Characters / Skins Generation Two

Protagonists

Effy Stonem

Elizabeth "Effy" Stonem

Played by: Kaya Scodelario

Centric episodes: "Effy" (series 1), "Effy" (series 2), "Effy" (series 3), "Effy" (series 4), "Fire" (series 7)

• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Has dark hair and was The Stoic in early seasons. Not as much in series 4.
• Being Evil Sucks: It's actually more "being dishonest sucks", but still applies. Effy is not amused at all when, in series 4, principal David Blood, concerned about how having a failing student would negatively affect Roundview College's funding, destroys Effy's report stating that she failed her A-levels, and gives her a fake one stating that she got three A's. Could be a subversion, however, as it's implied that Effy is angry not much because of Mr. Blood's act of dishonesty, but more because she thinks no one will believe she was able to legitimately get three A's after spending a reasonable amount of time at a psychiatric hospital.
• Beneath the Mask: It finally comes off in Season 4, but we get some peeks even before that - for example, with her "Unseen Skins" in Season 1, and with her speech to Katie in Pandora's Season 3 episode.
• Big Brother Worship: She's very devoted to her brother, and he seems to be the only one able to understand her beyond her emotionless mask in earlier seasons. His nearly-fatal accident, seen by her on first-hand, and eventually his departure, have a great impact on her mental health.
  Pandora: Your brother's really nice.
  Effy: He's not nice, he's amazing.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Mostly to her parents, and especially in the two earlier seasons. She acts innocent and well-behaved in front of them, and they know nothing of her wild party persona (or her manipulative tendencies), which is no surprise for her brother, her friends, or even her brother's friends. When she overdoses, they actually blame Tony for it.
• Broken Bird: Gave off this impression from her earliest appearances, until Sanity Slippage ensued.
• The Chessmaster:
  • Prominent in Season 2, where she pretty much single-handedly solved the entire Cassie/Sid/Michelle/Tony situation, fixed her own messed-up house in time for her father to come back and never realize what a wreck everything was, and simultaneously managed to get kicked out of the private school, which is what she wanted all along, while keeping hopeless Pandora in there. All by generally evoking the right reactions from people.
  • Quite less so in Seasons 3 and 4. At the beginning it does seem like she's trying to be this, manipulating Cook, Freddie and JJ to fall in love with her, but everything ultimately falls apart when she falls for Freddie.
• Deadpan Snarker: Rare, but she has her moments.
  (in the dinner table, to her mom): You're fucking my dad's line manager. No biggie.
  • The scene where she attempts to get her mother's attention through increasingly more wild claims counts too, where she tells her mother that, since Cook broke up with her, it'll make it hard to raise their baby. She eventually reverts to dropping a vase on the floor with a blank face.
• Early Instalment Weirdness: In series 1 she almost never speaks, but after Tony's accident she starts speaking like every other character.
• Emotionless Girl: Particularly in her earlier seasons when she's The Stoic. Subverted with her Sanity Slippage in series 4.
• Fallen Princess: Effy appears to have everything: she’s beautiful, is popular yet mysterious, and has a cool brother to boot. Doesn’t keep her away from love issues, suffering thanks to her screwed-up family or her own mental issues.
• Fille Fatale: All three of the Musketeers fall for her. JJ actually lampshades it:
  "No more 'ooh I'm so fit and mysterious.'"
• Incest Subtext: Has a really strong admiration of her brother Tony, and he seems to be the only one who can understand, to a degree that can come off as creepy at times. Her video about wanting to live alone with "just her and her brother" is an example.
  • Notably when Josh is refusing to call an ambulance until Tony has sex with her, he seems more put off by her being unconscious than being his sister.
• Morality Pet: Is one to her brother Tony. Even his own girlfriend believes Effy is the only person he truly cares about.
• Love Makes You Crazy: Effy can't seem to handle being in a relationship with someone she genuinely loves, which is why she loses it when she and Freddie get together in Season 4. She outright says so.
  "Love's not supposed to do that, you made go mad!"
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Pretty much no one calls her Elizabeth, and actually her name only comes up when things in Season 4 get really bad.
• Parental Favoritism: Her mother definitely prefers her over Tony. Harder to vouch for her father, but given how Tony daily drives him crazy for his own amusement...
• Room Full of Crazy: In Freddie's Season 4 episode, Effy makes one in her mum's bedroom.
• The Runaway: Runs away from home with Cook for a while. It seems to be a mix of The Attention Seeking Runaway and The Vagrant Runaway types.
• Sanity Slippage: Her masks come off in Season 4, and her storyline is primarily about her deteriorating mental state along with her relationship with Freddie.
• Shipper on Deck: For Naomi and Emily. She notices their feelings for each other (especially Naomi's) right from the beginning and subtly encourages them on. Her status as this is pretty solid by Series 7.
• Silent Bob: In Season 1. She says her first line in her own episode, "Effy", of that season, and subsequent episodes have her speaking normally, if less so than most characters.
  • Silent Snarker: The first of 3 masks she wears...
• Stepford Smiler:
  • Gets hinted at in her Season 2 episode, when Tony says her reservedness and apparent contempt for caring for other people don't fool him; however, it's not really fully explored until Generation 2, in which...
  • ...she reveals herself to be the Depressed and Unstable types. Effy's complete personality shifts with each season turn out to just be different masks, until it comes off in Season 4. Invoked by Anthea in Season 3, who says to JJ that nothing terrifies Effy more than "showing her cards."
• The Stoic:
  • Very much so in Seasons 1 and 2, where she barely even talks. Even after her overdose, she can still be seen as this. Her first real Not So Stoic moment is pretty damn shocking: it's when she sees Tony getting hit by a bus.
  • In her own generation, she's still mostly stoic (certainly more than her peers), but has quite a few moments of emotional vulnerability as well.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Granted, she isn't an outright sweetheart on the inside either, but she does have a kind side, which she shows mostly to people she cares about, such as Tony, Pandora and her mom.
• Unkempt Beauty: She still looks pretty after getting high in a forest and running away from home for days.

