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[[WMG:[[center:[-''Series/SexEducation'' '''[[Characters/SexEducation Main Character Index]]'''\\
'''Main Characters''' | [[Characters/SexEducationMoordale Mooredale]] | [[Characters/SexEducationCavendish Cavendish]] | [[Characters/SexEducationOtherCharacters Other Characters]] -]]]]]
----
[[foldercontrol]]
!!Teenagers
[[folder: In General]]
* {{Anorgasmia}}: Quite a few students struggle to understand why they don't climax despite their sexual urges. At least one student is revealed to be asexual, so her issue is relatively simpler than others.
* Bittersweet17: Everyone's either 17 or turns 17 over the course of the series and they all experience large amounts of character development around the same time.
* ComingOfAgeQueerRomance: Adam with Eric and Ola with Lily. Jackson and Cal seemingly had a good thing going, until Cal decide they should just stay friends out of concern that Jackson only sees them as a girl.
* DatingDoSiDo: Maeve was with Jackson, who later moved onto Cal. Otis was with Ola and later Ruby while Ola moved onto Lily. Eric was with Rahim and Adam. Adam was with Aimee, who later moved onto Steven.
* EnemyMine: It’s a typical high school with cliques and loners who hate or resent each other, but they all come together to rid the school of Hope.
* EveryonehasLotsOfSex: The Series 3 premier is a montage of everyone shagging each other's brains out. Aimee and Steve are the only ones who keep their pants on due to her anxiety.
* MakeOutKids: Every now and then a pair of teens will be shown frenching and dry-humping in full view of everyone else.
* OppositesAttract:
** Dorky Otis with punky Maeve, glamororus Ruby and outgoing Ola;
** Camp Eric with demure Rahim and thuggish Adam;
** Ditzy Aimee with academic Steven;
** Flawless Jackson with delinquents Maeve and Cal.
* PercussiveTherapy: The second season features a junkyard. Adam comes here to smash things as an outlet, which he shows Eric. Following the Detention Episode, the other girls come here and wreck things InUniverseCatharsis for their shared experiences of sexual harassment.
* PutOnABus: The final season mainly focusses on the students of Cavendish Sixth Form, eliminating several characters who didn't enroll.
* TroubledTeen: Everybody is dealing with their own personal issues.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Otis Milburn]]
!!Otis Milburn
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/se_otis.jpg]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/AsaButterfield
->''"It shouldn't matter what anyone in the school thinks. You are who you are. Don't let anyone take that away from you."''
An awkward and neurotic wallflower and son of Dr. Jean Milburn, Moordale's local sex and relationship therapist. Using his remarkable gift for psychotherapy, Otis befriends fellow outcast Maeve and starts an underground sex therapy clinic for the students at Moordale Secondary School.
----
* {{Anorgasmia}}: Otis suffered from this due to his negative history with sex, but once he starts mastrubating he swings to the opposite extreme.
* TheBigDamnKiss: When Otis and Maeve are stranded in France, the two talk out their tensions with each other, which leads to Otis telling Maeve the love confession that she never got to hear. Maeve responds by finally kissing Otis.
* BirdsOfAFeather: With Maeve; both are intelligent outcasts who share a similar sense of humor and academic interests.
* BlendedFamilyDrama: When Jakob and Ola move in, Otis is the most agitated by the arrangement, minly because not only does he have to share his mother with someone else after years of it just being the two of them, but Ola had already broken up with him and they weren't able to have time apart to recover from it.
* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: A talented sexual psychotherapist, but struggles with his own debilitating sexual neuroses at first. He goes from being scared of sex and masturbation in Series 1 to eventually doing both over the course of Series 2.
* CluelessChickMagnet: An understated example, but throughout the series he catches the attention of Ola, [[spoiler: Maeve]] and Lily. [[spoiler: In season 2, he finally loses his virginity to Ruby of all people, and in season 4, he also gets to make love with Maeve]].
* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler:As of the end of the series, Otis remains alone after his breakups with Ola, Ruby and sadly, after everything they have gone through, Maeve when she has to go back to USA.]]
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: {{Downplayed|Trope}}; a few characters comment on his pasty complexion. Aimee compares him to a Victorian ghost and Maeve's landlady mistook him for a sickly child.
* EndearinglyDorky: Being an unpopular teenage boy, awkwardness is a given. He starts giving sex therapy sessions to his peers despite being inexperienced himself. And it turns out his awkwardness also carries a definite charm that attracts both Ola and later Maeve. (Maeve especially is considered a cool and aloof girl who previously dated the school golden headboy.)
* FlowerMotifs: The bittersweet, which symbolises truth and healing, befitting Otis as a voice of reason.
* FreudianExcuse: Walked in on his father having sex with a client when he was very young; that incident led to his parents' marriage falling apart. This has made it extremely hard for him to even visualize having sex with someone.
* GreenEyedMonster: Otis tries to sabotague Jackson's relationship with maeve upon realising he doesn't get her. He also gets hostile towards Isaac once he starts dating Maeve.
* HasAType: Otis’s love interests (Maeve and Ruby) are both mean to him at times and tend to keep emotional walls.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Otis can hear his peers out about their truly... ''unusual'' sexual problems without judgment. However, he still feels ashamed about his own sexuality, even fairly mild things like nocturnal emissions or sudden erections.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: He's best friends with Eric, though Eric is gay. They've been friends since they were 9 years old.
* InVinoVeritas: In season two, he gets more than a little drunk and starts [[spoiler: spouting hurtful things about ''both'' Maeve and Ola to a group of rowdy high schoolers.]] It doesn't bode well for him.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Eric accuses Otis of this when they fight in Episode 5. From what we've seen, Eric isn't totally off the mark: previous episodes show that Otis has a tendency of disregarding Eric's interests and personal life when he becomes too focused on his own problems.
* JerkassBall: Otis is usually a good guy, but he can get a bit hostile when he's stressed out. He chews out his mother repeatedly, drunkenly slags off both Maeve and Ola when they both turn him down, gets territorial when Ola and Jakob move in with them and uses Maeve's missing sister as an excuse to have a dick-measuring contest with Isaac.
* JerkassHasAPoint: He had a very good reason to be angry with Ola when she moved in his house for taking or using his stuff without asking him.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: Although he doesn't seem remotely like his father Remi at first, Season 2 shows he might be at risk of developing his father's narcissistic and manipulative tendencies. Both Otis and Remi seem aware of this, to which the latter pleads with Otis to not follow his example.
* NervousWreck: A massive part of why he has NoSocialSkills is due to how neurotic and fussy he is. It's partly why he doesn't enjoy sharing the house with Jakob and Ola.
* NiceGuy: A total sweetheart, and one of the main reasons he is such a good therapist. Otis is a good listener and possesses a tremendous amount of empathy towards his friends and the people he treats. While he has a few jerkish moments, Otis does realise his mistakes and tries to be better.
* NoSocialSkills: While he's quite capable of giving advice to people, he does often struggles in his own relationships due to his tendency to say the wrong thing and is sometimes oblivious to how offensive he can act towards girls like comparing them to lame animals for example.
* ParalyzingFearOfSexuality: Is extremely uncomfortable when it comes to his own sexuality, which is ironic considering he is a budding sexual therapist. Otis has trouble masturbating and has panic attacks when he attempts to. He has a particularly bad one when he tries [[spoiler: to have sex with Lily and is forced to call his mum for help]]. The majority of his phobia seems to stem from [[spoiler: seeing his father cheating on his mother with a patient, and the fighting his parents went through after Jean found out]].
* ParentalSexualitySquick: Not only does his mother talk about sex for a living and tries to "therapize" him, she's constantly having sex and has filmed at least one video on sexual technique which is readily available online. All of this is a lot for Otis.
* PlayingCyrano: In the first series Jackson comes to Otis asking for help in getting Maeve to like him more. Otis refuses, then accidentally helps anyway by not being able to shut up when he talks about her.
* ThePornomancer:
** {{Subverted|Trope}}. He's never had sex, or even brought himself to orgasm [[spoiler: until the Season 1 finale, for the latter]]. But his clinic work has given him this reputation: Aimee nicknamed him "Pleasure Master" and Maeve seems genuinely surprised when he spills to her that he's a virgin.
** When he actually [[spoiler: has sex for the first time, Ruby tells him he wasn't great but wasn't terrible, but thanks him for repeatedly checking in to see if she was okay, something most guys don't do with her]].
** In season 3, as he's became sexually active, it's commented that he's ''[[SexGod very]]'' good at it. When having sex with [[spoiler:Ruby]], she outright states it's the only thing about him that's attractive to her, and she'd never date him otherwise.
* RedOniBlueOni: The blue to Eric's red. Otis is a quite introvert while Eric is loud and proud.
* RetargetedLust: [[spoiler: Attempted with Lily as a way to get over his budding attraction to Maeve. It doesn't work.]]
* SafeWord: [[PlayedForLaughs Sets one up during]] [[spoiler: FOREPLAY with Lily, just after they kiss, which doesn't even end in sex.]]
* SelectiveObilviousness: He calls Jean a hypocrite for telling him that is unethical for him to give advice to people at his school when she tries to give him advice about Maeve. He completely ignores the fact that it was unethical for him to give advice due to his own sexual inexperience and the fact that he was charging people for advice.
* SexGod: By season 3, him becoming sexually active combined with his sexual knowledge has made him incredibly good at sex, a fact [[spoiler:Ruby]] reluctantly admits.
* ShrinkingViolet: At the start of the series. Otis hates parties, large crowds and was initially happy being the guy in the corner who nobody knows or talked to. He grows out of this mindset as the series goes on, coming to enjoy connecting with the other students and using his talents for something positive.
* TeenGenius: He's a prodigy at sexual therapy, with (so far as we see) a 100% success rate at helping his peers. {{Downplayed|Trope}} after Season 1, where it becomes obvious that he has some pretty big shortcomings- assuming he can learn a special "one size fits all" fingering trick on the internet, apparently having little or no knowledge of asexuals or how to counsel them, etc.
* TookALevelInJerkass:
** He does display a manipulative side and egotistical tendencies in Season 2 with his relationship with Ola and how he responds to Maeve messing with his head. [[spoiler:It all comes to a head at a drunken party.]]
** It only gets worse in the third season where he doesn't have the balls to break up with Ruby properly and he hounds his mum for being bad at relationships, even though she's had way more sex than him. Thankfully after Jean Milburn has a near-death experience, Otis apologises profusely and rethinks his actions.
** He gets back to this by Season 4 by taking both Eric and Ruby for granted, lashing out at his mum and acting insecure in his long-distance relationship with Maeve.
* UptightLovesWild: Otis had a mundane upbringing with a single case of childhood trauma that has left him a shrinking violet and he's smitten with Maeve, who has an acerbic attitude and lives in a caravan because her parents are deadbeats.
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Not to the same extent as Eric but he does dress in drag to go with him to see ''Theatre/HedwigAndTheAngryInch''.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Otis is perhaps better at these speeches than he is at sex therapy.
** In season 1 he talks a drugged-up classmate out of suicide (or at least serious self-injury) by arguing that, even if he can't have his own idealized form of love, he ''is'' good enough to find someone someday.
** In season 2 he passionately defends his mother's ability as a therapist after Groff's attempts to publicly defame her.
** He also reassures Hope that her emotional breakdown over her inability to conceive doesn't make her weak, because expressing her vulnerabilities shows a certain level bravery.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Eric Effiong]]
!!Eric Effiong
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/se_eric.jpg]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/NcutiGatwa
->''"No! You can't hate musicals! People who hate musicals have no soul!"''
Otis's best friend, and one of the only two openly gay students at Moordale Secondary School.
----
* AbhorrentAdmirer: Initially this to Anwar, the other openly gay student at school who is transparently uninterested. Done away with when Eric hooks up with Adam instead.
* AmbiguousGenderIdentity: Eric enjoys wearing feminine beauty products like makeup and press-on nails. While he has no problem being referred to by male pronouns as sees himself as homosexual, he could easily be gender-fluid.
* BreakTheCutie: Series 1 puts Eric through the wringer when he's attacked for wearing drag. The trauma causes him to lash out at Otis, Mr Hendricks and eventually punching out Anwar.
* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: Eric acts as the Gentle Girl to Adam and Anwar's Brooding Boys.
* ButtMonkey: The whole school treats him like shit, which in the first few episodes is used for a couple of laughs. A DeconstructedTrope in Episode 6, when this is shown to have created a ''lot'' of built-up anger and resentment that's brought to the surface after his falling out with Otis, where he ends up lashing out at Anwar as a result.
* CampGay: Out, loud and proud (emphasis on the loud, especially when it comes to his wardrobe). Eric definitely checks out the major hallmarks of this trope: effeminate, flamboyant, sassy, dresses in vibrant colors and genderfluid apparel (though this last example is only in private, [[spoiler: initially]]). Additionally, the trope is discussed- while many people feel the "camp gay" trope is exaggerated, gay men who act like this in real life are being their truest selves. The depiction isn't making a joke of his sexuality, but rather makes a point about presentation, especially as it relates to being both black and gay.
* TheChewToy: Constantly picked on by Adam, has the unfortunate nickname of "Tromboner", and isn't treated very seriously by much of the school. [[spoiler: PlayedForDrama in Episode 5 and 6, where he is ditched by Otis on his birthday, attacked while dressed in drag and tries to 'toughen up' by yelling at his music teacher and punching Anwar, resulting in him being suspended]].
* DragQueen: Eric loves to crossdress. ''Hedwig and the Angry Itch'' is his favourite musical.
* DreadfulMusician: His inability to play the French horn properly is a RunningGag.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: After the trauma avalanche he's put through during the first serie, it mostly ends on a high note for him. [[spoiler:He reconciles with Otis, his father, Adam and is at least tolerated by Anwar. He's back in the band. He feels confident enough to bring drag elements into his school attire. The only minus point is that Adam is shipped off to a military school.]]
* EmbarrassingNickname: "Tromboner," after getting an erection while playing in front of the whole school. "It was a semi!" Also makes less sense considering he plays French Horn.
-->'''Adam:''' "Tromboner" sounds funnier.
* FlowerMotifs: The protea, which symbolises transformation and courage. As a homosexual with a Nigerian background, Eric's coming out is especially difficult.
* GayBestFriend: Eric is definitely a more layered version of the trope, and as the series goes on he gets his own storylines outside of being Otis's best friend, we get a more in-depth look at his home and personal life and even gets a love interest in [[spoiler: Adam]].
