Skam — a teenage drama following the daily ins and outs of student life at a Norwegian high school — was a sensation, especially online. Not only did it deal with issues of body image, feminism, first love, peer pressure, coming out, and sexual assault in a mature and accurate way, scenes were dropped on the internet at the exact time they were set, rather than held back until the episode aired on television. With the characters all having Instagram and social media accounts too, you developed a constant real-time anxiety in regards to what was going on with their lives.
With it set in Norway, you learned a lot about that Nordic culture (big shout out to the “kosegruppa” fans reading this). And what is interesting is that now that the original series has ended, different countries are adapting it for their own channels. And each countries’ culture is seeping through. There’s Skam Austin (on Facebook Watch) and Skam France, among others. My personal favourite is Skam Italia, which is on now, and follows Martino (Federico Cesari) as he falls in love with student Niccolò Fares (Rocco Fasano). The acting in it is sublime, its realism is unlike anything else, and I want to move to Italy immediately.
Where you can watch it: On the Skam Italia website