Callina Liang is among the six new young talents who star in the new ITVX coming-of-age drama from the creators of Skins. In Tell Me Everything, she plays the mysterious new girl, Mei, who joins a group of five college friends.

“It is not glamourized,” says Callina Liang. “If you are going through a tough time, it is just tough. This is what it looks like.”

She points out that some coming-of-age shows tend to sugarcoat what teenage life is like. This is not one of those.

“You are not going to be out with your friends partying and drinking every day: No! There will be times when you literally struggle to get out of bed – and no one shows that on social media,” she said.

Tell Me Everything follows a group of six friends at college as they navigate everything from sex to drugs to schoolwork, while searching for their own identity and keeping their mental health in check. Social media – and its omnipresence – plays a big role in the series.

“I think it is dangerous in a way that there are a lot of false portrayals of how life should be,” says Callina Liang via Zoom from London, where she is currently living.

“Whether it deals with body image, what you get up to on the weekend, who you are dating, social media can make you feel like that is the way your life is supposed to be growing up. And no, it is not supposed to be a certain way.”

Tell Me Everything, which was created by Mark O’Sullivan, aims to depict what life is like for youth today including hardships like the loss of a parent.

“It will definitely give them something to relate to,” says Liang.

“They are not the only ones going through things like that whether it is a mental illness or struggling with social media or struggling to meet friends. I say that because my character is very much an outsider of the group. I feel there are so many things in the show that young people can watch and feel like they are not the only ones going through it.”

Callina Liang, who stars as Mei – describes the series as a very real depiction of teenagers growing up in the 2020s. It will be very relatable to them.

“There were times when I felt empathy for her and understood why she was feeling the way she was feeling,” she says. Liang also describes her character as starting out manipulative and destructive but who then becomes more and more vulnerable. 

“As the show progressed, I found a lot of love for the character. On paper, Her and I are not similar. But growing up, we were all lost in a way, so I relate to that.”

The show takes place in Welwyn Garden City, hometown of show creator Mark O’Sullivan and was shot on location. Liang moved there from Canada.

“It is very different,” she says. “It did take a while for me to settle in, but everyone on set was friendly. I was working every day, so it was not like I was at home, not knowing what to do. Now, I have really learned what it means to live in London. It is great.”

Apart from Callina Liang, Eden Davies stars as the 16-year-old Jonny, who loses his father suddenly and suffers from undiagnosed depression. Lauryn Ajufo and Spike Fearn play his oldest and very close friends Louis and Neve, who deal with their own personal hardships and Tessa Lucille and Carla Woodcock play their new classmates Regan and Zia.

“We have not really talked about being famous,” says Callina Liang.

“I don’t think it matters a lot to us. It matters to us that the show does well and that if we get recognized, it is for the right reasons. That excites us a lot.”