Pandora Moon

Pandora "Panda" Moon

Played by: Lisa Backwell

Centric episodes: "Pandora" (series 3)

• Affectionate Nickname: Panda.
• Ascended Extra: Was a minor character in Series 2; is part of the main cast in the Second Generation.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Particularly at the beginning of Series 3.
• Corrupt the Cutie: Panda now wants to be corrupted even more.
• Genius Ditz: Pandora is shown to be pretty knowledgeable and a strong student (see Ivy League for Everyone below), despite coming off as pretty clueless and naive about everything else.
• Ivy League for Everyone: Pandora gets a sudden acceptance to Harvard after she aces some A-levels "she didn't tell anyone about."
• Maybe Ever After: With Thomas, since they're going to the same university.
• Morality Pet: Is one to Effy, to a certain extent.
• No Social Skills: JJ looks positively smooth in comparison.
• New Transfer Student: How she's introduced in Effy's Series 2 episode.
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: Uses it to store her mobile and wallet, and the weed she and Effy buy from Cassie, in Season 2.

Thomas Tomone

Thomas Tomone

Played by: Merveille Lukeaba

Centric episodes: "Thomas" (series 3), "Thomas" (series 4)

• Artistic License – Geography: Is Thomas from the Republic of the Congo or the Democratic Republic of the Congo? Pandora's description of it being between Gabon and Cameroon suggests the former (the D.R.C. doesn't border either of those countries), dialogue suggests the latter. Adding to the confusion is that Merveille Lukeaba, Thomas's actor, was born in Zaire, now known as the D.R.C. as of 1997. Do the writers not realize they are different countries?
• Betty and Veronica: Played with: Thomas feels pressured by his parents and church to "stick with his culture", which in season 4 makes him see Andrea as the Betty, and Pandora as the Veronica to his Archie. But by the end of his centric episode he realizes it's actually more reversed.
• Bilingual Bonus: When he speaks French. Most of his French dialogue is subtitled, of course, but some stand-alone words are not.
• Black and Nerdy: A mild case. He claims to be great at math and to have scored at the top of his class in his village high school.
• Everything Sounds Sexier in French: He uses his language skills to woo Katie in series 4.
• Foreign Cuss Word: "Merde" (meaning "shit") is a favorite of his.
• Ivy League for Everyone: A particularly egregious example, given that he didn't even graduated high school.
• Magical Negro: Sometimes comes across as this; Katie even lampshades it.
• Maybe Ever After: With Pandora, since they're going to the same university.
• Naïve Newcomer: Played straight until they get to Pandora's aunt's house. Then it's quickly subverted.
• Odd Friendship: With J.J., and also seemingly out of nowhere in J.J.'s Series 4 episode.
• Token Minority: He's the only Black character in the Generation 2 cast.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: His Season 4 episode, to some. To others, Thomas is believably jaded, justly struggling to let bygones be bygones, and ultimately only catching up to his peers on the jackass-o-meter.
• Unaffected by Spice: When gang boss Johnny challenges Thomas to a chilli pepper eating contest to settle his debts, Thomas downs a whole handful at once without breaking a sweat.