* HappyEndingOverride: Season 3 opens with [[spoiler:Adam back from military school]] in a happy relationship with Eric. However, Eric's confused feelings over a kiss he had with a guy in Nigeria lead to [[spoiler:him and Adam breaking up]] at the end of the season.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Otis. They're friends since they were 9 years old.
* ImmigrantParents: Eric comes from a strict and religious family from Nigeria. Eric's father is particularly concerned about blending in English society; he is thus worried (but ultimately supporting) of his son being so shamelessly himself.
* KickTheDog: [[spoiler: In season 3, he kisses another guy in Nigeria, despite the fact that Adam told him that he loved him.]]
* LargeHam: He's histrionic, flamboyant and very energetic simply because of his campiness.
* NoIndoorVoice: Quite loud at the best of times, but whenever he and Otis are discussing anything private or sensitive he can get overexcited and shout about it at the top of his lungs.
* RedOniBlueOni: The vivacious, extroverted Red to Otis's shyer, more low-key Blue.
* ShipperOnDeck: A strong proponent of Otis and Maeve getting together.
-->'''Otis:''' I... had a sex dream. About Maeve.\\
'''Eric:''' THAT'S BRILLIANT! ''[entire auditorium goes quiet and stares]''
* SpitefulSpit: Eric and his bully Adam are in detention together and are supposed to clean one room at school. Adam keeps annoying Eric and then they start wrestling. As Adam holds Eric down, Eric spits at Adam's face. He immediately says sorry but Adam spits back at him. However, their fight turns into kissing...
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Enjoys wearing make-up and feminine clothing, though at the beginning he only does this in private. He eventually is encouraged to be more open with it, when he starts sharing it with other people like Lily and eventually makes it a part of his regular wardrobe.
* WrongGuyFirst: [[spoiler:Gets his first boyfriend, Rahim, in season 2. Though Rahim is lovely, caring and open about his sexuality (all the things that Adam is not) and Eric does have genuine feelings for him, ultimately they don't have enough in common with one another. In the season 2 finale, Eric leaves Rahim for Adam. Right in front of Rahim and the ''entire'' rest of the school.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Maeve Wiley]]
!!Maeve Wiley
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/se_maeve.jpg]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/EmmaMackey
->''"The students at this school need your help Otis. And we need their money."''
A social outcast at Moordale Secondary with a reputation for being [[ReallyGetsAround a slag]] and bad girl. In actuality, Maeve is a whip-smart girl who befriends Otis and has the idea to start a secret sexual therapy clinic.
----
* AffectionateNickname: Her brother and mother both call her "Froggy" or "Frogface", which is clearly an endearing family pet name from Maeve's childhood. Maeve isn't too fond of it, though, especially when her mother first appears.
* AnimalMotif: An odd one with frogs. Both her brother and mother call her "Froggy" and "Frogface" as an AffectionateNickname, and growing up, it's shown local boys used to call her "Kermit" when sexually harassing her.
* TheBigDamnKiss: When Otis and Maeve are stranded in France, the two talk out their tensions with each other, which leads to Otis telling Maeve the love confession that she never got to hear. Maeve responds by finally kissing Otis.
* BirthdayHater: She claims she hates her birthdays, which has lots to do with her bad luck in the family department, her sad childhood and tough life as a teen. She however looks fairly pleased when Aimee brings her homemade cake or when Otis wishes her "happy birthday".
* Bittersweet17: Shortly after her 17th birthday in season 2, life doesn't seem to go well for her. [[spoiler:It improves by the end of season 3 however, when she's on good terms with Otis, reconciles with her mother, and gains a scholarship in America.]]
* BrainyBrunette: From Season 2 onwards: she has dark hair and she's one of the smartest characters in the show.
* ButWeUsedACondom: [[spoiler:Maeve and Jackson had sex and used a condom as protection, but Maeve becomes pregnant. She doesn't spend any time agonizing over it, simply getting an abortion. She never even tells the father.]]
* CallingParentsByTheirName: [[spoiler: When her mother comes back]], she exclusively refers to her as "Erin". Her mother doesn't like it.
* DeadpanSnarker: Throws around withering remarks at the rest of the student body, especially the Untouchables.
* DefrostingIceQueen: In general has a guarded personality, but shows her nicer side with her friends - notably Aimee, Otis, Jackson and Isaac (and also Eric to an extent). Maeve tends to put up emotional walls and usually doesn't let people get too close to her.
* DelinquentHair: In the first season, she has dyed blond hair with pink shades and dark roots. Combined with her punk clothes, earrings and a ring in her nose, she looks rather tough and intimidating.
** From Series 2 onwards Maeve keeps her hair dark with purple tips.
* DontYouDarePityMe: Her BerserkButton is others taking pity on her. This comes to a head when she finds out Aimee paid her fees for the school trip to France, and leads to their first serious argument in the show.
* EmbarrassingNickname: Called "Cock-Biter" around school, due to a rumor that was spread about her giving a classmate oral sex and accidentally biting his penis. [[spoiler: This turns out to be a lie - what ''actually'' happened was that a guy tried to kiss her but she refused. Angry, he made up the "cock-biter" story as vengeance.]]
* EmoTeen: Dresses in a stereotypical emo fashion and listens to punk rock. That being said, she ''does'' have a pretty good reason for being gloomy.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Early in season 2, she dyes her hair. She goes from platinum blonde with pink tones and dark roots to dark brown hair. She dyes her hair shortly after her mother notes she sported similar hair when she was Maeve's age.
* FlowerMotifs: The blessed thistle, which symbolises bravery and strength. Maeve refuses to take crap from anybody and is unambiguously virtuous.
* FreudianExcuse: After a long series of personal abandonments, she started cutting off personal ties out of fear of being let down again.
* FriendsWithBenefits: She is this with [[spoiler: Jackson]], at least until [[spoiler: he starts wanting a proper relationship with her.]] [[spoiler: They date in the second half of season one, only to break it off over a disagreement in episode eight.]]
* GoodBadGirl: Under the punk rebel aesthetic and stony exterior, Maeve is emotionally insightful, nice and does remarkably well in her studies.
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: When Maeve becomes pregnant, there is little debate on the subject. The clinic worker asks whether she has considered adoption, to which she jokes that no one would want a pregnant teenager. Aside from some anti-choice protesters in front of the clinic, no one else tries to dissuade her.
* GoodIsNotSoft: She's a good person, but she often tends to hide it under a tough demeanor.
* GreenEyedMonster: Maeve gets jealous of Ola and Ruby when either is with Otis, though she's better than Otis at controlling her jealousy.
* GuileHero: She blackmails her headmaster into letting her come back to school and has no issue threatening people into doing what needs to be done.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Her and Aimee eventually graduate to this.
* HiddenDepths: Is academically gifted, which she struggles with being more open about, and reads feminist and philosophical literature.
* HighSchoolHustler: She used to accept commissions to do people's homework. And then in the first episode she gets the idea to do back-alley sex therapy. Deconstructed, as it's not just pathological anti-authoritarianism; she's an emancipated minor who lives in poverty, and needs the money.
* {{Hypocrite}}: In season 3, she states that she didn’t talk to Otis about the voicemail due to his unpleasant behaviour towards her in season 2 and claims that an apology doesn’t get him off the hook. Yet when Isaac tells her that he deleted said voicemail, she accepts his apology soon afterwards.
* IWillWaitForYou: InvertedTrope: [[spoiler:when she leaves for America at the end of Season 3, she implicitly asks Otis - now finally promoted to boyfriend - to wait for her to come back.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: She's generally cold and aloof, but has far more empathy towards women than most of her peers, as seen by her helping Ruby despite the latter never being anything less than awful to her.
* LeavingYouToFindMyself: Maeve finally admits she loves Otis back, but she also has to travel to America for a scholarship. It's uncertin how their relationship will go from here.
* LowerClassLout: Appears to consider herself this in the first season, at least in comparison to [[spoiler: her clean-cut boyfriend Jackson.]] She gets over it.
* MaliciousSlander: Her reputation as the school slag and her nickname of "Cock-biter" originated [[spoiler:when she was 14, a classmate tried to kiss her and she declined. To cover, he invented the cock-biting story whole cloth.]]
* MeaningfulName: In the Irish epic ''Literature/TheCattleRaidOfCooley'', Queen Medbh (same pronunciation) is a powerful queen with a reputation as a man-eater, who insisted on having wealth equal to her husband's. More mundanely, "Wiley" hints at Maeve's intelligence and her willingness to play outside the rules.
* MiseryPoker: When Otis complains about the overbearing nature of his mother, Maeve one-ups him by revealing that hers is an addict. That being said, she doesn't seem to have meant it maliciously, as she quickly smiles and tells him not to apologize.
* NiceGirl: Underneath her cold and aloof exterior, she's a pretty sweet and morally healthy young woman. Lampshaded by Otis.
* NonconformistDyedHair: Maeve has naturally dark hair, and in the first season it's dyed blonde with pink streaks. She's the school's surly, rebellious outcast from a TrashyTrailerHome, and an outspoken feminist with a (slanderous) reputation for being promiscuous. As she becomes more integrated into Moordale and begins to strive for legitimate academic recognition, she goes back to her natural brown hair.
* NotSoAboveItAll: Usually very scornful of soppiness and excessive sentimentality. But she also falls for Jackson after he makes a very public grand romantic gesture towards her. When Eric accidentally garners attention during an assembly and tries to play it off by giving a small lecture on how menstruation is normal and it's "good to have a nice cleanout", Maeve is noticeably biting down on her lip to keep from cracking up at his antics.
* NotSoStoic: Her "screw you all" persona slips several times in the series. Otis hypothesizes that she puts the whole thing on as an act to stop getting close to people [[spoiler: and gets a firsthand demonstration when he drunkenly shares his hypothesis with about a hundred people, reducing Maeve to tears]].
* OddFriendship: Her and Aimee classify as this. They are basically polar opposites of each other but it doesn't stop them from becoming best friends.
* ParentalAbandonment: Maeve's home life is extremely lonely. It is eventually revealed that [[spoiler: her MissingMom is a drug addict, her father is dead, and her brother -- labeled "Idiot Brother" in her phone -- is a criminal with no time to spare for her.]] She has serious abandonment issues as a result.
* ParentalSubstitute: At the end of Season 3, her and Aimee declare themselves to be each other's "mothers" to cover for the respective absence of a mother figure in their lives.
* PetTheDog: Her scenes with her little sister are nothing short of adorable, considering Maeve barely knew of her existence and wanted nothing to do with her in the beginning but steadily grows to love her and want the best for her.
* ReallyGetsAround: Maeve has a reputation for sleeping with just about anything with a penis. [[spoiler:This is definitively proven untrue. During her abortion, she only lists one current sexual partner (Jackson -- the one who got her pregnant), and is not shown to have any others over the course of the season.]]
* RebelliousSpirit: Though most of the rumors about her are greatly exaggerated, she's still pretty defiant in reality.
* RiotGrrrl: A fan of classic feminist literature and punk rock.
* SeniorYearStruggles: Maeve is the most driven to get a good education and escape her lower-class environment. In series 3 she considers a scholarship in the US, but struggles to find the funding to carry this through.
* SmarterThanYouLook: She's quite adept when it comes to schoolwork, a far cry from her troublemaking reputation.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: When Maeve looks over a photo of her toddler self with family, we notice that she looks a ''lot'' like her young mother.
* TrashyTrailerHome: Maeve is [[MinorLivingAlone a teenager who lives alone in a caravan park]], the UK equivalent, which is indicative of her horrible family life: she has a brother and a mother, but neither are there for her regularly. She's ostracized by much of the school and seen as promiscuous trailer trash.
* TryingNotToCry: Heartbreakingly, she tries to stay tough during her [[spoiler: abortion]]. And later when Otis verbally trashes her at his drunken party in the second season.
* UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo: With Otis throughout the show, with them both taking it in-turns to pine over the other, only to then decide to move on with someone else. A similar and obviously non-romantic dynamic happens with her mother, who spends much of season 2 desperate for Maeve to forgive her and welcome her back into her life, only for, when Maeve begins to trust her again, she discovers Erin is taking heroin again and calls the police. After this she tries desperately to rebuild a relationship, but Erin refuses to forgive her.
* WhenSheSmiles: Brooding outcast that she is, Maeve is slow to a smile, but when something goes her way—usually Otis doing something nice for her—she often can’t help but show a small smirk. It’s one of the few times we get to see her walls come down.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Adam Groff]]
!!Adam Groff
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/se_adam.jpg]]
!!!'''Played by:''' Creator/ConnorSwindells
->''"Headmaster Groff is my dad, which is weird because I'm quite shit at school. And this? This is my dick."''
A known bully, slacker and stoner, as well as the headmaster's son.
----
* AnimalMotifs: Dogs.
** He’s vocal about his affinity for dogs, and it’s a trait quite a few characters seem to know about him. He cares very much for his own dog (fittingly named Madam), scolds Eric about proper dog care, and eventually vandalizes Abeo’s car with dog feces when Eric causes Madam to run away. It suits his personality well: he’s aggressive and slow to trust others, but also loyal to a fault and mostly just seeking affection and approval.
** His Season 2 arc continues this via his brief stints in boarding school and the convenience store, which are his father’s attempts to teach him discipline and obedience (as one would a dog). He also manages to train his boss’s previously untrainable dog.
** In Season 3, Adam mentions his love of dogs to Rahim and is ''disgusted'' to hear Rahim is a cat person. He also ends up finding his passion participating in dog shows with Madam. Additionally, the season’s “flowers” promotional material associates him with the dog rose.
* {{Anorgasmia}}: Adam has to fake an orgasm when he's having sex with Aimee. It's initially chalked up to his self-esteem issues, but later on he's revealed to be more attracted to boys than he is to girls.
* [[ArmouredClosetGay Armoured Closet Bisexual]]: [[spoiler: He frequently bullies and harasses Eric for being gay, even calling him a "fag" in one episode, but is later revealed to have feelings for Eric himself]].
* BiggerIsBetterInBed: The rumor is that Adam's penis is the size of two Coke cans stacked together (length and width). It is one of the major reasons he has trouble climaxing during sex, because the pressure of this reputation causes him to fret and second-guess himself. He ends up [[spoiler: flashing the rest of the student body to put to rest the rumors about its size, exclaiming it is only actually above average in terms of national statistics]].
* BiWildered: Adam is initially troubled by his gradual transition away from girls to boys. He doesn't officially come out untl the end of Series 2.
* BoomerangBigot: [[spoiler: Calls Eric homophobic slurs and pokes fun of his open homosexuality, despite being a closet bisexual himself. Overlaps with YouAreWhatYouHate]].
* BookDumb: He doesn't do well in school.
