkwardness which is very different from the more honest, believable performance in the film. Less attention paid to the central theme of oppressive heat, the film seems to move much quicker and out of sequence. It's also more outwardly emotional, compared to the stoicism of the film and novel, where passions are repressed and below the surface. The vital moments here are filled with shrieks and histrionics. The final meeting is too warm and pleasant – it should have that edge of regret, memory, pain and nostalgia mixed together, the dialog has been watered down, the hint of bitterness discarded.

Unfortunately it suffers greatly by comparison, because taken by itself it is a very solid, beautifully shot production. The filming is breathtaking, with so many lovely touches including the reflection in the water scene and that wonderful final shot of older Leo against the hall and endless lawn. For people who haven't seen the original or read the book this may seem a far better film that the one I have described.

Despite some scathing criticism and a reductionist advert campaign that focused disproportionately on the rebellious, edgy elements of the show, Skins produced some remarkable television. The first generation especially were moving, funny, intriguing personalities and the writing was superb.

Season 1, structured mainly around the bored, semi-sociopathic narcissism of Tony and the nihilistic emotional turmoil of Cassie had heart, humour and amazing chemistry between all the leads. You cared about every character, episodes were structured fantastically and work as individual pieces as well as fitting the whole. Despite the much derided parting and drug taking, the season actually felt extremely realistic in everything from the dialogue to the wardrobe to the moral ambiguity to the parents, who are probably the most well drawn adult characters in the entire history of teen television. They are three dimensional and interesting, not merely stereotypes. Their comedy is natural and unforced. The pilot is as good an example of a lead television episode as you will find, perfectly introducing the cast, maintaining forward motion and a satisfying ending.

Season 2 is almost as good, darker and pervaded with melancholy as the cast start to grow up and lose their dreams. Hannah Murray and Joe Dempsey put in career defining performances, full of pathos and humanity. Criticisms? The Sketch storyline divided viewers, being well executed but badly conceived, and the NYC storyline was preemptive of future seasons in its lack of believability although was beautifully shot with the usual superb photography that underpinned this show. The final episode is very poignant.

Season 3 drops off a little but still surpassed expectations after the cast completely. The characters are still well drawn and memorable, the acting is solid, the music and cinematography continue to excel, the writing still concise and focused. The excellent Naomi/Emily plot got a huge online following. Jack O'Connell is sensational as Cook, a role that could slip easily into embarrassing parody but is instead absolutely riveting. The biggest drawback is the complete lack of chemistry between Freddie & Effy, undermining the love triangle storyline that the season fixates on - they are portrayed as deeply in love despite never having a meaningful exchange. Their scenes together are awkward and unnatural. The adult characters also become two dimensional, depicted as being out of touch and mainly used for badly written attempts at comedy.

Season 4 sees a massive drop off in quality and is almost uniformly awful in terms of storyline and writing. The enhanced focus on Thomas is a negative - by far the most ridiculous character ever drawn on the show. The immigrant from a tiny, impoverished village in Congo who speaks perfect, eloquent English, portrayed as a perfect character without flaws. He nurses his little brother, fights off a local gangster with his wit and charm, forgives his girlfriend for cheating, makes a stand against underage drinking, gives girls his coat and shoes in freezing cold weather, is devoted to his family, reacting with serenity when goaded, and absurdly gets an instant athletic scholarship to Harvard despite having never ran before. His plot lines have no life because he doesn't ring true, even if the efforts to counter negative stereotypes of immigrants were noble if a little patronizing.

This is unfortunately symptomatic of a season that completely sheds any semblance of believability. Edgy shots of drug abuse are inserted for shock value, with one character taking ecstasy, cocaine and cannabis in one sitting before cycling to college, with no explanation as to how he would pay for them, or why he would mix such different drugs other than that they needed a 'cool' looking montage of him snorting powder to show how deep, sad and lost he was. Lazy. The adult characters deteriorate further, becoming caricatures with the usual stock stereotypes of buffoonish headmasters and smug evil teachers expelling pupils, and an obsessive, murdering psychotherapist who is meant to make the show seem dark and haunting but succeeds in making it a ludicrous laughing stock. The JJ episode is the only saving grace, sweet and warm and cutting out the story arcs of the season to work as a lovely standalone piece.

In Seasons 5 and 6 the writers vowed to 'bring back the lighter side' of the show. In practice this meant ripping off Mean Girls and especially The Inbetweeners, a show that had rocketed in popularity and prompted a backlash against Skins which was held to be an unrealistic portrayal of teen life next to the embarrassment and social awkwardness of The Inbetweeners. The cast were solid but unremarkable, and not helped by being given hipster makeovers making the show even less relateable to your normal teenager. The dialogue and clothes and plots were not a felt false; the collapse of ratings came as no surprise. More deaths were inserted for no other reason than easy drama and cheap tragedy to give the characters a reason to be angsty and enjoy those lonely, brooding close ups of them that had descended into self parody.

Season 7 just served to tarnish memories. The lack of creativity in the writing is seen by more pointless, unrealistic deaths and dreadful dialogue ("Fetch me a towel, jewboy" a Muslim chef says to his Jewish assistant...). Shabby, poorly thought out plot lines include a girl going from admin assistant to top trader at a London stockbroker in a couple of weeks. Visually the show continued to excel but the episodes were incredibly disappointing.

For all that, the first two series captured lighting in a bottle with a truly special cast coming together to create memorable, groundbreaking television that maintains a huge cult following still on Tumblr. It is no surprise that so many of the actors have become huge worldwide names. The writing, photography and characterization were all stunning and Season 1 especially is an inch perfect time capsule for being seventeen and at college in the UK in 2006/2007. Stick to the early stuff.