Real Brit teens, no moral lessons

Cable channel BBC America has finally begun to make a name for itself with a larger audience for such sophisticated, high-concept shows as

Robin Hood

,

Doctor Who

(the new and improved postmodern version), and its ingenious spin-off,

Torchwood

.

This season sees the premiere of two ticklers, the teenage dramedy

Skins

and the satirical skit show about the lives and foibles of celebrities,

Star Stories

.

Each holds up an always droll, yet frighteningly accurate, mirror to today's celebrity-and-youth-obsessed culture.

Skins

, by far the superior show, is an honest - at times brutally, scarily honest - coming-of-age story about a group of high school teens who -

gasp!

- swear 'n' cuss, smoke, drink, have sex, do drugs, steal-lie-'n'-cheat, and drive their cars into trees, poles and rivers. Made for a pay-TV channel in Britain that doesn't censor for content, language or nudity (alas, both are covered over for American audiences), the show touts above all else its authenticity - meaning its

teen cred

.

Cocreated by father and son Bryan Elsley, 47, and Jamie Brittain, 22, it boasts a writing team with an average age of 22. And most of the actors are the age they play.

Best of all, while it has a surfeit of attitude (which is sometimes annoying), the show doesn't have an over-produced, slick, made-for-MTV look. And the alarmingly good-looking characters don't dress as if they just walked out of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog.

The series, shown Sundays at 10 p.m., is set in the southwest English city of Bristol. Like all teen dramedies since

Porky's

and

Revenge of the Nerds

, it features your standard-issue character types, including Tony (Nicholas Hoult from

About a Boy

), the most beautiful - and most popular - of all.

Tony seems to have taken Freud's description of the Oedipal complex a little too literally when it comes to his dad, whom he challenges and undermines daily. He refers to his refreshingly witty and smart girlfriend, Michelle (April Pearson), as Nips. (Tony is not very nice.)

The awkward, self-consciously nerdy Sid (Mike Bailey) completes the central love triangle. Sid, who is still a virgin (

natch

), worships Michelle. And he lets Tony treat him as his personal servant. (In one episode, Tony sends Sid on a long, dangerous quest to buy a large quantity of pot on credit.)

The core characters also include a sexy anorexic girl with no self-esteem; a filthy rich, pill-popping daddy's girl; and a boy from a devoutly Muslim family whose interests are decidedly more profane than sacred.

The show's greatest virtue is its most controversial feature: Unlike American dramas,

Skins

has no moral lessons to impart.

Perhaps most shocking of all,

Skins

shows that despite the accent, there's not much difference between teens on either side of the pond.

Star Stories

is a clever, if not brilliant, half-hour comedy show that devotes each episode to one celebrity expose.

The 15-episode series, shown Fridays at 9:20 p.m., premiered last week with an outrageous episode about "the most important couple in the world," David and Victoria Beckham.

Subsequent episodes have fun with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and Wham! founder George Michael.

Star Stories

doesn't have the satirical punch you might expect for a show on celebrities. But its sweet, goofy attitude makes it a pleasant diversion.

.