JJ Jones

Jonah "JJ" Jeremiah Jones

Played by: Ollie Barbieri

Centric episodes: "JJ" (series 3), "JJ" (series 4)

• Absent-Minded Professor: Cook even calls him a "nutty professor."
• Added Alliterative Appeal: All three of his names start with J.
• Butt-Monkey: Freddie and Cook treat him as one in-universe.
• Cool Kid-and-Loser Friendship: His relationship with Cook and Freddie comes across as this.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Has a lot of these moments, from telling Effy that Cook was sleeping with someone else to outing Emily to her sister.
• Freudian Trio: Usually the Ego, occasionally the Super-ego.
• Good with Numbers: JJ has prodigious math skills.
• Incompatible Orientation: He and Emily have sex despite the fact that Emily is gay. He actually thought the two of them getting together was possible when Emily chose him as her Love Ball date - but that was only because of Emily's mother and sister's homophobia, and once Naomi showed up Emily happily went with her.
• Motor Mouth: When he gets "locked-on."
• Nice Guy: Quite a caring, kind, sweet character
• No Social Skills: Justified Trope since he has Asperger's Syndrome.
• Odd Friendship: With Emily and with Thomas. His friendship with Thomas in particular came out of nowhere.
• Serenade Your Lover: What he does to get Lara back after she dumps him because he beat up her baby daddy, with his adorable rendition of "True" by Spandau Ballet.
• TV Genius: Somewhat. He definitely has extremely high skills in Maths, and has a good memory for facts. And... he passes ALL his exams with flying colours!

James Cook

James Cook Jr.

Played by: Jack O'Connell

Centric episodes: "Cook" (series 3), "Cook" (series 4), "Rise" (series 7)

• Anti-Hero: Initially appeared as a Sociopathic Hero, but was eventually revealed to be more of a Classical Anti-Hero.
• Berserk Button: Don't mention his mum.
• Big Eater: Pretty much eats his entire birthday cake on his own.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: In S3, despite him considering them all some sort of gang (he does invite everyone to his birthday party), most of the main cast seems to let him hang around just because Freddie and Effy, who interact with him the most, are at the center of the group. They don't even invite him to camp with them in Gobbler's End, and after Freddie cuts ties with him and starts dating Effy, Cook becomes essentially a loner. It's worth noting that he was already friends with JJ before the events of season 3, and he ends up independently befriending Naomi (and it's implied that Effy always considered him a friend, at least), he just never fits well into the "group" dynamic.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: He's not a saint and some of the hard time he's done is entirely deserved, make no mistake. However, the fact that he's on the run for killing John Foster - who murdered Freddie, attempted to imprison Effy, and potentially would have gone after Effy's other friends and family if given the chance - is entirely unfair, especially given that Cook acted in self-defense.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: His interactions with the girls hint to the fact that Cook can be a very sweet guy when he's not acting like a Jerkass.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Freddie. They have been friends since they are children and into their teenage years, but their friendship is challenged when they fall in love for the same girl.
• Hypocrisy Nod: Everybody pisses on you? What goes around comes around.
• Incompatible Orientation: With Naomi. It's the reason that they don't go very far when they try to have sex.
• Karma Houdini: It seems like karma has finally caught up with him when he accepts responsibility for his actions (and Naomi's) and goes to prison. He breaks out two episodes later For the Lulz, continues to evade the authorities.
  • It catches up with him mentally in series 7. Though he's still physically free, he's a wanted fugitive, and his past seems to be taking its toll. He's definitely displaying some warning signs for depression. Safe to say, the quiet, serious Cook of series 7 is a far cry from his jovial and brash beginnings in season 3.
• Kick the Dog: Done repeatedly in season 3 in order to establish his character as a Jerkass. From arson and public indecency in episode one (they're not as bad as they sound, though still pretty bad) to humiliating Naomi in front of the school, to the reveal of him having sex with his friends sister and then having sex with a girl Cook knew he was in love with, then seducing and sleeping with a girl in relationship and then scaring a group of his friends during a camping trip because he was jealous that he wasn't invited, season 3 showcases the fact that Cook is not a nice person.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: When his father threatens to melt his face off with a with a flare spouting "I'll do it, I don't give a fuck!" [IE "about you"], Cook simply replies "neither do I", illustrating that Cook in fact has an extremely low self worth in contrast to the grandiose self worth he gives off to the world.
• Last-Name Basis: No one calls him anything but Cook.
• My Name Is Inigo Montoya: I'M COOK!!
• Odd Friendship: With Naomi, considering all the friction between them in Season 3 and their very different personalities. They get along pretty well, though, once he gets over her lack of romantic interest in him.
• Too Hungry to Be Polite: In addition to being a Big Eater, let's just say that his table manner while eating his birthday cake are... not the best.
• You Can't Go Home Again: Three years after he's still on the run for John Foster's murder
• You Killed My Father: Or more specifically, "You killed my friend."