* TheBully: Picks on numerous characters, especially Otis and Eric. He has a particular animosity with Eric and even vandalizes Eric's father's car with dog shit when Eric inadvertently causes Adam to lose his dog.
* ButtMonkey: Nothing goes Adam's way, and if there's someone who's going to be the victim of physical comedy it's usually him. To be fair, a lot of this is self-inflicted due to his own recklessness and flagrant stupidity.
* CallingTheOldManOut: Appears to be aware of how much of a bad person his father is. [[spoiler: A shocking example comes in episode seven, wherein he grabs Mr. Groff by the throat and screams about how much he hates him.]]
* CharacterDevelopment: [[spoiler: Season 2 is a big one for him. He drops his bullying ways with everyone, he faces the fact that he is bisexual and he hates himself, also accepting he is in love with Eric, asking forgiveness from him for all the pain he caused him and publicly announcing that he is in love with him. He also develops a friendship with Ola which helps him improve as a person, which indirectly helps the girls bond.]]
* DumbassTeenageSon: His academic inepitudes are one of several reasons his father is so hard on him.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Even at his worst and most unruly, Adam was pretty close with Maureen.
* FlowerMotifs: The dog rose, which symbolises ferocity and honesty. Adam's not a friendly guy, but he's straightforward and desperate to earn the trust of others.
* HiddenDepths: Cares deeply both for Aimee and his mom's dog Madam. Dog care is something he's pretty good at. He manages to train his manager's otherwise untrainable dog while working at a convenience store.
** He also struggles with his reputation being the headmaster's son who is shitty at school.
** He mentions to Miss Sands that he likes to pretend that he's Gandalf from [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings.]]
** Season 3 also reveals that he watches [[Series/KeepingUpWithTheKardashians Keeping Up With the Kardashians]] with his mother, which he ends up bonding with Ruby over.
** He tries his hand at poetry towards the end of Series 3. Rahim notes that it's fairly decent for his first attempt.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: More like a heart of rusted bronze, buried very, ''very'' deep down. He's most certainly an arsehole with redeeming moments that a sprinkled very few and far between. [[spoiler: This heart is shown more and grows in season 2, where he really starts growing and improving as a person. He makes serious efforts to improve himself and make amends with those he has hurt, particularly Eric.]]
* LovingBully: [[spoiler:After bullying Eric throughout season 1, they end up hooking up. Season 2 shows that he genuinely has deep feelings for Eric, and they become a couple by the last episode of the season.]]
* MaybeEverAfter: [[spoiler:Adam and his boss Jem, the farm owner's daughter, agree to go on a date, and a possible relationship between the two is not out of the question.]]
* NoSocialSkills: Most (if not all) of Adam's issues and poor decisions stem from his inability to express himself in a clear or healthy way. Some of this is due to his father's treatment of him but some very possibly comes from some mental disorder that has most likely gone undiagnosed and untreated. He does come a long way in the second and third seasons.
* PerformanceAnxiety: Has difficulty ejaculating when having sex with Aimee. This is caused by his fear of not living up to his reputation as the headmaster's son and worry he's not a good enough boyfriend for Aimee. This dysfunction ends up making him the first patient of Maeve and Otis's secret sex therapy clinic.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Eric and Adam nearly break up in season three because their initial attempts to have sex for the first time go poorly, and Adam (a fairly uncommunicative person in general) can only say, "I don't want this." Eventually Adam manages to say what he really means: he wants to be the receiver, not the giver. Eric is quite OK with that.
* OddFriendship: With Otis's mum. They share a joint in one scene and later when Jean shows up at Aimee's party looking for Otis they have an in-depth conversation about Adam's love life.
** He also warms up to Otis when they double-date with Eric and Ruby.
* PetTheDog: Literally; one of his few redeeming points is his affection towards his family dog Madam.
* RealMenWearPink: He discovers an innate ability for dog agility training in Season 3 and starts writing poetry.
* TheSlacker: Doesn't do well in school, and pays Maeve to write his papers.
* SourOutsideSadInside: Adam's disdainful of his own father and acts like a prick towards everybody, but he's also riddled with insecurties ranging from his bisexuality to feeling like he doesn't measure up as a boyfriend to Eric [[spoiler: which turns out to be true when Eric cheats on him]].
* TheStoner: Often seen smoking a joint.
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: He and Madam enter their first dog agility contest in Season 3. [[spoiler:Being their first ever contest, they don't win, or place in the top three for that matter, though they earn a special commendation for an outstanding debut performance.]]
* TroubledAbuser: His bullying of Eric in the first season is framed as this, as there was a lot of reasons behind it. He himself was horribly bullied by his father, he has horrible self-esteem issues that results in explosive bouts of anger, he has trouble communicating, which he's greatly frustrated by and it often causes him to become aggressive, and more directly, he's a closeted bisexual man with a crush on Eric, which he's trying very hard to repress. This is Deconstructed as while he has sympathetic reasons for being the way he is, Otis believes FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse and calls Eric out on dating him, and is nothing but critical of the relationship when Eric pursues it.
* TheUnfavourite: His father doesn't make any secret of the fact that he's a disappointment, and is openly warmer and more paternal with his star pupil Jackson, a golden boy athlete. He also directly asks Adam to his face why he isn't more like his hard-working sister.
* WellDoneSonGuy: It's understated, but he wants his father's approval. But due to his father's extremely exacting standards and Adam's own limitations, that's not about to happen anytime soon.
* [[WhenSheSmiles When He Smiles]]: Though certainly not unattractive, Adam is very dour and frowny most of the time. This makes the times when he does smile all the more lovely.
* WhyCantIHateYou: In spite of the tension between Adam and Rahim regarding Eric, Adam takes a bullet for him for no reason at all. When Eric reveals that he cheated on Adam, the latter confides with Rahim and it's hinted that they're now friends.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Jackson Marchetti]]
!!Jackson Theodore Marchetti
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/se_jackson.jpg]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/KedarWilliamsStirling
->''"I feel like, like I'm suffocating. Like I'm living in somebody else's body. Trapped in somebody else's life!"''
Moordale Secondary's popular Head Boy and the swim team's star athlete. He is secretly having sex with Maeve at the beginning of the series.
----
* TheAce: He's beloved, he's capable, one of the best swimmers, he's friendly and above bullying others and although his reading feminist authors starts as a ploy to get closer to Maeve, he actually becomes interested in them.
* AloneAmongTheCouples: [[spoiler:Alongside Otis, as of the end of season 4.]]
* BecomingTheMask: He starts out reading feminist authors to become more attractive to Maeve, but then finds he really likes them.
* BigManOnCampus: He's the handsome, popular star athlete of Moordale. His introduction as Head Boy is met with cheers.
* BookDumb: While his academic performances are not touched upon, he is significantly less cultured than Maeve, part of his scheme to woo her (inadvertently suggested by Otis) is to catch up on her favorite authors.
* BrokenAce: Later episodes reveal some shards of this. His parents are close to divorcing, he feels enormous pressure by the school and one of his moms to succeed and he's just a little too eager to be corrupted by Maeve's brother.[[spoiler: And then of course there’s what he does to his own hand in season 2.]]
* ClassRepresentative: He's the Head Boy, and at first appears to be quite a stereotypical one.
* DramaClub: In season two, he [[spoiler: plays Romeo in a sexually-themed production of ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' at school]].
* FlowerMotifs: The cape jasmine, which symbolises peace and emotional support. Jackson's much more sensitive than he lets on.
* GrandRomanticGesture: Jackson puts on a massive performance with the school's band as a way of asking Maeve to go steady with him. It works, but they break up soon after.
* HiddenDepths:
** As a competitive swimmer in training, he is under a lot of pressure from one of his moms and his trainer. In reality, he resents the intensity of his training and wishes he could have fun like a regular teenager.
** His attempts to woo Maeve result in developing some additional ones on-top; while implied to be a LadykillerInLove, he quickly finds himself engrossed in the feminist reading he initially takes in just to impress Maeve and it seems to rub off on him, to the point he's the first male to stand up during the "that's my vagina" IAmSpartacus moment.
** In Season 2, he attempts to get into drama so that he has something in his life other than swimming. Unfortunately, nobody's very understanding of his reasons for doing so, putting more pressure on him. However, people are genuinely surprised that his acting and delivery of Shakespeare's line is decent.
* IfItsYouItsOK: He's a straight cis-male, but he finds himself being incredibly attracted to the non-binary Cal. Deconstructed though, as he's still wired to think of romance and sexuality in a cis-het manner, which unfortunately makes things a non-starter with Cal who feels Jackson still views them as a "her". Jackson for his credit tries to be open-minded, scolds himself for using gendered compliments, and is mostly OK with the idea of being in a queer relationship even if that's not how he identifies.
* KickTheDog: Snaps at Viv calling her a robot when under stress in Season 2.
* LovableJock: Moordale's premier swimming champion, and is very affable despite being at the top of the popularity food chain.
* LoveCannotOvercome: Jackson's relationship with Cal fizzles out once it becomes clear his attraction to them would be non-existent if Cal was assigned male at birth.
* NiceGuy: He is nothing but friendly to everyone he interacts with. Even after [[spoiler: breaking up with Maeve, he still goes out of his way to help her stay in school by threatening to quit the swim team if she is expelled]]. He's however shown to have some aura of the popular kid who doesn't see the less popular crowd, but he becomes a genuine friend to Viv, a super smart girl who tutors Jackson and is a member of the quiz team.
* ThePromposal: He asks Maeve to the school dance, which eventually becomes the kiss of death for their relationship.
* SchoolIdol: Seems widely liked. Headmaster Groff clearly likes him much better than his own son.
* SelfHarm: [[spoiler: In Season 2, he finally snaps from the pressure and deliberately smashes his hand with weights to get away from his athletic responsibilities for a while. Viv and his parents intervene before it progresses into a full-blown habit]].
* StepfordSmiler: Privately, he suffers from severe anxiety issues. He has panic attacks and is worried his parents will get a divorce (he believes his athletic career is one of the only things keeping them together).
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Aimee Gibbs]]
!!Aimee Gibbs
[[quoteright:281:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b258be3f_ff2c_41c2_a84e_b4f437afbb8d.jpeg]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/AimeeLouWood
->''"I think I'm gonna stick with baker. I do really like toast!"''
A former member of the Untouchables, the most popular clique in school, who strikes an unlikely friendship with Maeve.
----
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted. She's surprisingly open about her bodily functions.
* BrainlessBeauty: A sweet girl, but not the brightest.
* BreakTheCutie: In the second season, she's [[spoiler: sexually assaulted on the bus by a stranger. Despite initially waving it off as just a ruined pair of jeans, she soon finds herself unable to use the bus or have sex without panicking]].
* BrokenBird: She loses a lot of her idealism after [[spoiler: being sexually assaulted by a stranger]] in season two.
* CloudCuckooLander: She's an odd girl, to put it mildly. She doesn't seem to have a filter so she'll constantly over-share, she tends to forget to look forward when driving, she becomes fascinated by the oddest things, and upon discovering there are "different types of vulvas", she becomes inspired to make "vulva cupcakes".
* TheCutie: She's sweet, bubbly, and absolutely adorable. Even Maeve - who appears to be disdainful of The Untouchables at best - has a soft spot for her.[[spoiler: Unfortunately, this turns into BreakTheCutie in season two, when she is sexually assaulted on the bus.]]
* ADogNamedDog: Aimee adopts a goat and names it "Goat".
* DudeMagnet: She's beautiful, popular and has dated three objectively good-looking guys over the course of the series.
* DumbBlonde: She's a ditzy and naive blonde but she does have her own sense of complexities as a teenage girl.
* ExtremeDoormat: A people-pleaser and tends to let others push her around, especially boyfriends and rest of the Untouchables. This becomes a problem in the bedroom with one of her boyfriends is put off by her faking enjoyment and her inability to put her own sexual needs above his.
** Comes up again in Season 3, when Maeve angrily accuses her of being such a people-pleaser that she won’t break up with Steve even though she doesn’t have feelings for him any more. [[spoiler:During her therapy sessions with Jean, Aimee even wonders if her smiling at the man on the bus is what led to her assault, which Jean immediately shuts down.]]
* FlowerMotifs: The hardy geranium, which symbolises friendship and protection. Aimee is the one person that sticks by Maeve for no reason other than kindness.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: She loves animals including less loved ones like bats and spiders.
* {{Gasshole}}: She farts when she's scared.
* GoodBadGirl: She's a sweet and innocent girl with a highly active sex life.
* GrewASpine: By the end of the first season, she chooses Maeve over her popular "friends".
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Aside from having long, blonde and wavy hair, she’s one of the sweetest and bubbly characters in the show.
* HatesBeingAlone: And as such she's gotten too used to going along with other people, without developing real desires of her own.
* LoveCannotOvercome: With her sexual anxiety not blowing over any time soon, Aimee eventually decides she needs to break up with Steven rather than subject him to a sexless relationship.
* MeaningfulName: Aimee (from the French meaning "loved") is a kind-hearted, sweet girl.
* MsFanservice: She's naked and having sex in her very first appearance.
* NiceGirl: Significantly kinder than the rest of the Untouchables. She's from a wealthy family, but she's kind, and a loyal friend to Maeve.
* OddFriendship: A somewhat dim, pretty, popular girl who is good friends with Maeve, a tough, sarcastic, studious social outcast.
* ReallyGetsAround: She hasn't been without a boyfriend for more than a few days since... ever.
* ShipperOnDeck: Frequently encourages Maeve to tell Otis that she likes him. [[spoiler:{{Subverted|Trope}} in the Season 3 finale where, though she is happy that the two are finally together, she tells Maeve not to waste an opportunity to study in America just to stay with Otis.]]
* SpoiledSweet: A wealthy and socially active girl who is nonetheless very kind and considerate. At worst, she's not very understanding about Adam [[spoiler: flashing everyone at lunch]], though to be fair, who would be?
** PlayedForDrama in Season 3. Aimee has her mum pay for Maeve to go on the school trip to France, which rankles her as she hates depending on others or receiving pity. This conflict escalates into their first proper argument in the show.
* StepfordSmiler: Aimee brushes off her sexual assault, but once she's alone she bursts into tears. She also struggles to hide the fact that being touched by Steve now triggers her. Eventually she blows a fuse and lets out her pent-up angst.
* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: After failing to attract Steve's interest with flattery, they bond over their love of making mind maps.
* TokenGoodTeammate: She's the only nicest member of the Untouchables. As of the first season finale, Aimee becomes fed up with their poor treatment of Maeve and turns on them out of loyalty to her friend.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Ruby Matthews]]
!!Ruby Matthews
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ruby_matthews.jpg]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/MimiKeene
----
* AlphaBitch: Ruby is the clear leader of the pack and by far the meanest, though this doesn't mean there is no dissent in the ranks, as seen below.
