Skins returns to E4 for a fifth series in January, following a brand new set of Bristol teenagers, including Laya Lewis as Liv Malone.

Liv is Mini’s best friend, but the truth is they couldn’t be more different. Liv is wild, passionate, effortlessly sexy and impulsive. When Mini’s controlling nature begins to push Liv to breaking point, Liv pushes back hard. She commits the worst crime one girl can visit on another, and all hell breaks loose.

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Tell us about your character?

“On first impressions she is the cool one of the group, she is very much laid back. Liv doesn’t really care about anything, she just wants to have fun. She’s that funny comment in the awkward situation. Under all that she has a lot of substance to her and her coolness is just a face. The truth is that she is trying as much as the rest of the group to be something else. She’s got balls but she really wants to be this strong person who doesn’t allow herself to be hurt by others. I think Liv just wants to be loved.”

What do you enjoy about playing her?

“Liv is the hardest character to play in the group, she isn’t the bitch, she isn’t the vulnerable one or the funny one, she is normal. She can’t be described as anything else but a normal 16 year old girl living in Bristol. A lot of the things Liv feels is similar to myself at 16, as soon as I read the script, I knew her. She is just the normal girl next door kind of character which I love playing.”

Can you see some similarities between you and your character?

“Loads! I’m a very fun person. I like going out and having a laugh, I’m similar in that sense but I also share her insecurities. I think all of us share something with our characters as there is a fine line between teenagers playing teenagers, there is always something similar. Her style is similar as Liv wears all these clashing patterns and colours which is very much my kind of style too.”

What has been the most embarrassing moment on set?

“Oh all the sex scenes, Liv seems to have so many! She is clearly the promiscuous one! I think one of her adventures is possibly the most full on sex scenes we have ever had on Skins!”

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

“I think it has to be the last scene of my episode. We are down on Millennium Square in Bristol, it was a beautiful summer evening, the sun was just setting and we wrapped after a really intense day. I was so happy, the day had gone well and the whole setting was just so nice. The director took me to a side and we both just couldn’t speak but we both knew what each other were feeling, it was just a sweet moment.”

Tell us something about you…

“I love John Hughes movies, Weird Science, Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles but I also like all those ‘80s teen movies, you just can’t match them and I would say that this series has some similarities and feel to those movies, the fun, the jokes but also that drama that remind me of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Pretty In Pink and a touch of Desperately Seeking Susan.”

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