With its open portrayal of coming-of-age drug taking and sex, as well as tackling of more complex issues such as eating disorders and mental health, Skins became a cultural phenomenon overnight, its success and visibility driven in part by Spencer’s photography. “I was really pleased to see the pictures all over the UK on massive billboards,” he says. “My son is 27, his generation watched Skins, and my daughter who is now 19, her generation watched it, and I think follow generations will also take heed too, because it just discusses British youth culture, doesn’t it?”
But now nearly two decades after it first aired, among the glowsticks and Y2K sunglasses, the pictures capture a different era for young people and partying culture in general. Four years before the creation of Instagram, and a year before the introduction for the first-generation iPhone, there’s a nostalgia to the images that hark back to an era before ‘Get ready with me’ videos and post-event photo dumps.
“I think everyone’s too self-conscious and too self-aware nowadays – they’re in pain but they aren’t dealing with it,” Spencer says. “It’s tough being young, and it was tough for the kids who were in the garage pictures from the ’90s, tough for the kids in the grime scene, and tough for the kids in Skins. But nowadays people are very precious, and everything’s published in their lives, where before it wasn’t.
“It was unusual to have anything in your life published and discussed, and now everything’s published and discussed, and people are walking around as if anyone gives a shit,” he continues. “And really the point is no one gives a fuck.”
One Night in Watford by Ewen Spencer is published by Friend Editions.
Isaac Muk is Huck’s digital editor. Follow him on Bluesky.
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