* BettyAndVeronica: In season 3 she becomes the Veronica in the LoveTriangle with [[spoiler:Otis and Maeve]], as she's the "sexy and mean" LoveInterest.
* BigDamnHeroes: For a certain value of "hero", but in the seventh episode of season 3 [[spoiler:she springs into action and successfully prevents Hope from interrupting the students' video presentation during the Moordale open day, ''wrestling her'' and spraying her perfume in Hope's eyes to dizzy her.]]
* BigEgoHiddenDepths She's introduced as a seemingly shallow AlphaBitch, but grows into a more complex character as the story goes on.
* BreakTheHaughty: She's introduced as a snobbish and mean AlphaBitch who acts like TheBully to Maeve and even mistreats her own friends. Then [[spoiler::Olivia gets tired of Ruby's mistreatment, and leaks nudes of Ruby, causing Ruby so much stress she had to beg for help from Maeve, the girl she often {{Slut Sham|ing}}ed.]]
* BrutalHonesty: She's known for not mincing her words and just telling people whatever's on her mind.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Arguably, this occurs over season 3. [[spoiler: Ruby's dad makes it clear she's become warmer and happier since dating Otis and she tells him she loves him, something she had never done before.]]
* EatingLunchAlone: In season 4 she ends up doing this, when attending a different school to Olivia and Anwar, and insulting a popular clique of students, who later reject her.
* TheFashionista: This applies to some extent to all the Untouchables, but Ruby in particular always stands out. Even when [[spoiler: Hope institutes school uniforms, Ruby notably alters hers to make her skirt shorter and the fit more flattering as well as accessorizing extensively]]
* FreudianExcuse: Towards the end of season 2, we learn that her father struggles with MS, and in season 3, she reveals to Otis that she is not wealthy like she makes out. [[spoiler: And in season 4, a flashback shows she was bullied for her wealth when she was 10, as well as her bed wetting problem, which O told everyone about in a never have I ever game, after promising to keep it a secret]].
* GiveGeeksAChance: Variation; Ruby admits that she goes after nerdy guys when she feels down. This accounts for Warhammer Tom [[spoiler: and eventually Otis]].
* HeadTurningBeauty: She is considered by many to be the prettiest girl in school.
* ICanChangeMyBeloved: When she starts to officially date [[spoiler:Otis]] in season 3, she attempts to mold him to be more like a "popular kid" like her.
* IncompatibleOrientation: In season 2, Ruby gets one look at Rahim and decides immediately that he ''will'' be her boyfriend. She continues her attempts to seduce him even after he starts a relationship with another male student, even flirting with him while he and [[spoiler:Eric]] are standing in front of her, literally arm-in-arm.
* MagneticGirlfriend: Ruby tries to enhance Otis' sex appeal once they start dating.
* MockMillionaire: As AlphaBitch of the school and TheFashionista, she gives off the vibe her family has a lot of money, but it's revealed in season 3 she comes from a humble household. She's so insecure about it, she never invited anyone over, even Olivia and Anwar.
* OddFriendship: She bonds with Adam over the Kardashians which he watches with his mother. She keeps in contact with him so they can talk about the show more.
* ProudBeauty: She's very proud of being considered one of the hottest girls in school.
* SexForSolace: She often ends up sleeping with nerdy boys due to stress over her father's health issues, which is how she and [[spoiler:Otis]] first end up sleeping together.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Vivienne 'Viv' Odesanya]]
!!Vivienne 'Viv' Odesanya
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_26583fe51ca97898d00a9b66a6096ad9_2d1b686b_1280.jpg]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/ChinenyeEzeudu
->''"Listen, my schedule's organised for optimum time management. Take it or leave it."''
An incredibly bright and driven girl who is one of Moordale's best students. She’s tasked with tutoring Jackson in Season 2 and forms an unlikely bond with him.
----
* BlackBossLady: Deconstructed. She's a dark-skinned black girl tapped to be the new Head Girl of the school by the (white) headmistress, who freely admits that it projects an image of progressiveness and diversity.
* CannotSpitItOut: Has a crush on a fellow Quiz Head but turns into a babbling idiot whenever she tries to talk to him. Jackson decides to help her out; [[spoiler: she's grateful but eventually realizes her crush is a bit of a bore and cuts ties]].
* TheCorruptible: She has a lot of immediate affection/hero worship for Hope, the new headteacher in season 3, so much so she jumps at the chance to side with her against her peers.
* CourtlyLove: A modern variant. Viv and her boyfriend send each other sexy messages, which he insists on spicing up with Medieval/Renaissance roleplay.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Though she jumps to follow Hope's hoops, she draws the line at outright ratting on people, and tries to find a balance between the draconic policies and finding a way to make them accommodating for Cal and other queer students. Also, while she might not take too much issue with Hope's indirectly anti-LGBTQ+ policies (which, to Viv's credit, it's plausible to assume she believed Hope was merely not taking queer issues into consideration rather than being outright unsympathetic), when Hope privately admits to some racist views, it's enough to break the pedestal. It's firmly broken when she then outright admits how much she outright detests the "identity politics" of the current generation.
* ExtracurricularEnthusiast: She's planned her life around her academics and extracurriculars to get ahead in life.
* FlowerMotifs: The amaryllis, which symbolises scholastic success and passion. Viv is ambitious to a fault, emotionally solid as a rock and still freely indulges in her sexual desires.
* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: She's the smartest kid in her grade, but doesn't have friends and has trouble getting a date.
* JerkassBall: In Season 3, her obsession with improving her CV (and with Hope) causes her to blindly enforce Hope’s increasingly fascist policies. This puts her at odds with the rest of the school, but especially Jackson, whose Head Boy position she totally hijacks when Hope offers it to her.
* KickTheDog: She already heard Cal's pronouns are they/them, which makes Viv's decision to accost them over wearing the "wrong" uniform (Cal wore the more gender-neutral boy's uniform), and aggressively demand they put on the girl's uniform, humiliating them.
* LesCollaborateurs: When the new headteacher asks her to be the new Head Girl, relieving Jackson of his duty, she immediately says yes because it'd be good for her academic career.
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: What makes her ultimately betray Hope is when Hope, casually, admits that Viv's only real use to Hope as Head Girl is that her ethnicity makes her a good TokenMinority to show investors.
* NerdyBully: She's a bit hostile towards Maeve when she joins the Quiz Heads, and a bit disparaging of Jackson's reliance on his athletic accomplishments. At first.
* NotSoStoic: The first crack in her uptight facade comes when her crush walks past and she immediately turns flighty and giggly, to Jackson's extreme amusement.
* OddFriendship: With Jackson. What starts as a forced peer tutoring relationship between a lonely nerd and the BigManOnCampus becomes a genuine friendship.
* ProfessionalButtKisser: What leads to her betraying Jackson; she really wants to excel in school, to the point she's willing to take Jackson's place as Head Boy.
* ScheduleFanatic: Has her life meticulously planned out to optimize her chances of getting into a good school.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Her loyalty to Hope finally ends after Moordale introduces ritual humiliation, and she allies with Jackson and Cal in their plan to take back control of the school.
* TheSpock: She is accused of being unemotional and prone to rattling off statistics about the situation at hand.
* TeachersPet: Viv goes into extreme brownnosing mode when her school's new headmistress Hope shows up. One especially cringey moment is when Hope debuts the new school song to a thoroughly unimpressed student body, and Viv claps with a big grin, futilely trying to get other people to join in.
* TrueCompanions:
** She's good enough friends with Jackson to [[spoiler: help him with his self-harm habit, even doing the right thing by alerting his parents knowing he might never forgive her for it.]]
** She also bonds with Maeve, Aimee, Ola, Olivia, and Lily while in detention together, over shared experiences of sexual assault or harassment.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Cal Bowman]]
!!Cal Bowman
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e9evgyhwqaiaz_m.jpg]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/DuaSaleh
->''"Here's the thing, i'm still figuring out so much shit about myself. I can't carry you too."''
A rebellious non-binary student from America introduced in Season 3, who becomes Jackson's new maybe LoveInterest.
----
* AirVentPassageway: [[spoiler:How they escape the classroom in which Hope locked them in order to prevent them to "disrupt" the Moordale open day.]]
* AmbiguousGenderIdentity: At first, until they clarify they identify as they/them. Despite their identification, it seems others are confused/dismissive, as Hope and Viv both insist on treating them as simply a tomboyish girl. Jackson too has trouble wrapping his head around his attraction to them, and Cal fears he still shares Viv and Hope's perspective of their identity. In season 4 Cal has started using testosterone and is planning on getting top surgery, but still goes by they/them pronouns.
* ArchEnemy: Hope Haddon. Of all the students, Cal is the most open about how much they ''hate'' Hope, and Hope in turn makes it clear Cal is the one they dislike the most. Cal is non-binary and Hope's new policies directly harms them more than any other student, and Hope finds Cal's repeated urgence of these matters to be increasingly annoying, especially Cal's refusal to simply bend to her rules. [[spoiler:When Hope is finally fired, Cal ''cheers''.]]
* BigEntrance: [[spoiler:During the students' open day presentation against Hope, an air vent section crashes on the stage. Out comes Cal, who used the vent to escape the classroom Hope had locked them in, and flips the bird to the headmistress.]]
* FlowerMotif: The coleus, representing individuality and acceptance.
* ForeignExchangeStudent: They're from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
* MentorInQueerness: At the end of season 3 they become one for Layla, the other non-binary student in Moordale.
* ShowerShy: Well, changing room shy. Because they're non-binary, they don't like being in public changing rooms, especially as Moordale only has binary changing rooms for girls and boys. Destroying the abandoned toilets is devastating for them, as it destroys the only place they were safe changing in.
* TheSlacker: They tick off most of the boxes: skateboards everywhere, wears baggy oversized clothes, frequently clashes with Hope, and gets high off weed and mushrooms on the France trip with Jackson. That said, some of these behaviours are justified: They wear baggy clothes because wearing otherwise makes them feel uncomfortable with their body, and they clash with Hope because she keeps using her position to undermine their gender identity.
* TheStoner: Not as much as Kyle, but they'll smoke a joint and take some mushrooms for fun.
[[/folder]]
!!Parents
[[folder:Jean Milburn]]
!!Dr. Jean Milburn
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jean_milburn.png]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/GillianAnderson
Otis's mother and renowned sex and relationship therapist.
----
* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Otis is deeply ashamed of his mother's profession and petrified of anyone finding out about it, and Jean is a lot more open-minded about sex than Otis would prefer her to be.
* AmicableExes: Subverted. She and her ex-husband can have conversations with each other rather easily, but once those are over Jean tends to explode into {{Cluster F Bomb}}s.
* ButWeUsedACondom : [[spoiler: She's revealed to be pregnant at the end of season 2, even though Jakob had a vasectomy (and she's pre-menopausal). ]]
* CoolOldLady: She's not ''that'' old, but she's a savvy middle-aged woman who Otis's teenage classmates occasionally experience attraction to.
* EveryoneHasStandards: As much as she tries to be supportive of anything Otis does regarding sex, she is understandably quite squicked when she catches him masturbating in the car, in public. Though she later tries to focus purely on the logistics, that the car is a shared space and that exposing yourself in public is a crime, at-the-time she was visibly grossed out to see his semen ejaculated onto the window.
* FlowerMotifs: The cowslip, which symbolises women and birth. Jean's sex therapy is primarily focused on the female gender and she gets pregnant in Series 3 despite her age.
* LadykillerInLove: Gender-inverted. After a long string of one-night stands, she realizes that she's fallen for Jakob, who makes it clear he's only interested in having a committed relationship.
* MyBelovedSmother: The main source of conflict between her and Otis. Jean has trouble respecting Otis's boundaries both by invading his room on a regular basis and constantly prying and getting him to discuss his sexual problems when he's clearly uncomfortable about it.
* NiceGirl: An OpenMindedParent who is non judgemental and is a strong force for good when it comes to sex education openness in schools.
* OpenMindedParent: Has no problem with letting Otis drink, do drugs or have sex, just as long as he remembers to buddy up (for the former two) and offers him condoms before leaving for a party.
* ParentsAsPeople: Jean tries to be a good mother to Otis, and struggles in creating a balance between wanting to help him and giving him space to grow up and let him deal with issues on his own. She also hides a lot of loneliness and fear of being left out of her son's life.
* PowerHair: Jean has short stylish hair in the first two series, but once she gets pregnant she lets it grow out.
* ReallyGetsAround: As could be expected from a sexually-open attractive single woman, Jean has a series of one-night stands, which embarrasses her son.
* TheShrink: An interesting combination of the Awesome and Ineffective Shrink. There's no doubt she's talented in her vocation; she unknowingly gives Otis helpful advice and he channels her when counselling his own clients. But Jean also blurs the boundary between treating Otis as a patient (and later [[spoiler: the unwitting subject of her new book]]) rather than as her son by prodding him to open up and discuss his problems even when he's unwilling.
* SingleMomStripper: Is perceived as such by Adam, who thinks she's a prostitute at first.
* StacysMom: Definitely has this vibe going on. Jean attracts quite a few younger men throughout the show. Adam, her son's classmate, points out that she's like a "sexy witch".
* TheStoic: In both her personal and professional life, Jean tries to keep herself emotionally distant and not let her feelings get the better of her. Though, this being a comedy there are moments when she's NotSoStoic (see Jean cursing her ex-husband when he sends numerous copies of his new book to spite her and getting stuck in a driveway after following Otis to a party).
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Michael Groff]]
!!Headmaster Michael Groff
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mr_groff_sex_education_1491513.jpg]]
%% [[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/AlistairPetrie
Headmaster of Moordale, and Adam's strict father.
----
* AbusiveParents:
** His affection for Adam is entirely contingent on his academic performance...so, basically nonexistent. [[spoiler: Comes to a head in Episode 7, when Adam snaps, grabs his father's neck, and screams "I HATE YOU" in public]].
** A flashback to his childhood reveals that his father was this by forcing him not to cry or show emotion.
* AlasPoorVillain: After being fired, Season 3 brings pity to Groff by showing just how miserable and humiliating his life is after. It's all his own fault, but still.
* BeingGoodSucks: After 2 series of being a DeanBitterman and suffering the consequences over the course of series 3, Groff rediscovers himself and embraces his sensitive side. This manages to win over Maureen, but she still won't take him back because she's worried that Adam might still have issues with his father. However, he did manage to experience joys that he was blind to for a lifetime using his newfound introspection, and he doesn't seem too deterred by his failure to reconnect with his family to make further progress.
