This week’s episode of Skins focuses on metalhead Rich Hardbeck, as he finds himself forced into pairing up with Grace to learn how to chat up girls. CultBox caught up with actor Alexander Arnold to find out more…

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Can you tell us a bit about Rich?

“Rich is very arrogant, he’s quite self-absorbed, but at his core he’s good-hearted. He just needs some time to decide what he wants. He pours all of his intensity into his music. It’s great to play a character who has a lot to talk about.”

Did you base your portrayal of Rich on anyone you know in real life?

“Not specifically, but a really good friend of mine is into metal music. He was a bit of a reference point. And Jamie [Brittain, the show’s co-creator] gave me some things I should listen to.

“The thing is, I can be quite a snob myself with film and music and stuff, so it felt like I just needed to look into myself and see which parts of me were like this character. I like to think I’m a bit more cheery and more understanding than Rich, when it comes to other people’s dilemmas.

“The hair is a wig, because I only had three weeks prior to filming, and there’s the boots as well, which helped me develop a walk. The thing is not to stereotype, but I’ve seen this one person who walked in a certain peculiar way. Also, the wig gives me a sort of peripheral vision, so you end up with your head quite down. That all helps a lot.”

Episode 2 is Rich’s story and it almost entirely involves just you, Jessica Sula (Grace) and Will Merrick (Alo) – what was it like filming the episode?

“I’d met Jess and Will at the open auditions, so we’d all come a long way together. With Will, our friendship was quite organic. We were in the finals together during auditions, because Will originally went to the part of Rich, then they decided to let him read for Alo. So our friendship just felt really natural, it wasn’t forced. We just bounce off each other quite well. And Jess, she’s just a fantastic girl; she’s a really lovely, bubbly girl. She’s a brilliant actress, she’s really cute and does Grace so well.”

Do Rich and Alo continue to have lots of scenes together throughout series?

“I think they’ll always be great friends, yeah. We didn’t really have a back-story, so we just sort of made it up, but we liked to imagine that they’d had quite a long friendship, in a bromantical sort of way for quite a while. Bromantical? I think I’m just making up words now

“But no, I don’t think their friendship will ever really end. There’s points where it might get cut off a little bit, which is really interesting – it’s like, how’s Alo going to survive on his own and how’s Rich going to survive on his own? I don’t want to give too much away!”

Have you been recognised much yet?

“No, actually! I’m just out of school for a second and I passed some people just now who said “hello”, which is a bit strange! But it’s been quite good actually, I think the wig really helps me out. It’s just been normal school. You never know, there are quite a few Skins fans who are really hardcore fans, but it’s just flattering really. But I really don’t think anyone’s going to recognise me!”

Can you give us any hints about what the rest of Series 5 holds for Rich?

“The pivotal bits for Rich’s character are in the second episode, but when we get to Episode 7, which is Grace’s episode, there’s a lot that happens there. Sorry, I’m trying so hard to not give anything away!

“I think the character of Rich is really tested on the strength of his relationship with Grace. I don’t want to spoil it, but this great bond that they have does get very tested.

“Rich needs to learn to accept other people too. Initially, he doesn’t like Mini, he just considers her as the classic Barbie, and Nick’s just the action man!”

With the previous generations of Skins, their second year has been notably darker than their first year – is this pattern likely to continue?

“There’s definitely dark waters in this series, but it’s probably the lightest series that Skins have offered really. The double-act with Rich and Alo offers a lot of humour, but it’s still quite dark in places.

“I mean, if you look at Series 1 of Skins, there’s that episode where Tony has to go and find Effy which I think people forget about. This series is definitely not as dark as last year though.”

Have you seen any of the new US remake of Skins?

“I haven’t, no, I’d really like to though. It’s interesting us all starting out at the same time.”

What’s your view on all the controversy in America about the US show’s sex, drugs and alcohol references?

“Bryan [Elsley] is a really great producer and I think he definitely knows what he’s doing. It’s always been a controversial show. I think maybe just the American audiences are bit touchier on some issues than we are over here, but I like to imagine they’re going to do really well over there.”

Kelly Brook is guest starring as a fitness instructor in next week’s episode – if you could pick anyone to share a scene with yourself in the show, who would you choose?

“My favourite actor is Philip Seymour Hoffman, that’d be a pretty big “woah”! I’d love to see him work. He’s so good in all his films, but I think that’s a bit of a dream!

“I watched Mike Leigh’s film Naked the other night and it had David Thewlis, who’s done the Harry Potter saga – he’s a fantastic actor as well.”

When do you begin work on Series 6?

“I think we’re going to be filming in June. Jamie told me that the writers have started on it and they’re all getting back together, so they’re plotting away. I’m really excited to find out what happens next with the characters!”

Skins is currently airing at 10pm on Thursdays on E4.