Freddie Mclair

Frederick "Freddie" Mclair

Played by: Luke Pasqualino

Centric episodes: "Freddie" (series 3), "Freddie" (series 4)

• Big Brother Instinct: He's not a fan of Karen's decision to exploit their mother's memory to help her win Search for a Sexxbomb, but he cheers for her at her final performance, comforts her when she loses and when Cook laughs about how he and J.J. voted against her for stealing their shed, Freddie nearly punches his lights out.
• Mr. Fanservice: The show likes to remind us of Freddie's nice chest and how he sleeps naked (albeit with a Modesty Bedsheet).
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: Freddie goes bizarrely unlamented in Fire and Rise, despite the two characters he was closest to taking centre stage again. Especially galling in Rise, which focuses entirely on Cook's guilt over having slain Freddie's murderer.
• Freudian Trio: Usually the Super-ego (lampshaded by Cook when he calls him a "fun-sponge"), occasionally the Ego.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Cook. They have been friends since they are children and into their teenage years, but their friendship is challenged when they fall in love for the same girl.
• Missing Mom: Well, dead mom.
• Only Sane Man: He's one of the most grounded of the core group, and he's typically the one to try and keep peace with the dysfunctions of Effy, Cook, and the others.
• Shirtless Scene: Seems to enjoy leaving his shirt at home even in the non-sex scenes.
• The Stoner: Multiple scenes show him partaking in marijuana use.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Much like Chris and Grace a generation before and after him, he's one of the most magnanimous of the group. This doesn't save him from a painful and early end, although unlike Chris and Grace, his is the direct result of foul play.
• The Un-Favourite: Karen comprehensively dumps on him - with their father's support and praise, most notably when Freddie loses his beloved shed.

Katie Fitch

Katherine "Katie" Fitch

Played by: Megan Prescott

Centric episodes: "Katie and Emily" (series 3), "Katie" (series 4)

• Alpha Bitch: She aspires to be this, especially in Season 3.
• Big Sister Bully: She's a pretty big jerk to Emily in Season 3.
• Cool Big Sis: After her Character Development she becomes this to Emily and James.
• Book Dumb: She sulks that unlike Emily, she's rubbish at all of her subjects. In Generation 2's penultimate episode, though, her exam results are mostly average.
• Broke Episode: Her Season 4 episode, which revolves around the Fitches losing their house.
• Easily Forgiven: She forgives Freddie for cheating on her with Effy, minutes after she'd smashed Katie's head in and left her unconscious in the woods overnight. To her credit, this is very much despite herself and mostly because she still really likes him, although she knows he'll never feel the same.
• Foil: The show sets her up as Effy's foil, though they're eventually revealed to be Mirror Characters. She is more the foil to her sister.
• Graceful Loser: Zigzagged with losing Freddie to Effy; she accepts their relationship and gets over her feelings for Freddie, but still finds it humiliating to spend time with them and holds onto a strong personal dislike for Effy for a while. Played straight with “losing” Emily to Naomi.
• It's a Costume Party, I Swear!: The maid of honor at the wedding Katie and her mom are planning pulls a version of this on Katie: she switches the theme for the hen night, doesn't tell Katie, and doesn't make her a corresponding costume.
• Lady Swears-a-Lot: She's hardly the only one, but even by Skins' standards Katie has a dirty mouth.
• Manipulative Bastard: Particularly during her and Emily's season 3 episode.
• Ms. Fanservice: Attractive, confident, sexually aggressive, but with a sweet side. Her focus episode in Season 4 certainly makes the most of it.
• No Periods, Period: Katie is diagnosed with premature menopause in her season 4 episode.
• Pet the Dog: She consoles her little shit of a brother after their parents' relationship breaks down and they're on the cusp of losing their house. Her positive interactions with the downtrodden and alienated Thomas also count.
• Polar Opposite Twins: Katie is the confident, popular sister, who has "never not had a boyfriend".
• Precision F-Strike: "I'm Katie Fucking Fitch. Who the fuck are you?"
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red oni to Emily's blue oni, especially in Series 3. Less so in Season 4, not because Katie stops being fierce, but because Emily stops being a shy doormat.
• Romantic False Lead: Poor Katie gets to be this twice, with Freddie and Thomas.
• Tsundere: To Emily. She's selfishly possessive of her little sister, but treats her poorly pre-Character Development.
• Twincest: The writers basically went to town with Katie/Emily subtext in their S3 episode.