* BigBad: [[spoiler: He becomes the closest thing the show has to one in season 2. While he had always been sort of a thorn in the side of Maeve, he goes above and beyond when he prints the diary of Jean and publishes all across the entire school.]]
* TheBully: He is one in general, particularly to his son. Season 3 shows how his older brother Peter and his father bullied him as a child, and how he’s unintentionally carrying that behaviour on.
* DeanBitterman: Crabby and stern, and so concerned about his school's public image that he blatantly plays favorites with students.
* FreudianExcuse: A session with Jean and a flashback reveals that his father and older brother bullied him as a child, along with his father forcibly telling him "boys don't cry" is the reason why he is cold and unemotional.
* GenerationXerox: Much like his son, Groff has some pretty obvious insecurities and self-loathing, which he takes out on others via bullying, and both have a tendency to cause their own misfortune through completely avoidable mistakes. They even both struggle with intimacy with their partners. Of course, it's entirely ''because'' of Groff's bullying that Adam is the way he is, but it's notable he deals with it the exact same way his father did.
* GRatedDrug: He has a huge stash of chocolate bars in his desk, possibly ones confiscated from students. Sean knows about it and implies it's something Groff doesn't want getting out.
* HiddenDepths: For all his negative qualities, he does have a keen eye for noticing details. [[spoiler: He finds the drugs of Maeve's brother, and he sees Jean's notebook when Otis puts it in there]]. He also [[spoiler: leaves the house when his wife asks him for a divorce, instead of making her leave, and does seem to love her despite all that happened.]]
** Invoked - after admitting he doesn’t know how to feel joy or any emotion, Jean advises him to seek something that brings him pleasure. He takes up cooking and proves to be a very competent chef.
* {{Jerkass}}: A very rigid and uptight person, both as a teacher and parent. Most notable is his treatment of Adam and Maeve, [[spoiler: the latter he assumes is part of a drug ring with her brother Sean and Otis]] and when she is caught it's obvious his mind is made up [[spoiler: in his decision to expel her despite the pleas of Maeve and Mrs. Sands]].
* KickTheDog:
** [[spoiler: Despite showing extreme favoritism towards Jackson and promising him not to expel Maeve if he wins his swimming competition, he responds that he "doesn't take bribes" when Jackson does win and tells him to forget her]].
** [[spoiler: Copying pages from Jean's diary and spreading them around school in an attempt to discredit her]]
** The treatment of his son.
* LargeHam: Some of his monologues fall into this category, particularly when he's lecturing Maeve over [[spoiler: the drug ring he inaccurately presumes that she runs]].
* LaserGuidedKarma: In season 3, he's been fired and the publicity of his mismanagement at Moordale has made him virtually unemployable in education. He's living with his much more successful brother, whose upbeat nature unintentionally makes him feel so ashamed by his own failures he ends up lying about getting a job and finding a new place to live.
* NeverMyFault: [[spoiler: Instead of just accepting he was a bad husband and parent, and facing his own fears and insecurities, he blames his failing marriage on Jean's influence. Subverted in Season 3, where he owns up to his flaws and actions in conversation with Maureen and Jean.]]
* ProfessionalButtKisser: Bows and scrapes at any attempt to boost his school's reputation. Picture Basil Fawlty as a school headmaster.
* SexlessMarriage: He hasn't has sex with his wife in years and shuts down any attempt she makes to initiate. She's getting a bit desperate over the whole thing.
* SternTeacher: Principal technically, but is an austere educator nonetheless. This bleeds into his personal life, especially when dealing with his delinquent son Adam.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: After spending all of Season 3 being mocked and ridiculed by his brother, he finally snaps and gives one during a dinner party when Peter insults his cooking.
-->My life is a failure. My wife’s left, I’m quite sure my son hates me, and I’m unemployed. But I’d rather all those things than be a pumped-up shit of a man like you. You’ve been a shit since you were a child, and I think you’ll be a shit until you die, probably because our dad was the biggest shit of all, and you learnt to bully me so he wouldn’t bully you. And that is such a great shame, but I am too old for it to be my problem any more. Goodbye, Peter.
* VillainousBreakdown: Starts cracking throughout season 2 with [[spoiler:his wife leaving him and Jean undermining his authority]], and finally has one [[spoiler:at the end of the season when he goes on a tirade at the school play, humiliating himself in public and being suspended from his job.]]
[[/folder]]
----
'''Main Characters''' | [[Characters/SexEducationMoordale Mooredale]] | [[Characters/SexEducationCavendish Cavendish]] | [[Characters/SexEducationOtherCharacters Other Characters]] -]]]]]
----
[[foldercontrol]]
!!Teenagers
[[folder: In General]]
* {{Anorgasmia}}: Quite a few students struggle to understand why they don't climax despite their sexual urges. At least one student is revealed to be asexual, so her issue is relatively simpler than others.
* Bittersweet17: Everyone's either 17 or turns 17 over the course of the series and they all experience large amounts of character development around the same time.
* ComingOfAgeQueerRomance: Adam with Eric and Ola with Lily. Jackson and Cal seemingly had a good thing going, until Cal decide they should just stay friends out of concern that Jackson only sees them as a girl.
* DatingDoSiDo: Maeve was with Jackson, who later moved onto Cal. Otis was with Ola and later Ruby while Ola moved onto Lily. Eric was with Rahim and Adam. Adam was with Aimee, who later moved onto Steven.
* EnemyMine: It’s a typical high school with cliques and loners who hate or resent each other, but they all come together to rid the school of Hope.
* EveryonehasLotsOfSex: The Series 3 premier is a montage of everyone shagging each other's brains out. Aimee and Steve are the only ones who keep their pants on due to her anxiety.
* MakeOutKids: Every now and then a pair of teens will be shown frenching and dry-humping in full view of everyone else.
* OppositesAttract:
** Dorky Otis with punky Maeve, glamororus Ruby and outgoing Ola;
** Camp Eric with demure Rahim and thuggish Adam;
** Ditzy Aimee with academic Steven;
** Flawless Jackson with delinquents Maeve and Cal.
* PercussiveTherapy: The second season features a junkyard. Adam comes here to smash things as an outlet, which he shows Eric. Following the Detention Episode, the other girls come here and wreck things InUniverseCatharsis for their shared experiences of sexual harassment.
* PutOnABus: The final season mainly focusses on the students of Cavendish Sixth Form, eliminating several characters who didn't enroll.
* TroubledTeen: Everybody is dealing with their own personal issues.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Otis Milburn]]
!!Otis Milburn
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/se_otis.jpg]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/AsaButterfield
->''"It shouldn't matter what anyone in the school thinks. You are who you are. Don't let anyone take that away from you."''
An awkward and neurotic wallflower and son of Dr. Jean Milburn, Moordale's local sex and relationship therapist. Using his remarkable gift for psychotherapy, Otis befriends fellow outcast Maeve and starts an underground sex therapy clinic for the students at Moordale Secondary School.
----
* {{Anorgasmia}}: Otis suffered from this due to his negative history with sex, but once he starts mastrubating he swings to the opposite extreme.
* TheBigDamnKiss: When Otis and Maeve are stranded in France, the two talk out their tensions with each other, which leads to Otis telling Maeve the love confession that she never got to hear. Maeve responds by finally kissing Otis.
* BirdsOfAFeather: With Maeve; both are intelligent outcasts who share a similar sense of humor and academic interests.
* BlendedFamilyDrama: When Jakob and Ola move in, Otis is the most agitated by the arrangement, minly because not only does he have to share his mother with someone else after years of it just being the two of them, but Ola had already broken up with him and they weren't able to have time apart to recover from it.
* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: A talented sexual psychotherapist, but struggles with his own debilitating sexual neuroses at first. He goes from being scared of sex and masturbation in Series 1 to eventually doing both over the course of Series 2.
* CluelessChickMagnet: An understated example, but throughout the series he catches the attention of Ola, [[spoiler: Maeve]] and Lily. [[spoiler: In season 2, he finally loses his virginity to Ruby of all people, and in season 4, he also gets to make love with Maeve]].
* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler:As of the end of the series, Otis remains alone after his breakups with Ola, Ruby and sadly, after everything they have gone through, Maeve when she has to go back to USA.]]
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: {{Downplayed|Trope}}; a few characters comment on his pasty complexion. Aimee compares him to a Victorian ghost and Maeve's landlady mistook him for a sickly child.
* EndearinglyDorky: Being an unpopular teenage boy, awkwardness is a given. He starts giving sex therapy sessions to his peers despite being inexperienced himself. And it turns out his awkwardness also carries a definite charm that attracts both Ola and later Maeve. (Maeve especially is considered a cool and aloof girl who previously dated the school golden headboy.)
* FlowerMotifs: The bittersweet, which symbolises truth and healing, befitting Otis as a voice of reason.
* FreudianExcuse: Walked in on his father having sex with a client when he was very young; that incident led to his parents' marriage falling apart. This has made it extremely hard for him to even visualize having sex with someone.
* GreenEyedMonster: Otis tries to sabotague Jackson's relationship with maeve upon realising he doesn't get her. He also gets hostile towards Isaac once he starts dating Maeve.
* HasAType: Otis’s love interests (Maeve and Ruby) are both mean to him at times and tend to keep emotional walls.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Otis can hear his peers out about their truly... ''unusual'' sexual problems without judgment. However, he still feels ashamed about his own sexuality, even fairly mild things like nocturnal emissions or sudden erections.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: He's best friends with Eric, though Eric is gay. They've been friends since they were 9 years old.
* InVinoVeritas: In season two, he gets more than a little drunk and starts [[spoiler: spouting hurtful things about ''both'' Maeve and Ola to a group of rowdy high schoolers.]] It doesn't bode well for him.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Eric accuses Otis of this when they fight in Episode 5. From what we've seen, Eric isn't totally off the mark: previous episodes show that Otis has a tendency of disregarding Eric's interests and personal life when he becomes too focused on his own problems.
* JerkassBall: Otis is usually a good guy, but he can get a bit hostile when he's stressed out. He chews out his mother repeatedly, drunkenly slags off both Maeve and Ola when they both turn him down, gets territorial when Ola and Jakob move in with them and uses Maeve's missing sister as an excuse to have a dick-measuring contest with Isaac.
* JerkassHasAPoint: He had a very good reason to be angry with Ola when she moved in his house for taking or using his stuff without asking him.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: Although he doesn't seem remotely like his father Remi at first, Season 2 shows he might be at risk of developing his father's narcissistic and manipulative tendencies. Both Otis and Remi seem aware of this, to which the latter pleads with Otis to not follow his example.
* NervousWreck: A massive part of why he has NoSocialSkills is due to how neurotic and fussy he is. It's partly why he doesn't enjoy sharing the house with Jakob and Ola.
* NiceGuy: A total sweetheart, and one of the main reasons he is such a good therapist. Otis is a good listener and possesses a tremendous amount of empathy towards his friends and the people he treats. While he has a few jerkish moments, Otis does realise his mistakes and tries to be better.
* NoSocialSkills: While he's quite capable of giving advice to people, he does often struggles in his own relationships due to his tendency to say the wrong thing and is sometimes oblivious to how offensive he can act towards girls like comparing them to lame animals for example.
* ParalyzingFearOfSexuality: Is extremely uncomfortable when it comes to his own sexuality, which is ironic considering he is a budding sexual therapist. Otis has trouble masturbating and has panic attacks when he attempts to. He has a particularly bad one when he tries [[spoiler: to have sex with Lily and is forced to call his mum for help]]. The majority of his phobia seems to stem from [[spoiler: seeing his father cheating on his mother with a patient, and the fighting his parents went through after Jean found out]].
* ParentalSexualitySquick: Not only does his mother talk about sex for a living and tries to "therapize" him, she's constantly having sex and has filmed at least one video on sexual technique which is readily available online. All of this is a lot for Otis.
* PlayingCyrano: In the first series Jackson comes to Otis asking for help in getting Maeve to like him more. Otis refuses, then accidentally helps anyway by not being able to shut up when he talks about her.
* ThePornomancer:
** {{Subverted|Trope}}. He's never had sex, or even brought himself to orgasm [[spoiler: until the Season 1 finale, for the latter]]. But his clinic work has given him this reputation: Aimee nicknamed him "Pleasure Master" and Maeve seems genuinely surprised when he spills to her that he's a virgin.
** When he actually [[spoiler: has sex for the first time, Ruby tells him he wasn't great but wasn't terrible, but thanks him for repeatedly checking in to see if she was okay, something most guys don't do with her]].
** In season 3, as he's became sexually active, it's commented that he's ''[[SexGod very]]'' good at it. When having sex with [[spoiler:Ruby]], she outright states it's the only thing about him that's attractive to her, and she'd never date him otherwise.
* RedOniBlueOni: The blue to Eric's red. Otis is a quite introvert while Eric is loud and proud.
* RetargetedLust: [[spoiler: Attempted with Lily as a way to get over his budding attraction to Maeve. It doesn't work.]]
* SafeWord: [[PlayedForLaughs Sets one up during]] [[spoiler: FOREPLAY with Lily, just after they kiss, which doesn't even end in sex.]]
* SelectiveObilviousness: He calls Jean a hypocrite for telling him that is unethical for him to give advice to people at his school when she tries to give him advice about Maeve. He completely ignores the fact that it was unethical for him to give advice due to his own sexual inexperience and the fact that he was charging people for advice.
* SexGod: By season 3, him becoming sexually active combined with his sexual knowledge has made him incredibly good at sex, a fact [[spoiler:Ruby]] reluctantly admits.
* ShrinkingViolet: At the start of the series. Otis hates parties, large crowds and was initially happy being the guy in the corner who nobody knows or talked to. He grows out of this mindset as the series goes on, coming to enjoy connecting with the other students and using his talents for something positive.
* TeenGenius: He's a prodigy at sexual therapy, with (so far as we see) a 100% success rate at helping his peers. {{Downplayed|Trope}} after Season 1, where it becomes obvious that he has some pretty big shortcomings- assuming he can learn a special "one size fits all" fingering trick on the internet, apparently having little or no knowledge of asexuals or how to counsel them, etc.
* TookALevelInJerkass:
** He does display a manipulative side and egotistical tendencies in Season 2 with his relationship with Ola and how he responds to Maeve messing with his head. [[spoiler:It all comes to a head at a drunken party.]]
** It only gets worse in the third season where he doesn't have the balls to break up with Ruby properly and he hounds his mum for being bad at relationships, even though she's had way more sex than him. Thankfully after Jean Milburn has a near-death experience, Otis apologises profusely and rethinks his actions.
