Maxxie Oliver

Max "Maxxie" Oliver is a fictional character in the television series Skins portrayed by Mitch Hewer.

Characterisation
Maxxie is a gay teenager who also has status as one of the lads amongst his peers; being gay is only incidental to his character. Several times throughout the series Maxxie is alluded to having had many promiscious relations. He is portrayed as a proficient tap dancer, brilliant artist, seductive, well-liked and well-adjusted. He is something of a comedian, much like with best friends Anwar and Chris. According to a Myspace-style "about me" section on the Skins website, he describes his favorite things as toast, boys, dancing, drawing, Arcade Fire and the Sistine Chapel, and he wants to meet Johnny Depp, Nigel Reo-Coker and Ron Weasley from Harry Potter.

Like Anwar, Maxxie does not have an episode name to himself, instead being the centre in "Maxxie & Anwar" and "Maxxie & Tony".

Series 1
In "Tony", he convinces Anwar and Chris to join him on a "big gay night out", but eventually goes to Abigail Stock's party.

In "Maxxie and Anwar", on a school trip to Russia, Maxxie and best mate Anwar face issues regarding their status as best friends, with Anwar's faith condemning homosexuality. Maxxie indicates he views Anwar as homophobic and hypocritical - as a Muslim, he dislikes gay people but at the same time has pre-marital sex, takes drugs and drinks alcohol. Eventually, Maxxie tries one more time to get Anwar to disregard his religion, but Anwar reluctantly refuses, ending their friendship. Maxxie walks away with tears in his eyes. Tony tries repeatedly to give oral sex to Maxxie, which Maxxie refuses until he is very drunk and distraught one night, only to inform Tony that he isn't very good at it - and with Tony's girlfriend Michelle having seen the whole thing.

In "Michelle", Tony is seen continuing to flirt with Maxxie, and Michelle subsequently dumps Tony. Maxxie is quick to apologise to Michelle for the incident in Russia, and he is upset when she derides him as boyfriend-stealing and a "dirty little slut." Later, racked with guilt over his friends' breakup, Maxxie states in his psychology lesson that it was his fault that Tony and himself ended up kissing despite the fact that everything that happened had been pushed for and orchestrated by Tony.

In the first series finale, Maxxie calls Anwar to wish him a happy birthday however refuses to attend his party until Anwar tells his parents that Maxxie is gay. Anwar, desperate to see Maxxie eventually finds him waiting outside, still refusing to go inside. Mr. Kharral eventually arrives outside spotting Maxxie, the two talk until Anwar tells his father that Maxxie is gay. Mr. Kharral seemingly ignores Anwar until Maxxie restates it himself. Mr. Kharral then explains that there are a lot of things in the world he doesn't understand - particularly homosexuality, but that his faith in Allah means he believes god one day will reveal to him all he does not understand, and until then will treat Maxxie no differently. With that, Maxxie and Anwar's friendship is renewed. Maxxie and Anwar also back up Chris in the brawl later that night, and in the end Maxxie ends up in an embrace with one of Chris' attackers who has seemingly fallen for him.

Series 2
The series two premiere focuses on Maxxie. The episode introduces Maxxie's parents, Jackie (Fiona Allen) and Walter Oliver (Bill Bailey), revealing Maxxie's surname, that he has a dog called Taz and his situation with his parents. After Tony's accident in series one and his subsequent brain trauma, Maxxie, Jal and Chris are the only friends who are still there for him. Like Maxxie, his father and even his dog, dance in their spare time, although Maxxie struggles to convince his dad to let him drop his A Levels and audition for musicals in London. Though Maxxie generally comes from a stable home with loving parents, he remains subject to homophobic abuse from "chavs" on the council estate where he lives. It later turns out one of the chavs – Dale – is in fact gay after tackling Maxxie to the ground and kissing him at a later opportunity. Eventually in the episode, after Walter has had much time to reflect on his relationship with his son, they agree that he will at least continue his A Levels, even if he does not join his father as a builder afterwards as Walter would prefer.

In "Sketch", Maxxie is stalked by the eponymous character. Sketch takes pictures of Maxxie and pins them up on a board of her room. She leaves Maxxie several gifts in his locker, and watches him practice a performance with Michelle in a musical. Later at a party thrown by Mr. Gelcart, the drama teacher, Maxxie comes face to face with Sketch, asking if Sketch will have sex with Anwar. On the morning after the party, Maxxie realises that Sketch is pathological obsessed when he realises she broke into his house and slept under his bed, and poisoned Michelle to take her place in the school musical. Maxxie retaliates by humiliating her in front of the audience, bringing her to her senses. Later, Sketch begins a sexual relationship with Anwar to be near to Maxxie, which is shown to put a strain on their friendship in "Michelle" and "Chris".

Following this, in the Unseen Skins episode "A Cycological Romance", Monday: Maxxie meets a new love-interest: James (played by Sean Verey), who is both gay and a cyclist. Maxxie seems very interested, leaving him a note on his bicycle. Sketch steals this note, later slashing Maxxie's tyres. Tuesday: Maxxie is forced to take the bus, and so leaving a window for Sketch to approach James warning him off on the grounds that: She was his ex-girlfriend and he stalks her (both lies). Wednesday: James tells Maxxie to leave him alone, only to work out Sketch was lying. The Next Morning (Thursday), James finds his tyres slashed and is also forced to get the bus, meeting Maxxie on board. They talk and work out that this is all Sketch's work; they decide to start again. Sketch is seen outside looking in with a face of melancholy, as the two exchange names. In the television episode "Jal", Maxxie proudly introduces James to everyone at college. Sketch seems to look jealous at the pairing whilst Anwar looks uneasy.

In the last episode Maxxie and James move to London together, also being joined by Anwar.