Skin's Freddie Talks To FemaleFirst

5 March 2009

Luke Pasqualino plays Freddie in Skins

Skins has become something of a phenomenon over the past three years and with a new cast all settled in, this series has arguably been the best yet.

Sex, drugs and booze. Yes, this has all of that and more- throw in lots of nudity, some saucy S&M and lesbianism and you have all the ingredients for the guilty pleasure that is Skins.

However, it's with a certain apprehension that I sit down to chat to the lovely Luke Pasqualino, who plays the adorable Freddie on the show, as lets face it, he's pretty cute for a skateboarding pot head.

The whole of FemaleFirst have admittedly become very enamoured with the new male cast of the show, so interviewing the main man does cause a flurry of excitement around the office.

So, giggling like an adolescent schoolgirl, I caught up with the boy himself to chat about Skins, Hollywood ambitions and why he's supporting a new bullying campaign...

Hi, how are you?
I'm great thanks, how are you?

Oh, you know great! Well, not actually great but well.. (as I tail off into deafening silence, I manage to regain my composure to ask... So, what have you been up to recently?
Well, we've been doing lots of promotion for the show and the series, because obviously it's out on air now, so we want to keep its profile up and we're just doing marketing for the series and try and get everybody interested in it. Yeah, a lot of that really...

Are you really close to the Skins cast in real life?
Oh, we're brilliant friends, we're all from such tight knit families and a lot of the time you get people from different backgrounds and they've all got such different view points on life, and brought up completely differently, and you know you can't see them getting on, but we all get on like a house on fire.

Your pretty new to the whole fame thing, how are you coping with that?
Pretty good, you know it's nice when you get people coming up to you saying 'Can I have a photo or an autograph', it's a compliment I think. It's their way of saying 'I'm enjoying what you're doing' [FF: Do you get called Freddie a lot?] Yeah, I do! I was walking through Oxford Street the other day and a load of girls shouted 'Freddie!' at me and I just answer to the name Freddie now too.

Do you get a lot more female attention now you're famous?
Yea, erm...I think well, around 80% of the people who come up to you on the street who want an autograph are girls, so yeah... a fair bit! [FF: Have you had any unusual fan mail?] Not really no. I've had a couple of fan mail letters through the door and stuff, but everything's been really positive and really good and nice. Keep sending those bad boys through! (I laugh a little too much at this, before it heading to silent town again)

So...how did you get the role on Skins?
Well, my agent sent me to an open audition, so I went there and got there about 12 0'clock and had to wait about 4 and a half hours! It was just a general audition, to see if they could bring you back for a part, so I got called back and then the second audition I was always Freddie then till the end.

Have you done any acting work before this?
This is my first job under my agent, but I've done amateur theatre work and stuff as I was growing up, but no nothing to this scale!

Have you signed up to do another series yet?
Yeah, well I'm contracted for another series, hopefully if it all goes ahead and we get comissioned and hopefully it won't be a problem, can't see that it will be. [I can't keep my composure much longer and end up bursting out with... We can't either! It's so great the series, we love it!] yeah...well, we've had loads of positive feedback, people didn't quite like if after the first episode, but the proper critics rated it you know episode 3, 4 or 5.

Right, to the juicy stuff, can you give us the scoop on Freddie and Effy?
I can't do that can I? [FF: Yes, yes you can!] I can't do that, but there's a bit of a surprise, which is not a surprise you would expect, so watch JJ's episode and hopefully you will like it.

What has been your most embarrassing scene to film?
Erm, it was during the sex scene and we filmed the scene in a cold, dark wood. We kind of picked that up in the studio and put loads of leaves and stuff all over the floor and had to lay all over the floor, and the director, Charles Martin kind of put the camera about two inches away from my face and said 'Right, I need you to look as though you are really enjoying this. We need to see Freddie climaxing' [FF: I roll my eyes. That must have been so hard to act...] Oh, god yeah, but then he kind of came and said to me 'I actually just did that for my own enjoyment, and we're actually not going to use that shot' so, it was a bit odd! [FF: So, we're assuming you do get a bit friendly with Effy?] Well, you don't know who, but it's with someone!

How would you describe the relationship between Cook, Freddie and JJ?
Well, there's a fine line between friendly bullying and just banter, and you know like friendly bullying, it's still friendly, even though they making someone feel low and down, but banter is all in jest and everyone knows that.

Does JJ finally stand up to Cook in the upcoming episode?
He does, yeah JJ realises that Cook isn't the kind of person he wants be be associated either, like Freddie realises too. Good things happen in episode 7!

Has Dev's success in Slumdog Millionaire inspired you to aim for Hollywood one day?
Majorly, he's the talk of everywhere at the minute. He's done himself so proud and done Skins a great load of good, and a lot of people ask us the Dev Patel question and just to think that he came from no acting experience, did two series' of Skins and now he's in Hollywood, he's done an amazing film that has won a stupid amount of awards and you know he's already got a part in another film, so he's doing really well.

You're involved with the TxtUp, StandUp campaign, what exactly are you doing for them?
Well, as soon as I head about TxtUp StandUp I wanted to get involved, because everyone has their experiences of bullying whether they're a bully, they're being bullied or know someone who has been bullied, and I think it's something that we should as a community wherever you are, is try and crack down on it....so I wanted to get involved.

Have you been a victim of bullying in the past?
I have yeah, and it was quite stupid but when I was 12/13 I got bullied for having shiny shoes [FF: trying to stifle a giggle. You didn't?!] Yeah...swear to god! Just goes to show you that a bully will bully you for anything.

What advice would you give to those who are being picked on?
Sign up to TxtUp StandUp, or go on the website. It's brilliant and I think the beauty of it is that it's for young people, by young people. A lot of people are being bullied, or are in that bullying circle and are a bti afraid to speak to people like their parents or teachers or anyone, so I think TxtUp StandUp gives you great advice on how to handle bullies and what to do if you're being bullied too and it's free and anonymous and that's the beauty of it.