** He gets back to this by Season 4 by taking both Eric and Ruby for granted, lashing out at his mum and acting insecure in his long-distance relationship with Maeve.
* UptightLovesWild: Otis had a mundane upbringing with a single case of childhood trauma that has left him a shrinking violet and he's smitten with Maeve, who has an acerbic attitude and lives in a caravan because her parents are deadbeats.
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Not to the same extent as Eric but he does dress in drag to go with him to see ''Theatre/HedwigAndTheAngryInch''.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Otis is perhaps better at these speeches than he is at sex therapy.
** In season 1 he talks a drugged-up classmate out of suicide (or at least serious self-injury) by arguing that, even if he can't have his own idealized form of love, he ''is'' good enough to find someone someday.
** In season 2 he passionately defends his mother's ability as a therapist after Groff's attempts to publicly defame her.
** He also reassures Hope that her emotional breakdown over her inability to conceive doesn't make her weak, because expressing her vulnerabilities shows a certain level bravery.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Eric Effiong]]
!!Eric Effiong
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/se_eric.jpg]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/NcutiGatwa
->''"No! You can't hate musicals! People who hate musicals have no soul!"''
Otis's best friend, and one of the only two openly gay students at Moordale Secondary School.
----
* AbhorrentAdmirer: Initially this to Anwar, the other openly gay student at school who is transparently uninterested. Done away with when Eric hooks up with Adam instead.
* AmbiguousGenderIdentity: Eric enjoys wearing feminine beauty products like makeup and press-on nails. While he has no problem being referred to by male pronouns as sees himself as homosexual, he could easily be gender-fluid.
* BreakTheCutie: Series 1 puts Eric through the wringer when he's attacked for wearing drag. The trauma causes him to lash out at Otis, Mr Hendricks and eventually punching out Anwar.
* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: Eric acts as the Gentle Girl to Adam and Anwar's Brooding Boys.
* ButtMonkey: The whole school treats him like shit, which in the first few episodes is used for a couple of laughs. A DeconstructedTrope in Episode 6, when this is shown to have created a ''lot'' of built-up anger and resentment that's brought to the surface after his falling out with Otis, where he ends up lashing out at Anwar as a result.
* CampGay: Out, loud and proud (emphasis on the loud, especially when it comes to his wardrobe). Eric definitely checks out the major hallmarks of this trope: effeminate, flamboyant, sassy, dresses in vibrant colors and genderfluid apparel (though this last example is only in private, [[spoiler: initially]]). Additionally, the trope is discussed- while many people feel the "camp gay" trope is exaggerated, gay men who act like this in real life are being their truest selves. The depiction isn't making a joke of his sexuality, but rather makes a point about presentation, especially as it relates to being both black and gay.
* TheChewToy: Constantly picked on by Adam, has the unfortunate nickname of "Tromboner", and isn't treated very seriously by much of the school. [[spoiler: PlayedForDrama in Episode 5 and 6, where he is ditched by Otis on his birthday, attacked while dressed in drag and tries to 'toughen up' by yelling at his music teacher and punching Anwar, resulting in him being suspended]].
* DragQueen: Eric loves to crossdress. ''Hedwig and the Angry Itch'' is his favourite musical.
* DreadfulMusician: His inability to play the French horn properly is a RunningGag.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: After the trauma avalanche he's put through during the first serie, it mostly ends on a high note for him. [[spoiler:He reconciles with Otis, his father, Adam and is at least tolerated by Anwar. He's back in the band. He feels confident enough to bring drag elements into his school attire. The only minus point is that Adam is shipped off to a military school.]]
* EmbarrassingNickname: "Tromboner," after getting an erection while playing in front of the whole school. "It was a semi!" Also makes less sense considering he plays French Horn.
-->'''Adam:''' "Tromboner" sounds funnier.
* FlowerMotifs: The protea, which symbolises transformation and courage. As a homosexual with a Nigerian background, Eric's coming out is especially difficult.
* GayBestFriend: Eric is definitely a more layered version of the trope, and as the series goes on he gets his own storylines outside of being Otis's best friend, we get a more in-depth look at his home and personal life and even gets a love interest in [[spoiler: Adam]].
* HappyEndingOverride: Season 3 opens with [[spoiler:Adam back from military school]] in a happy relationship with Eric. However, Eric's confused feelings over a kiss he had with a guy in Nigeria lead to [[spoiler:him and Adam breaking up]] at the end of the season.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Otis. They're friends since they were 9 years old.
* ImmigrantParents: Eric comes from a strict and religious family from Nigeria. Eric's father is particularly concerned about blending in English society; he is thus worried (but ultimately supporting) of his son being so shamelessly himself.
* KickTheDog: [[spoiler: In season 3, he kisses another guy in Nigeria, despite the fact that Adam told him that he loved him.]]
* LargeHam: He's histrionic, flamboyant and very energetic simply because of his campiness.
* NoIndoorVoice: Quite loud at the best of times, but whenever he and Otis are discussing anything private or sensitive he can get overexcited and shout about it at the top of his lungs.
* RedOniBlueOni: The vivacious, extroverted Red to Otis's shyer, more low-key Blue.
* ShipperOnDeck: A strong proponent of Otis and Maeve getting together.
-->'''Otis:''' I... had a sex dream. About Maeve.\\
'''Eric:''' THAT'S BRILLIANT! ''[entire auditorium goes quiet and stares]''
* SpitefulSpit: Eric and his bully Adam are in detention together and are supposed to clean one room at school. Adam keeps annoying Eric and then they start wrestling. As Adam holds Eric down, Eric spits at Adam's face. He immediately says sorry but Adam spits back at him. However, their fight turns into kissing...
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Enjoys wearing make-up and feminine clothing, though at the beginning he only does this in private. He eventually is encouraged to be more open with it, when he starts sharing it with other people like Lily and eventually makes it a part of his regular wardrobe.
* WrongGuyFirst: [[spoiler:Gets his first boyfriend, Rahim, in season 2. Though Rahim is lovely, caring and open about his sexuality (all the things that Adam is not) and Eric does have genuine feelings for him, ultimately they don't have enough in common with one another. In the season 2 finale, Eric leaves Rahim for Adam. Right in front of Rahim and the ''entire'' rest of the school.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Maeve Wiley]]
!!Maeve Wiley
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/se_maeve.jpg]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/EmmaMackey
->''"The students at this school need your help Otis. And we need their money."''
A social outcast at Moordale Secondary with a reputation for being [[ReallyGetsAround a slag]] and bad girl. In actuality, Maeve is a whip-smart girl who befriends Otis and has the idea to start a secret sexual therapy clinic.
----
* AffectionateNickname: Her brother and mother both call her "Froggy" or "Frogface", which is clearly an endearing family pet name from Maeve's childhood. Maeve isn't too fond of it, though, especially when her mother first appears.
* AnimalMotif: An odd one with frogs. Both her brother and mother call her "Froggy" and "Frogface" as an AffectionateNickname, and growing up, it's shown local boys used to call her "Kermit" when sexually harassing her.
* TheBigDamnKiss: When Otis and Maeve are stranded in France, the two talk out their tensions with each other, which leads to Otis telling Maeve the love confession that she never got to hear. Maeve responds by finally kissing Otis.
* BirthdayHater: She claims she hates her birthdays, which has lots to do with her bad luck in the family department, her sad childhood and tough life as a teen. She however looks fairly pleased when Aimee brings her homemade cake or when Otis wishes her "happy birthday".
* Bittersweet17: Shortly after her 17th birthday in season 2, life doesn't seem to go well for her. [[spoiler:It improves by the end of season 3 however, when she's on good terms with Otis, reconciles with her mother, and gains a scholarship in America.]]
* BrainyBrunette: From Season 2 onwards: she has dark hair and she's one of the smartest characters in the show.
* ButWeUsedACondom: [[spoiler:Maeve and Jackson had sex and used a condom as protection, but Maeve becomes pregnant. She doesn't spend any time agonizing over it, simply getting an abortion. She never even tells the father.]]
* CallingParentsByTheirName: [[spoiler: When her mother comes back]], she exclusively refers to her as "Erin". Her mother doesn't like it.
* DeadpanSnarker: Throws around withering remarks at the rest of the student body, especially the Untouchables.
* DefrostingIceQueen: In general has a guarded personality, but shows her nicer side with her friends - notably Aimee, Otis, Jackson and Isaac (and also Eric to an extent). Maeve tends to put up emotional walls and usually doesn't let people get too close to her.
* DelinquentHair: In the first season, she has dyed blond hair with pink shades and dark roots. Combined with her punk clothes, earrings and a ring in her nose, she looks rather tough and intimidating.
** From Series 2 onwards Maeve keeps her hair dark with purple tips.
* DontYouDarePityMe: Her BerserkButton is others taking pity on her. This comes to a head when she finds out Aimee paid her fees for the school trip to France, and leads to their first serious argument in the show.
* EmbarrassingNickname: Called "Cock-Biter" around school, due to a rumor that was spread about her giving a classmate oral sex and accidentally biting his penis. [[spoiler: This turns out to be a lie - what ''actually'' happened was that a guy tried to kiss her but she refused. Angry, he made up the "cock-biter" story as vengeance.]]
* EmoTeen: Dresses in a stereotypical emo fashion and listens to punk rock. That being said, she ''does'' have a pretty good reason for being gloomy.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Early in season 2, she dyes her hair. She goes from platinum blonde with pink tones and dark roots to dark brown hair. She dyes her hair shortly after her mother notes she sported similar hair when she was Maeve's age.
* FlowerMotifs: The blessed thistle, which symbolises bravery and strength. Maeve refuses to take crap from anybody and is unambiguously virtuous.
* FreudianExcuse: After a long series of personal abandonments, she started cutting off personal ties out of fear of being let down again.
* FriendsWithBenefits: She is this with [[spoiler: Jackson]], at least until [[spoiler: he starts wanting a proper relationship with her.]] [[spoiler: They date in the second half of season one, only to break it off over a disagreement in episode eight.]]
* GoodBadGirl: Under the punk rebel aesthetic and stony exterior, Maeve is emotionally insightful, nice and does remarkably well in her studies.
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: When Maeve becomes pregnant, there is little debate on the subject. The clinic worker asks whether she has considered adoption, to which she jokes that no one would want a pregnant teenager. Aside from some anti-choice protesters in front of the clinic, no one else tries to dissuade her.
* GoodIsNotSoft: She's a good person, but she often tends to hide it under a tough demeanor.
* GreenEyedMonster: Maeve gets jealous of Ola and Ruby when either is with Otis, though she's better than Otis at controlling her jealousy.
* GuileHero: She blackmails her headmaster into letting her come back to school and has no issue threatening people into doing what needs to be done.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Her and Aimee eventually graduate to this.
* HiddenDepths: Is academically gifted, which she struggles with being more open about, and reads feminist and philosophical literature.
* HighSchoolHustler: She used to accept commissions to do people's homework. And then in the first episode she gets the idea to do back-alley sex therapy. Deconstructed, as it's not just pathological anti-authoritarianism; she's an emancipated minor who lives in poverty, and needs the money.
* {{Hypocrite}}: In season 3, she states that she didn’t talk to Otis about the voicemail due to his unpleasant behaviour towards her in season 2 and claims that an apology doesn’t get him off the hook. Yet when Isaac tells her that he deleted said voicemail, she accepts his apology soon afterwards.
* IWillWaitForYou: InvertedTrope: [[spoiler:when she leaves for America at the end of Season 3, she implicitly asks Otis - now finally promoted to boyfriend - to wait for her to come back.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: She's generally cold and aloof, but has far more empathy towards women than most of her peers, as seen by her helping Ruby despite the latter never being anything less than awful to her.
* LeavingYouToFindMyself: Maeve finally admits she loves Otis back, but she also has to travel to America for a scholarship. It's uncertin how their relationship will go from here.
* LowerClassLout: Appears to consider herself this in the first season, at least in comparison to [[spoiler: her clean-cut boyfriend Jackson.]] She gets over it.
* MaliciousSlander: Her reputation as the school slag and her nickname of "Cock-biter" originated [[spoiler:when she was 14, a classmate tried to kiss her and she declined. To cover, he invented the cock-biting story whole cloth.]]
* MeaningfulName: In the Irish epic ''Literature/TheCattleRaidOfCooley'', Queen Medbh (same pronunciation) is a powerful queen with a reputation as a man-eater, who insisted on having wealth equal to her husband's. More mundanely, "Wiley" hints at Maeve's intelligence and her willingness to play outside the rules.
* MiseryPoker: When Otis complains about the overbearing nature of his mother, Maeve one-ups him by revealing that hers is an addict. That being said, she doesn't seem to have meant it maliciously, as she quickly smiles and tells him not to apologize.
* NiceGirl: Underneath her cold and aloof exterior, she's a pretty sweet and morally healthy young woman. Lampshaded by Otis.
* NonconformistDyedHair: Maeve has naturally dark hair, and in the first season it's dyed blonde with pink streaks. She's the school's surly, rebellious outcast from a TrashyTrailerHome, and an outspoken feminist with a (slanderous) reputation for being promiscuous. As she becomes more integrated into Moordale and begins to strive for legitimate academic recognition, she goes back to her natural brown hair.
* NotSoAboveItAll: Usually very scornful of soppiness and excessive sentimentality. But she also falls for Jackson after he makes a very public grand romantic gesture towards her. When Eric accidentally garners attention during an assembly and tries to play it off by giving a small lecture on how menstruation is normal and it's "good to have a nice cleanout", Maeve is noticeably biting down on her lip to keep from cracking up at his antics.
* NotSoStoic: Her "screw you all" persona slips several times in the series. Otis hypothesizes that she puts the whole thing on as an act to stop getting close to people [[spoiler: and gets a firsthand demonstration when he drunkenly shares his hypothesis with about a hundred people, reducing Maeve to tears]].
* OddFriendship: Her and Aimee classify as this. They are basically polar opposites of each other but it doesn't stop them from becoming best friends.
* ParentalAbandonment: Maeve's home life is extremely lonely. It is eventually revealed that [[spoiler: her MissingMom is a drug addict, her father is dead, and her brother -- labeled "Idiot Brother" in her phone -- is a criminal with no time to spare for her.]] She has serious abandonment issues as a result.
* ParentalSubstitute: At the end of Season 3, her and Aimee declare themselves to be each other's "mothers" to cover for the respective absence of a mother figure in their lives.
* PetTheDog: Her scenes with her little sister are nothing short of adorable, considering Maeve barely knew of her existence and wanted nothing to do with her in the beginning but steadily grows to love her and want the best for her.