Emily Fitch

Emily Fitch

Played by: Kathryn Prescott

Centric episodes: "Katie and Emily" (series 3), "Emily" (series 4)

• Beware the Nice Ones: Is, generally speaking, one of the kinder and more patient characters in the series...but won't hesitate to put up a good fight when pushed too far.
• Extreme Doormat: In series 3, but she's learning to stand up for herself by series 4.
• Foil: To her sister as explained above, as well as to Naomi. Emily's close-knit family, and the fact that she's a twin, contrasts with Naomi's more independent life, as an only child with a mom who is not always around. This explains why Emily dives head-first into their relationship, going serious all at once, while Naomi is scared off by that and wants to ease into it slowly.
• Gayngst: Subverted. Her angst comes more from Naomi's insecurity and commitment problems than to just actually being gay. Granted, she does deny it at first, but as soon as she realizes Naomi's also into her she comes to terms with liking girls pretty fast.
• Lipstick Lesbian: Especially in Season 3 where she has a very girly, innocent fashion style.
• Polar Opposite Twins: Emily is the introvert and sensible one, who must always makes way for her sister.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue oni to Katie's red oni, at least through most of Series 3. Less so after she starts to crawl out from Katie's shadow at the end of Season 3, though she's still more low-key and sensitive than her sister.

Naomi Campbell

Naomi Campbell

Played by: Lily Loveless

Centric episodes: "Naomi" (series 3)

• Armored Closet Gay: "I fucked boys to make it go away."
• Back for the Dead: She gets cancer and dies in Skins: Fire.
• Bury Your Gays: A big part of the backlash and Fanon Discontinuity regarding Skins Fire was how her death played into this trope.
• First Kiss: That middle school kiss with Emily. (All the boys she'd dated before then were too cowardly to go for it. And she didn't fancy any of them anyway.)
• Gayngst: Naomi gets far more of this than Emily, repeatedly denying her true sexual orientation. Even so, it's eventually revealed she's more afraid of the power of her feelings than that they're for a girl.
• Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: In Season 3. Naomi is very quick to remind Emily how very straight she is between lip-locking sessions.
• Informed Ability: Naomi is supposedly very political and hates injustice, but apart from her character video diary, unsuccessful run for student president, and her poster of Nelson Mandela on her bedroom wall, this is never really shown.
  • The run for president was unsuccessful precisely because she hates injustice (she refused to let Harriet and Doug get away with trying to rig the election in her favour).
    • Also, it's lampshaded earlier in the episode when she points out that Emily shouldn't know that about her, having said all of about three sentences to her, none of them political.
• Love at First Sight: "I think I was twelve."
• Messy Hair: Becomes her default hairstyle during season 4.
• Modesty Bedsheet: Sleeps naked.
• Odd Friendship: With Cook, by Season 4. Let's not forget she got him in trouble in the generation opener when he tried to show her his dick tattoos.
  • And oddly enough, Effy as well, though the moments are fleeting. Evidenced in JJ's Season 3 episode, when they discuss Naomi's sexuality and Effy's love for Freddie, and Effy's Season 4 episode, when Naomi goes to visit Effy in the psychiatric hospital following her suicide attempt to discuss Naomi's failing relationship with Emily.
    • The friendship with Effy actually isn't that odd when you consider that Effy and Freddie's relationship is kind of an amplified version of Naomi and Emily's: Effy and Naomi both have issues (albeit for different reasons) with acknowledging their feelings and committing to their respective significant others, both of whom are much freer with their feelings and welcome the emotional closeness and commitment that love brings, and have trouble understanding why their girlfriends don't.
• Shipper on Deck: Perhaps in return for Effy rooting for her and Emily, Naomi tries to nudge Freddie and Effy together as well. This is particularly evident in Freddie's series 3 episode.
• Significant Name Overlap: Gets joked about in the first episode of Series 3 for sharing her name with the famous model.
• Stepford Snarker: "I learned how to become a sarcastic bitch just to make it feel normal."
• The Stoner: Seems to have turned into one in Skins Fire.
• The Topic of Cancer: Naomi is diagnosed with it in the first part of Fire, and her condition gets significantly worse in the second.

