Skins returns to E4 for a fifth series in January, following a brand new set of Bristol teenagers, including Sebastian De Souza as Matty.

Matty is a stranger who helps Franky do what she needs to do in her hour of need. But what he wants, where he comes from, who he is, no-one knows. Whether it’s light or dark that lies in his heart, no-one knows. He’s a mystery that will maybe never be solved. For some reason, people can’t help but try.

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Tell us about your character?

“Matty is a very enigmatic boy, he’s incredibly mysterious and seems to appear in this series out of nowhere. As a character within the group, his position is ambiguous and, initially, very confusing. He has a definite charisma but is very difficult to pigeonhole, he’s just one of those characters that could go either way. It seems to me that by the end of all this he could end up being Charlie Manson or he could end up being Jesus – who knows?”

What do you enjoy about playing him?

“Matty has been an enormous learning curve for me and I’ve enjoyed it all immensely. I think that might even be more common with him than any other character as he’s so multifaceted, so unreadable and so emotionally labyrinthine. That’s what I love about him though; he’s a never-ending supply of twists and turns. He’s been on lots of journeys and has got lots of stories to tell, I guess he’s done a lot, bad and good, I’m looking forward to finding out exactly what.”

What characteristics does your character bring to the group?

“It’s difficult to say. He’s there to bring a drama, a mystery – he’s there to bring answers to those questions that he provokes. I have to say though, I don’t think it’ll be until the next series that the mirror will properly be turned on him and we’ll find out exactly what he has the potential to give to this group of fiercely diverse characters.”

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

“Frankie or Alo. Frankie, to me, is the most interesting personality in this show. She’s a true artist; she’s one of these pure souls, one of these very unusual examples of a severe concentration of love, hate, light and darkness combined. She could smoke a joint then move a mountain, she could write a symphony then go and laugh and joke with her friends. She’s a free spirit and nothing is too big or too small, but at the same time, only very specific things matter to Frankie. Dakota plays her brilliantly.”

Tell us something about you…

“Well, I don’t really have a music taste. I’ll listen to anything, anything that’s written well and can take me somewhere far removed from where I am as soon as I put my headphones in. I don’t know a lot about Lady Gaga, I don’t know a lot about Cheryl Cole – I’m sure they’re brilliant though. Give me anything good and I’ll be dancing. In my spare time I play the piano a lot, I love playing the piano and writing little songs. It’s like a release.

“I read a lot – I couldn’t say what exactly but I do, I read a lot. I’m reading Ford Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier right now. I love the cinema, everything from Almodóvar to Richard Curtis – I don’t really have a DVD collection, but I guess you could say that I have eclectic taste.”

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