Skins returns to E4 for a fifth series in January, following a brand new set of Bristol teenagers, including Alexander Arnold as Rich Hardbeck.

Rich knows everything, and everything he knows, he learnt from Slayer. A true metalhead, he lives only for his music. Everything else is bullshit and he never compromises. Then he falls in love and is forced to deal with a world, which for the first time, is bigger than riffs, bass and drums.

> Order the Series 5 DVD on Amazon.

Tell us about your character?

“The way I see Rich is that he is clearly an outpost for a zero compromise attitude. He’s a teenager escaping this very lower-middle class family he’s grown up in. He grown up in a place where all the houses along his road look the same, and he feels that his parents should be called by their first names. To Rich no-one is at all approachable if they haven’t even heard of Slayer. Slayer equals God; or rather the Devil and a little bit more, to Rich.

“Although perhaps Rich’s very distinguishable attire may be seen as a barrier to others, the thudding boots and extensive hair sometimes hide his sensitivity. He’s a character who experiences things well within the moment who will rightly so say what he thinks and feel there and then. You can imagine Rich sailing off on a tour bus with a metal band, riding off the end of a guitar riff.”

Can you see some similarities between you and your character?

“Like Rich, I’m probably quite a music and film snob myself so with those passions I found I could easily translate them into the role I was playing. Rich has this thing that i think some of us would admire – He never holds back on what he wants to say, especially in regards to the things he loves or the people he loves, I’d like to think that I’m like that!

“However, Rich is probably a more forceful then I am. Rich really relies on his sense of humour to isolate others and although I try not to isolate anyone, you would probably find me having a bit too much of a laugh for applause.”

If you could play someone else in the cast who would it be and why?

“Alo or Matty. I want to know who Matty is, he’s the mysterious one so I want know what he is all about. Alo is a very fun loving and optimistic character, he would be fun to play because he is the total opposite to Rich. The pair have this glass half full, half empty thing going on and i think it would be interesting to play the complete opposite side to Rich.”

What is the one memory that you will take away from filming?

“The first day was fun, we were all put straight in there and you are never told about things like where the extras go and how they move around. So it was fun to see the technical side to film which I’ve never experienced before.”

Tell us something about you….

“I like movies by Paul Thomas Anderson, Boogie Nights, Magnolia but also films like Buffalo 66, Talk to Her, Heat and Philip Seymour Hoffman movies. Music, I like The National, Bob Dylan, Pavement, Broken Social Scene, The Velvet Underground. My music taste is very different from Rich but since getting the part I have got into some of his stuff. I’ve got into Mastodon and the Cancer Bats.”

Skins returns at 10pm on Thursday 27th January 2011 on E4.