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Families

Stonem Family

Anthea Stonem

see the Skins Generation One page

Jim Stonem

see the Skins Generation One page

Moon Family

Angela Moon

Angela Moon

Played by: Sally Phillips

• Adults Are Useless: Is easily dispatched by the MDMA brownies and Pandora's friends are able to have the party they wanted.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parent: Played with. Angela is one, but Pandora doesn't see her this way - and is more worried about how her hard-partying friends are going to embarrass her in front of her mom.
• Hidden Depths: Her sex tape with the cranky neighbor that Effy and Cook find when they fall into the house next door.
• My Beloved Smother: Angela doesn't want Pandora anywhere near boys. Oddly enough, Panda doesn't see her this way, even though she breaks all her rules.
• Unsuspectingly Soused: After Katie puts MDMA in the brownies when Angela's back is turned.

Aunt Elizabeth

Aunt Elizabeth

Played by: Maureen Lipman

• Unsuspectingly Soused: Doesn't realize tea plants are marijuana. (Or maybe she does, given the way she's happily smoking them at the end...)

Jones Family

Celia Jones

Celia Jones

Played by: Juliet Cowan

• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: When she accidentally calls Lara a "slut" in JJ's Season 4 episode.
• Good Parents: Although she is overprotective, she really cares for her son, and is close to him.

Edward Jones

Edward Jones

Played by: Douglas Hodge

• Hands-Off Parenting: He spends most of the time hiding behind a newspaper.

Cook Family

Ruth Byatt

Ruth Byatt

Played by: Tanya Franks

• Abusive Parents: She seems to not particularly care for Cook, and lashes out violently because of her younger son's bad behavior.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parent: In one scene she plays Guitar Hero in front of her son and Freddie, in a short dress and making a suggestive dance, collapsing on the floor in the end, and Cook and Freddie treat the whole thing as it is completely normal. Contrary to most examples of this trope, this is Played for Drama, as this trope is used to reinforce how dysfunctional Ruth is as a parent.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: When she was first mentioned, it was by a gangster who vehemently slurred her as a prostitute. Coupled with Cook's terrible and very personal reaction to this, there was a suggestion there might be some truth to it, but in Season 4 we see that she's actually a filthy rich artist.
• Hands-Off Parenting: Hasn't seen her son since she kicked him out for selling her wedding rings for dope - until he's under house arrest in Season 4.
• Mrs. Robinson: Had sex with Freddie.
• Really Gets Around: She has made an art piece with the names of all the men she had sex with, and it contains a lot of names, including Freddie's.

James Cook Sr.

James Cook, Sr

Played by: Matt King

• Disappeared Dad: Has been absent from Cook's life, and when Cook actually meets him again, he's shown to be a jerk that doesn't care much about his son.

McLair Family

Leo McClair

Leo Mclair

Played by: Simon Day

• Parental Favoritism: Toward Karen, it seems.

Karen McLair

Karen Mclair

Played by: Klariza Clayton

• 11th-Hour Ranger: She takes her brother's place in the gang in the final episode of Gen 2 after Freddie is murdered.
• Idol Singer: Her dream is to be the English equivalent of this.

Fitch Family

Jenna Fitch

Jenna Fitch

Played by: Ronnie Ancona

• Abusive Parents: Of the viciously homophobic variety towards Emily, who eventually moves out because of it.
• Break the Haughty: In Katie's Season 4 episode when the Fitches lose their house.
• Knight Templar Parent: On a holy war with Emily's sexual orientation.
• Stepford Smiler: Tries really hard to be this, especially regarding Emily's homosexuality. The facade breaks in Katie's fourth season's episode when it's revealed that her husband's ruined the family financially.

