Skins star Megan Prescott shares life lessons and laughs

Megan Prescott is best known for playing 'Katie Fucking Fitch' in the hit TV series Skins when she was 15 years-old. Really Good Exposure is her new show inspired by her journey from child star to stripper, via a variety of very different jobs. She spoke to us and detailed her thoughts on sex work and the people who rely on it for an income, and why she wants GenX, Millenials and GenZ to all take notice - everyone can learn something from her show as well as spend an hour being thoroughly entertained.

If Really Good Exposure had either a theme song, or a catchphrase, what would it be?

It's got to be Far from Born Again by Alex Cameron. My friend told me about this song as I was deciding on the show's playlist, and I couldn't believe I'd never heard it before! The song does exactly what I want my show to do: makes some really good points about sex work, but is also really entertaining :)

How have your previous jobs as a nanny, a bartender and a bodybuilder influenced your acting and writing career?

Honestly, I owe almost everything I write about to my life experience in all the different industries I've worked in over the past decade and a half. I've done such a huge variety of jobs and worked with people from all different walks of life and it's really helped me in terms of creating realistic, three dimensional characters and being able to develop emotional arcs.

I didn't go to uni, and I didn't go to drama school, but I did spend 15 years doing just about every job you can think of to try and pay my bills. I wouldn't have said so at the time, but I now really appreciate that you get something from real, lived experience of the world that you just wouldn't get in a classroom.

I think audiences can tell when someone is writing about something they have truly experienced themselves and it feels so much more genuine to write from that place. Despite hating having to do all of those side jobs at the time, I'm really glad I have all those weird and (not so) wonderful life experiences because there is rarely a time where I am writing about something that I don't have personal experience of in some way or another.

Really Good Exposure was inspired by some of my experiences as a child actor, and then a stripper and I think if I hadn't experienced everything I have done I just wouldn't be able to make a show like this.

Which celeb do you think should join OnlyFans, and why?

I'm all for celebrities starting OnlyFans pages, so long as they are going to respect the sex workers that literally built the platform's immense popularity from the ground up. When you have celebrities joining OnlyFans for 'research' or just to 'edge up' their image and then lying to subscribers about what they're sending out, that's when I have an issue with it because then they're delegitimising the platform. A lot of people rely on OnlyFans as their sole income and when celebrities scam its users it puts a lot of people's livelihoods in jeopardy.

But for a more fun answer, Keanu Reeves. Always Keanu Reeves. Can we please get Keanu Reeves on OnlyFans already? I was actually secretly hoping Keanu would swoop in after the Bella Thorne fiasco like the majestic Samaritan that he is, start an OnlyFans page, and donate all the money he made from it to sex workers whose income was impacted by the scam. But alas, it was not to be.

How do you relax and unwind after a day of rehearsals and shows?

I am autistic and I also have ADHD and my mind is always going a million miles a minute - especially during rehearsals. If my body isn't just as exhausted as my mind at the end of a day of rehearsals, I have a really hard time sleeping and I find that the only way I can truly relax after rehearsals is by blasting through a quick 30 minute HIIT workout session, then having a really good meal and a cup of tea.

I have also recently discovered the joy of reality TV... I was a snob about it for years, but I always wanted part of Really Good Exposure to take place on a reality show, so I started watching it as 'research'. As I was coming to the end of the scriptwriting process, I realised that soon I would no longer be able to defend my reality-TV-watching as research, and had to admit the fact that I'd really come to appreciate how nice it is sometimes to just switch your brain off and watch people argue over who made who a hot drink and why.

What's the big goal for Really Good Exposure; what's the dream for the show?

In the bigger picture, I would love for Really Good Exposure to speak to anyone who's ever been made to feel shame around their body, their work or their sexuality. I would love for Millennials to see it and think 'oh wow, it wasn't just me, it was a generation of people who were taught these messed up ideals!'.

I would love GenZ folks to see the show and think 'wow, let's make sure we never slip back into those old ways of treating people again'.

And I would really love for older generations to see the show. GenX were taught even more harmful narratives than Millennials, but they didn't have the accessibility of information that millennials/GenZ had and things like therapy were still heavily stigmatised.

I would like for people to leave the show questioning their previously held thoughts about the themes explored in the show and wanting to learn more about sex worker's rights. I also want people to have fun; I really didn't want Really Good Exposure to feel like a lecture - and I've added some... interesting elements into the show to make sure that above all else, it is entertaining.