* ReallyGetsAround: Maeve has a reputation for sleeping with just about anything with a penis. [[spoiler:This is definitively proven untrue. During her abortion, she only lists one current sexual partner (Jackson -- the one who got her pregnant), and is not shown to have any others over the course of the season.]]
* RebelliousSpirit: Though most of the rumors about her are greatly exaggerated, she's still pretty defiant in reality.
* RiotGrrrl: A fan of classic feminist literature and punk rock.
* SeniorYearStruggles: Maeve is the most driven to get a good education and escape her lower-class environment. In series 3 she considers a scholarship in the US, but struggles to find the funding to carry this through.
* SmarterThanYouLook: She's quite adept when it comes to schoolwork, a far cry from her troublemaking reputation.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: When Maeve looks over a photo of her toddler self with family, we notice that she looks a ''lot'' like her young mother.
* TrashyTrailerHome: Maeve is [[MinorLivingAlone a teenager who lives alone in a caravan park]], the UK equivalent, which is indicative of her horrible family life: she has a brother and a mother, but neither are there for her regularly. She's ostracized by much of the school and seen as promiscuous trailer trash.
* TryingNotToCry: Heartbreakingly, she tries to stay tough during her [[spoiler: abortion]]. And later when Otis verbally trashes her at his drunken party in the second season.
* UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo: With Otis throughout the show, with them both taking it in-turns to pine over the other, only to then decide to move on with someone else. A similar and obviously non-romantic dynamic happens with her mother, who spends much of season 2 desperate for Maeve to forgive her and welcome her back into her life, only for, when Maeve begins to trust her again, she discovers Erin is taking heroin again and calls the police. After this she tries desperately to rebuild a relationship, but Erin refuses to forgive her.
* WhenSheSmiles: Brooding outcast that she is, Maeve is slow to a smile, but when something goes her way—usually Otis doing something nice for her—she often can’t help but show a small smirk. It’s one of the few times we get to see her walls come down.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Adam Groff]]
!!Adam Groff
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/se_adam.jpg]]
!!!'''Played by:''' Creator/ConnorSwindells
->''"Headmaster Groff is my dad, which is weird because I'm quite shit at school. And this? This is my dick."''
A known bully, slacker and stoner, as well as the headmaster's son.
----
* AnimalMotifs: Dogs.
** He’s vocal about his affinity for dogs, and it’s a trait quite a few characters seem to know about him. He cares very much for his own dog (fittingly named Madam), scolds Eric about proper dog care, and eventually vandalizes Abeo’s car with dog feces when Eric causes Madam to run away. It suits his personality well: he’s aggressive and slow to trust others, but also loyal to a fault and mostly just seeking affection and approval.
** His Season 2 arc continues this via his brief stints in boarding school and the convenience store, which are his father’s attempts to teach him discipline and obedience (as one would a dog). He also manages to train his boss’s previously untrainable dog.
** In Season 3, Adam mentions his love of dogs to Rahim and is ''disgusted'' to hear Rahim is a cat person. He also ends up finding his passion participating in dog shows with Madam. Additionally, the season’s “flowers” promotional material associates him with the dog rose.
* {{Anorgasmia}}: Adam has to fake an orgasm when he's having sex with Aimee. It's initially chalked up to his self-esteem issues, but later on he's revealed to be more attracted to boys than he is to girls.
* [[ArmouredClosetGay Armoured Closet Bisexual]]: [[spoiler: He frequently bullies and harasses Eric for being gay, even calling him a "fag" in one episode, but is later revealed to have feelings for Eric himself]].
* BiggerIsBetterInBed: The rumor is that Adam's penis is the size of two Coke cans stacked together (length and width). It is one of the major reasons he has trouble climaxing during sex, because the pressure of this reputation causes him to fret and second-guess himself. He ends up [[spoiler: flashing the rest of the student body to put to rest the rumors about its size, exclaiming it is only actually above average in terms of national statistics]].
* BiWildered: Adam is initially troubled by his gradual transition away from girls to boys. He doesn't officially come out untl the end of Series 2.
* BoomerangBigot: [[spoiler: Calls Eric homophobic slurs and pokes fun of his open homosexuality, despite being a closet bisexual himself. Overlaps with YouAreWhatYouHate]].
* BookDumb: He doesn't do well in school.
* TheBully: Picks on numerous characters, especially Otis and Eric. He has a particular animosity with Eric and even vandalizes Eric's father's car with dog shit when Eric inadvertently causes Adam to lose his dog.
* ButtMonkey: Nothing goes Adam's way, and if there's someone who's going to be the victim of physical comedy it's usually him. To be fair, a lot of this is self-inflicted due to his own recklessness and flagrant stupidity.
* CallingTheOldManOut: Appears to be aware of how much of a bad person his father is. [[spoiler: A shocking example comes in episode seven, wherein he grabs Mr. Groff by the throat and screams about how much he hates him.]]
* CharacterDevelopment: [[spoiler: Season 2 is a big one for him. He drops his bullying ways with everyone, he faces the fact that he is bisexual and he hates himself, also accepting he is in love with Eric, asking forgiveness from him for all the pain he caused him and publicly announcing that he is in love with him. He also develops a friendship with Ola which helps him improve as a person, which indirectly helps the girls bond.]]
* DumbassTeenageSon: His academic inepitudes are one of several reasons his father is so hard on him.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Even at his worst and most unruly, Adam was pretty close with Maureen.
* FlowerMotifs: The dog rose, which symbolises ferocity and honesty. Adam's not a friendly guy, but he's straightforward and desperate to earn the trust of others.
* HiddenDepths: Cares deeply both for Aimee and his mom's dog Madam. Dog care is something he's pretty good at. He manages to train his manager's otherwise untrainable dog while working at a convenience store.
** He also struggles with his reputation being the headmaster's son who is shitty at school.
** He mentions to Miss Sands that he likes to pretend that he's Gandalf from [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings.]]
** Season 3 also reveals that he watches [[Series/KeepingUpWithTheKardashians Keeping Up With the Kardashians]] with his mother, which he ends up bonding with Ruby over.
** He tries his hand at poetry towards the end of Series 3. Rahim notes that it's fairly decent for his first attempt.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: More like a heart of rusted bronze, buried very, ''very'' deep down. He's most certainly an arsehole with redeeming moments that a sprinkled very few and far between. [[spoiler: This heart is shown more and grows in season 2, where he really starts growing and improving as a person. He makes serious efforts to improve himself and make amends with those he has hurt, particularly Eric.]]
* LovingBully: [[spoiler:After bullying Eric throughout season 1, they end up hooking up. Season 2 shows that he genuinely has deep feelings for Eric, and they become a couple by the last episode of the season.]]
* MaybeEverAfter: [[spoiler:Adam and his boss Jem, the farm owner's daughter, agree to go on a date, and a possible relationship between the two is not out of the question.]]
* NoSocialSkills: Most (if not all) of Adam's issues and poor decisions stem from his inability to express himself in a clear or healthy way. Some of this is due to his father's treatment of him but some very possibly comes from some mental disorder that has most likely gone undiagnosed and untreated. He does come a long way in the second and third seasons.
* PerformanceAnxiety: Has difficulty ejaculating when having sex with Aimee. This is caused by his fear of not living up to his reputation as the headmaster's son and worry he's not a good enough boyfriend for Aimee. This dysfunction ends up making him the first patient of Maeve and Otis's secret sex therapy clinic.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Eric and Adam nearly break up in season three because their initial attempts to have sex for the first time go poorly, and Adam (a fairly uncommunicative person in general) can only say, "I don't want this." Eventually Adam manages to say what he really means: he wants to be the receiver, not the giver. Eric is quite OK with that.
* OddFriendship: With Otis's mum. They share a joint in one scene and later when Jean shows up at Aimee's party looking for Otis they have an in-depth conversation about Adam's love life.
** He also warms up to Otis when they double-date with Eric and Ruby.
* PetTheDog: Literally; one of his few redeeming points is his affection towards his family dog Madam.
* RealMenWearPink: He discovers an innate ability for dog agility training in Season 3 and starts writing poetry.
* TheSlacker: Doesn't do well in school, and pays Maeve to write his papers.
* SourOutsideSadInside: Adam's disdainful of his own father and acts like a prick towards everybody, but he's also riddled with insecurties ranging from his bisexuality to feeling like he doesn't measure up as a boyfriend to Eric [[spoiler: which turns out to be true when Eric cheats on him]].
* TheStoner: Often seen smoking a joint.
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: He and Madam enter their first dog agility contest in Season 3. [[spoiler:Being their first ever contest, they don't win, or place in the top three for that matter, though they earn a special commendation for an outstanding debut performance.]]
* TroubledAbuser: His bullying of Eric in the first season is framed as this, as there was a lot of reasons behind it. He himself was horribly bullied by his father, he has horrible self-esteem issues that results in explosive bouts of anger, he has trouble communicating, which he's greatly frustrated by and it often causes him to become aggressive, and more directly, he's a closeted bisexual man with a crush on Eric, which he's trying very hard to repress. This is Deconstructed as while he has sympathetic reasons for being the way he is, Otis believes FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse and calls Eric out on dating him, and is nothing but critical of the relationship when Eric pursues it.
* TheUnfavourite: His father doesn't make any secret of the fact that he's a disappointment, and is openly warmer and more paternal with his star pupil Jackson, a golden boy athlete. He also directly asks Adam to his face why he isn't more like his hard-working sister.
* WellDoneSonGuy: It's understated, but he wants his father's approval. But due to his father's extremely exacting standards and Adam's own limitations, that's not about to happen anytime soon.
* [[WhenSheSmiles When He Smiles]]: Though certainly not unattractive, Adam is very dour and frowny most of the time. This makes the times when he does smile all the more lovely.
* WhyCantIHateYou: In spite of the tension between Adam and Rahim regarding Eric, Adam takes a bullet for him for no reason at all. When Eric reveals that he cheated on Adam, the latter confides with Rahim and it's hinted that they're now friends.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Jackson Marchetti]]
!!Jackson Theodore Marchetti
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/se_jackson.jpg]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/KedarWilliamsStirling
->''"I feel like, like I'm suffocating. Like I'm living in somebody else's body. Trapped in somebody else's life!"''
Moordale Secondary's popular Head Boy and the swim team's star athlete. He is secretly having sex with Maeve at the beginning of the series.
----
* TheAce: He's beloved, he's capable, one of the best swimmers, he's friendly and above bullying others and although his reading feminist authors starts as a ploy to get closer to Maeve, he actually becomes interested in them.
* AloneAmongTheCouples: [[spoiler:Alongside Otis, as of the end of season 4.]]
* BecomingTheMask: He starts out reading feminist authors to become more attractive to Maeve, but then finds he really likes them.
* BigManOnCampus: He's the handsome, popular star athlete of Moordale. His introduction as Head Boy is met with cheers.
* BookDumb: While his academic performances are not touched upon, he is significantly less cultured than Maeve, part of his scheme to woo her (inadvertently suggested by Otis) is to catch up on her favorite authors.
* BrokenAce: Later episodes reveal some shards of this. His parents are close to divorcing, he feels enormous pressure by the school and one of his moms to succeed and he's just a little too eager to be corrupted by Maeve's brother.[[spoiler: And then of course there’s what he does to his own hand in season 2.]]
* ClassRepresentative: He's the Head Boy, and at first appears to be quite a stereotypical one.
* DramaClub: In season two, he [[spoiler: plays Romeo in a sexually-themed production of ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' at school]].
* FlowerMotifs: The cape jasmine, which symbolises peace and emotional support. Jackson's much more sensitive than he lets on.
* GrandRomanticGesture: Jackson puts on a massive performance with the school's band as a way of asking Maeve to go steady with him. It works, but they break up soon after.
* HiddenDepths:
** As a competitive swimmer in training, he is under a lot of pressure from one of his moms and his trainer. In reality, he resents the intensity of his training and wishes he could have fun like a regular teenager.
** His attempts to woo Maeve result in developing some additional ones on-top; while implied to be a LadykillerInLove, he quickly finds himself engrossed in the feminist reading he initially takes in just to impress Maeve and it seems to rub off on him, to the point he's the first male to stand up during the "that's my vagina" IAmSpartacus moment.
** In Season 2, he attempts to get into drama so that he has something in his life other than swimming. Unfortunately, nobody's very understanding of his reasons for doing so, putting more pressure on him. However, people are genuinely surprised that his acting and delivery of Shakespeare's line is decent.
* IfItsYouItsOK: He's a straight cis-male, but he finds himself being incredibly attracted to the non-binary Cal. Deconstructed though, as he's still wired to think of romance and sexuality in a cis-het manner, which unfortunately makes things a non-starter with Cal who feels Jackson still views them as a "her". Jackson for his credit tries to be open-minded, scolds himself for using gendered compliments, and is mostly OK with the idea of being in a queer relationship even if that's not how he identifies.
* KickTheDog: Snaps at Viv calling her a robot when under stress in Season 2.
* LovableJock: Moordale's premier swimming champion, and is very affable despite being at the top of the popularity food chain.
* LoveCannotOvercome: Jackson's relationship with Cal fizzles out once it becomes clear his attraction to them would be non-existent if Cal was assigned male at birth.
* NiceGuy: He is nothing but friendly to everyone he interacts with. Even after [[spoiler: breaking up with Maeve, he still goes out of his way to help her stay in school by threatening to quit the swim team if she is expelled]]. He's however shown to have some aura of the popular kid who doesn't see the less popular crowd, but he becomes a genuine friend to Viv, a super smart girl who tutors Jackson and is a member of the quiz team.
* ThePromposal: He asks Maeve to the school dance, which eventually becomes the kiss of death for their relationship.
* SchoolIdol: Seems widely liked. Headmaster Groff clearly likes him much better than his own son.
* SelfHarm: [[spoiler: In Season 2, he finally snaps from the pressure and deliberately smashes his hand with weights to get away from his athletic responsibilities for a while. Viv and his parents intervene before it progresses into a full-blown habit]].
* StepfordSmiler: Privately, he suffers from severe anxiety issues. He has panic attacks and is worried his parents will get a divorce (he believes his athletic career is one of the only things keeping them together).
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Aimee Gibbs]]
!!Aimee Gibbs
[[quoteright:281:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b258be3f_ff2c_41c2_a84e_b4f437afbb8d.jpeg]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/AimeeLouWood
->''"I think I'm gonna stick with baker. I do really like toast!"''
A former member of the Untouchables, the most popular clique in school, who strikes an unlikely friendship with Maeve.