Rob Fitch

Played by: John Bishop

• Bumbling Dad: He's nicer than his wife, but pathetically incompetent, to the point when he financially ruins his family and breaks his kid's arm in one episode.
• Stepford Smiler: Series 4. Manages to seem optimistic about how his fitness machine will "take off" even as he's hiding foreclosure notices from his wife and kids.

James Fitch

James Fitch

Played by: Redd Smith

• Annoying Younger Sibling: From Katie and Emily's perspectives.
• KidAnova: Fancies himself as one.

Campbell Family

Gina Campbell

Gina Campbell

Played by: Olivia Colman

• Hands-Off Parenting: Also could be lumped in with Missing Mom. Gina apparently left Naomi on her own for a year to do ... well, something. (She'd stated that she wanted to "fuck on every beach in India" before she ended up pregnant; that's the most likely explanation.) Strange because for the most part of Season 3, she was a good parent.

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Others

Roundview College

David Blood

David Blood

Played by: Chris Addison

• Dean Bitterman:
  • Seems to take pleasure in expelling people, as he gleefully pepper-sprays Cook's face after he has already being seized.
  • He's also shown to be a corrupt principal, giving Effy a forged report that states that she had three A's, as having one failing student would affect the funding of Roundview College.
• Tyrant Takes the Helm: Sweeps in at the beginning of Season 4 with plans to improve the school - mostly by expelling anyone who steps a toe out of line.

Kieran Macfoeinaiugh

Kieran Macfoeinaiugh

Played by: Ardal O'Hanlon

• The Alleged Car:
  Kieran: Would you believe it only cost me £2.50? And three tokens from the top of Weetabix packets.
  Naomi: Yeah, I really would believe that.
• Apathetic Teacher: "Hi, I'm Kieran and I hate being a fucking teacher."
• Hot for Student: For Naomi, after he misreads the signals.

T. Love

T. Love

Played by: Will Young

• Waxing Lyrical: Most of his advice is derived from the work of Michael Jackson.

Harriet Lawes

Harriet Lawes

Played by: Victoria Wicks

• Put on a Bus: After Season 3.

Acquaintances

Dr. John Foster

Dr. John Foster

Played by: Hugo Speer

• Asshole Victim: Nobody is mourning this guy's death at Cook's hands.
• Ax-Crazy: A twisted creep deeply obsessed with a teenage girl. However, his deranged nature is further evidenced by the brutal murder of Freddie, and his failed attempt to do the same to Cook.
• Big Bad: The closest Season 4 gets to one.
• Batter Up!: How he kills Freddie and tries to do the same with Cook.
• Dirty Old Man: While no particularly old (he is in his 40s-50s), he is much older than Effy who he has a crush on.
• Hate Sink: Easily the most depraved and despicable character in the entire series. He has absolutely zero redeemable qualities, and is meant to earn as much hate and revulsion from viewers as possible.
• Hero Killer: He kills Freddie in the most violent, brutal manner possible.
• If I Can't Have You…: Kills Freddie as a move to have Effy.
• Faux Affably Evil: Has an artificial charm which he uses to Mind Rape Effy and maintains his professional attitude even when he's about to kill Freddie. His charm is so artificial though that his attempt at remorse for his treatment of Effy feels really hollow.
• Karmic Death: Cook did kill him. He gets killed by his victim's best friend and also one of Effy's suitors. Justice sometime exists.
• Knight of Cerebus: His attempts to Mind Rape Effy and the brutal murder of Freddie makes him the single most vile and sinister character the series has ever had. In many ways, his actions darken the tone of a series about teenagers and their everyday occurrences.
• Mind Rape: Does this to Effy by making and her mental health even worse.
• Psycho Psychologist: A psychiatrist who tries to list on his patient by making her mental health worse.
• The Shrink: He uses his knowledge in psychology to try to make Effy, his patient, fall in love with him.
• The Sociopath: A sexual and social predator completely devoid of any morals, remorse or conscience; is an exceptional manipulator, and Freddie's brutal murder suggests extremely violent behavior, which is very typical in sociopaths.
• Stalker with a Crush: Grows a nasty fondness of Effy and even tries to mentally break her in order to have her.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Any trace of levity or comedy disappears whenever he is involved in the plot of the episodes. While the series from its inception always had its fair share of heavy themes and/or serious moments, the tone of the series was mostly toned down given that it is a Teen Drama with some elements of Dramedy, Black Comedy and Slice of Life. The arrival of this guy, however, marks a before and after, being an outlier even among the series' nastiest characters, not to mention the fact that he is the first and only antagonist to kill someone important from the main cast. He is certainly one of the few villains on the show to pose a true and active threat to the main characters.
• Would Hurt a Child: Wanted to brainwash Effy into being all his. And to to do it, he murders the 17 year old Freddie and tries to do the same to Cook. He also at least knew where Freddie's home was, meaning Effy's inner circle wasn't safe either.

Johnny White

Johnny White

Played by: Mackenzie Crook

• Even Evil Has Standards: Not him, but his minions protested raping the female cast on his orders.
• Expy: Plenty of people saw his character as a clone of Mad Twatter.

Matt Moore

Matt Moore

Played by: Richard Southgate

Love Interests

Lara Lloyd

Lara Lloyd

Played by: Georgia Henshaw

• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: A mild case, but she does basically exist just to be JJ's girlfriend.
• Satellite Love Interest: Most of her character revolves around being JJ's girlfriend.
• Teen Pregnancy: Is a teen mother.

Sophia Moore

Sophia Moore

Played by: Amberley Gridley

• Driven to Suicide: She kills herself in the very first scene of series 4.
• Military Brat: Her dad died fighting in battle and she's also part of the Army Cadet Forced
• Posthumous Character: She's a completely new character when she commits suicide. All we learn about her, from her family military background to her obsession with Naomi and the actual dalliance she had, comes in the following episode, and is told through other characters' narration and flashbacks.
• Room Full of Crazy: Both her actual room and (especially) her cadet locker.
• Stalker with a Crush: Taken to the extreme. Sophia has a whole locker shrine dedicated to Naomi. Items include covertly taken snapshots of Naomi, Naomi's bracelet, an old toothbrush of Naomi's, and a Garibaldi wrapper Naomi had thrown out.

Andrea Babajide

Andrea Babajide

Played by: Adelayo Adedayo

• Betty and Veronica: The show plays with this trope. The pressure Thomas is feeling from his parents and church to "stick with his culture" makes him see Andrea as the Betty to Pandora's Veronica (yes, we are talking about Panda here). By the end of the episode he realizes it's more reversed.
• Preacher's Kid: Mostly Type 1, though her dalliance with Thomas could slide her toward Type 3.
• Small Name, Big Ego: While she's not entirely without musical talents, she does have an inflated sense of her abilities, as her speech about Lady Gaga, Beyonce, etc. indicates.

Sam

Sam

Played by: Ben Evans

• Berserk Button: Unknowingly presses Katie's in her Season 4 episode. Gets dumped for it.
• Bigger Is Better in Bed: The one complement Katie gives him is that he's "totally hung".
• Satellite Love Interest: His entire character revolves around being Katie's boyfriend.

Criminals

Louie

Played by: Liam Boyle

Drug Lord and Cook’s boss in season 7's Rise.

• Ax-Crazy: Turns out to be a homicidal sadist who stalks the protagonists after he was cheated on.
• Bad Boss: He kills his henchman Jason after the latter cheated with the former’s girlfriend.
• Big Bad: The main antagonist of Rise.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Subverted, After Charlie rejected him for his murderous tendencies, he was about to presumably kill her along with Cook and Emma.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He doesn’t seem to understand that Charlie wouldn’t want to be together with a murderous psychopath like him after he had her watch him getting Jason drowned after she cheated with him.
• Faux Affably Evil: He first appears nice and seems like a Benevolent Boss to Cook, untill he finds out his girlfriend Charlie had been cheating on him with Jason and becomes Ax-Crazy about it. So he kills Jason in front of Charlie and Cook, and later stalks Cook, Charlie and Emma (Cook’s girlfriend).
• The Sociopath: Has a superficially polite persona and thinks that killing isn't that big of a deal.
• Villainous Breakdown: When Charlie officially breaks up with him, he goes on a killing spree.He kills Emma’s parents and presumably his henchman Rob and Emma herself. He is about to kill Cook before being defeated by him.

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