----
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted. She's surprisingly open about her bodily functions.
* BrainlessBeauty: A sweet girl, but not the brightest.
* BreakTheCutie: In the second season, she's [[spoiler: sexually assaulted on the bus by a stranger. Despite initially waving it off as just a ruined pair of jeans, she soon finds herself unable to use the bus or have sex without panicking]].
* BrokenBird: She loses a lot of her idealism after [[spoiler: being sexually assaulted by a stranger]] in season two.
* CloudCuckooLander: She's an odd girl, to put it mildly. She doesn't seem to have a filter so she'll constantly over-share, she tends to forget to look forward when driving, she becomes fascinated by the oddest things, and upon discovering there are "different types of vulvas", she becomes inspired to make "vulva cupcakes".
* TheCutie: She's sweet, bubbly, and absolutely adorable. Even Maeve - who appears to be disdainful of The Untouchables at best - has a soft spot for her.[[spoiler: Unfortunately, this turns into BreakTheCutie in season two, when she is sexually assaulted on the bus.]]
* ADogNamedDog: Aimee adopts a goat and names it "Goat".
* DudeMagnet: She's beautiful, popular and has dated three objectively good-looking guys over the course of the series.
* DumbBlonde: She's a ditzy and naive blonde but she does have her own sense of complexities as a teenage girl.
* ExtremeDoormat: A people-pleaser and tends to let others push her around, especially boyfriends and rest of the Untouchables. This becomes a problem in the bedroom with one of her boyfriends is put off by her faking enjoyment and her inability to put her own sexual needs above his.
** Comes up again in Season 3, when Maeve angrily accuses her of being such a people-pleaser that she won’t break up with Steve even though she doesn’t have feelings for him any more. [[spoiler:During her therapy sessions with Jean, Aimee even wonders if her smiling at the man on the bus is what led to her assault, which Jean immediately shuts down.]]
* FlowerMotifs: The hardy geranium, which symbolises friendship and protection. Aimee is the one person that sticks by Maeve for no reason other than kindness.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: She loves animals including less loved ones like bats and spiders.
* {{Gasshole}}: She farts when she's scared.
* GoodBadGirl: She's a sweet and innocent girl with a highly active sex life.
* GrewASpine: By the end of the first season, she chooses Maeve over her popular "friends".
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Aside from having long, blonde and wavy hair, she’s one of the sweetest and bubbly characters in the show.
* HatesBeingAlone: And as such she's gotten too used to going along with other people, without developing real desires of her own.
* LoveCannotOvercome: With her sexual anxiety not blowing over any time soon, Aimee eventually decides she needs to break up with Steven rather than subject him to a sexless relationship.
* MeaningfulName: Aimee (from the French meaning "loved") is a kind-hearted, sweet girl.
* MsFanservice: She's naked and having sex in her very first appearance.
* NiceGirl: Significantly kinder than the rest of the Untouchables. She's from a wealthy family, but she's kind, and a loyal friend to Maeve.
* OddFriendship: A somewhat dim, pretty, popular girl who is good friends with Maeve, a tough, sarcastic, studious social outcast.
* ReallyGetsAround: She hasn't been without a boyfriend for more than a few days since... ever.
* ShipperOnDeck: Frequently encourages Maeve to tell Otis that she likes him. [[spoiler:{{Subverted|Trope}} in the Season 3 finale where, though she is happy that the two are finally together, she tells Maeve not to waste an opportunity to study in America just to stay with Otis.]]
* SpoiledSweet: A wealthy and socially active girl who is nonetheless very kind and considerate. At worst, she's not very understanding about Adam [[spoiler: flashing everyone at lunch]], though to be fair, who would be?
** PlayedForDrama in Season 3. Aimee has her mum pay for Maeve to go on the school trip to France, which rankles her as she hates depending on others or receiving pity. This conflict escalates into their first proper argument in the show.
* StepfordSmiler: Aimee brushes off her sexual assault, but once she's alone she bursts into tears. She also struggles to hide the fact that being touched by Steve now triggers her. Eventually she blows a fuse and lets out her pent-up angst.
* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: After failing to attract Steve's interest with flattery, they bond over their love of making mind maps.
* TokenGoodTeammate: She's the only nicest member of the Untouchables. As of the first season finale, Aimee becomes fed up with their poor treatment of Maeve and turns on them out of loyalty to her friend.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Ruby Matthews]]
!!Ruby Matthews
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ruby_matthews.jpg]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/MimiKeene
----
* AlphaBitch: Ruby is the clear leader of the pack and by far the meanest, though this doesn't mean there is no dissent in the ranks, as seen below.
* BettyAndVeronica: In season 3 she becomes the Veronica in the LoveTriangle with [[spoiler:Otis and Maeve]], as she's the "sexy and mean" LoveInterest.
* BigDamnHeroes: For a certain value of "hero", but in the seventh episode of season 3 [[spoiler:she springs into action and successfully prevents Hope from interrupting the students' video presentation during the Moordale open day, ''wrestling her'' and spraying her perfume in Hope's eyes to dizzy her.]]
* BigEgoHiddenDepths She's introduced as a seemingly shallow AlphaBitch, but grows into a more complex character as the story goes on.
* BreakTheHaughty: She's introduced as a snobbish and mean AlphaBitch who acts like TheBully to Maeve and even mistreats her own friends. Then [[spoiler::Olivia gets tired of Ruby's mistreatment, and leaks nudes of Ruby, causing Ruby so much stress she had to beg for help from Maeve, the girl she often {{Slut Sham|ing}}ed.]]
* BrutalHonesty: She's known for not mincing her words and just telling people whatever's on her mind.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Arguably, this occurs over season 3. [[spoiler: Ruby's dad makes it clear she's become warmer and happier since dating Otis and she tells him she loves him, something she had never done before.]]
* EatingLunchAlone: In season 4 she ends up doing this, when attending a different school to Olivia and Anwar, and insulting a popular clique of students, who later reject her.
* TheFashionista: This applies to some extent to all the Untouchables, but Ruby in particular always stands out. Even when [[spoiler: Hope institutes school uniforms, Ruby notably alters hers to make her skirt shorter and the fit more flattering as well as accessorizing extensively]]
* FreudianExcuse: Towards the end of season 2, we learn that her father struggles with MS, and in season 3, she reveals to Otis that she is not wealthy like she makes out. [[spoiler: And in season 4, a flashback shows she was bullied for her wealth when she was 10, as well as her bed wetting problem, which O told everyone about in a never have I ever game, after promising to keep it a secret]].
* GiveGeeksAChance: Variation; Ruby admits that she goes after nerdy guys when she feels down. This accounts for Warhammer Tom [[spoiler: and eventually Otis]].
* HeadTurningBeauty: She is considered by many to be the prettiest girl in school.
* ICanChangeMyBeloved: When she starts to officially date [[spoiler:Otis]] in season 3, she attempts to mold him to be more like a "popular kid" like her.
* IncompatibleOrientation: In season 2, Ruby gets one look at Rahim and decides immediately that he ''will'' be her boyfriend. She continues her attempts to seduce him even after he starts a relationship with another male student, even flirting with him while he and [[spoiler:Eric]] are standing in front of her, literally arm-in-arm.
* MagneticGirlfriend: Ruby tries to enhance Otis' sex appeal once they start dating.
* MockMillionaire: As AlphaBitch of the school and TheFashionista, she gives off the vibe her family has a lot of money, but it's revealed in season 3 she comes from a humble household. She's so insecure about it, she never invited anyone over, even Olivia and Anwar.
* OddFriendship: She bonds with Adam over the Kardashians which he watches with his mother. She keeps in contact with him so they can talk about the show more.
* ProudBeauty: She's very proud of being considered one of the hottest girls in school.
* SexForSolace: She often ends up sleeping with nerdy boys due to stress over her father's health issues, which is how she and [[spoiler:Otis]] first end up sleeping together.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Vivienne 'Viv' Odesanya]]
!!Vivienne 'Viv' Odesanya
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_26583fe51ca97898d00a9b66a6096ad9_2d1b686b_1280.jpg]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/ChinenyeEzeudu
->''"Listen, my schedule's organised for optimum time management. Take it or leave it."''
An incredibly bright and driven girl who is one of Moordale's best students. She’s tasked with tutoring Jackson in Season 2 and forms an unlikely bond with him.
----
* BlackBossLady: Deconstructed. She's a dark-skinned black girl tapped to be the new Head Girl of the school by the (white) headmistress, who freely admits that it projects an image of progressiveness and diversity.
* CannotSpitItOut: Has a crush on a fellow Quiz Head but turns into a babbling idiot whenever she tries to talk to him. Jackson decides to help her out; [[spoiler: she's grateful but eventually realizes her crush is a bit of a bore and cuts ties]].
* TheCorruptible: She has a lot of immediate affection/hero worship for Hope, the new headteacher in season 3, so much so she jumps at the chance to side with her against her peers.
* CourtlyLove: A modern variant. Viv and her boyfriend send each other sexy messages, which he insists on spicing up with Medieval/Renaissance roleplay.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Though she jumps to follow Hope's hoops, she draws the line at outright ratting on people, and tries to find a balance between the draconic policies and finding a way to make them accommodating for Cal and other queer students. Also, while she might not take too much issue with Hope's indirectly anti-LGBTQ+ policies (which, to Viv's credit, it's plausible to assume she believed Hope was merely not taking queer issues into consideration rather than being outright unsympathetic), when Hope privately admits to some racist views, it's enough to break the pedestal. It's firmly broken when she then outright admits how much she outright detests the "identity politics" of the current generation.
* ExtracurricularEnthusiast: She's planned her life around her academics and extracurriculars to get ahead in life.
* FlowerMotifs: The amaryllis, which symbolises scholastic success and passion. Viv is ambitious to a fault, emotionally solid as a rock and still freely indulges in her sexual desires.
* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: She's the smartest kid in her grade, but doesn't have friends and has trouble getting a date.
* JerkassBall: In Season 3, her obsession with improving her CV (and with Hope) causes her to blindly enforce Hope’s increasingly fascist policies. This puts her at odds with the rest of the school, but especially Jackson, whose Head Boy position she totally hijacks when Hope offers it to her.
* KickTheDog: She already heard Cal's pronouns are they/them, which makes Viv's decision to accost them over wearing the "wrong" uniform (Cal wore the more gender-neutral boy's uniform), and aggressively demand they put on the girl's uniform, humiliating them.
* LesCollaborateurs: When the new headteacher asks her to be the new Head Girl, relieving Jackson of his duty, she immediately says yes because it'd be good for her academic career.
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: What makes her ultimately betray Hope is when Hope, casually, admits that Viv's only real use to Hope as Head Girl is that her ethnicity makes her a good TokenMinority to show investors.
* NerdyBully: She's a bit hostile towards Maeve when she joins the Quiz Heads, and a bit disparaging of Jackson's reliance on his athletic accomplishments. At first.
* NotSoStoic: The first crack in her uptight facade comes when her crush walks past and she immediately turns flighty and giggly, to Jackson's extreme amusement.
* OddFriendship: With Jackson. What starts as a forced peer tutoring relationship between a lonely nerd and the BigManOnCampus becomes a genuine friendship.
* ProfessionalButtKisser: What leads to her betraying Jackson; she really wants to excel in school, to the point she's willing to take Jackson's place as Head Boy.
* ScheduleFanatic: Has her life meticulously planned out to optimize her chances of getting into a good school.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Her loyalty to Hope finally ends after Moordale introduces ritual humiliation, and she allies with Jackson and Cal in their plan to take back control of the school.
* TheSpock: She is accused of being unemotional and prone to rattling off statistics about the situation at hand.
* TeachersPet: Viv goes into extreme brownnosing mode when her school's new headmistress Hope shows up. One especially cringey moment is when Hope debuts the new school song to a thoroughly unimpressed student body, and Viv claps with a big grin, futilely trying to get other people to join in.
* TrueCompanions:
** She's good enough friends with Jackson to [[spoiler: help him with his self-harm habit, even doing the right thing by alerting his parents knowing he might never forgive her for it.]]
** She also bonds with Maeve, Aimee, Ola, Olivia, and Lily while in detention together, over shared experiences of sexual assault or harassment.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Cal Bowman]]
!!Cal Bowman
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e9evgyhwqaiaz_m.jpg]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/DuaSaleh
->''"Here's the thing, i'm still figuring out so much shit about myself. I can't carry you too."''
A rebellious non-binary student from America introduced in Season 3, who becomes Jackson's new maybe LoveInterest.
----
* AirVentPassageway: [[spoiler:How they escape the classroom in which Hope locked them in order to prevent them to "disrupt" the Moordale open day.]]
* AmbiguousGenderIdentity: At first, until they clarify they identify as they/them. Despite their identification, it seems others are confused/dismissive, as Hope and Viv both insist on treating them as simply a tomboyish girl. Jackson too has trouble wrapping his head around his attraction to them, and Cal fears he still shares Viv and Hope's perspective of their identity. In season 4 Cal has started using testosterone and is planning on getting top surgery, but still goes by they/them pronouns.
* ArchEnemy: Hope Haddon. Of all the students, Cal is the most open about how much they ''hate'' Hope, and Hope in turn makes it clear Cal is the one they dislike the most. Cal is non-binary and Hope's new policies directly harms them more than any other student, and Hope finds Cal's repeated urgence of these matters to be increasingly annoying, especially Cal's refusal to simply bend to her rules. [[spoiler:When Hope is finally fired, Cal ''cheers''.]]
* BigEntrance: [[spoiler:During the students' open day presentation against Hope, an air vent section crashes on the stage. Out comes Cal, who used the vent to escape the classroom Hope had locked them in, and flips the bird to the headmistress.]]
* FlowerMotif: The coleus, representing individuality and acceptance.
* ForeignExchangeStudent: They're from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
* MentorInQueerness: At the end of season 3 they become one for Layla, the other non-binary student in Moordale.
* ShowerShy: Well, changing room shy. Because they're non-binary, they don't like being in public changing rooms, especially as Moordale only has binary changing rooms for girls and boys. Destroying the abandoned toilets is devastating for them, as it destroys the only place they were safe changing in.
* TheSlacker: They tick off most of the boxes: skateboards everywhere, wears baggy oversized clothes, frequently clashes with Hope, and gets high off weed and mushrooms on the France trip with Jackson. That said, some of these behaviours are justified: They wear baggy clothes because wearing otherwise makes them feel uncomfortable with their body, and they clash with Hope because she keeps using her position to undermine their gender identity.
* TheStoner: Not as much as Kyle, but they'll smoke a joint and take some mushrooms for fun.
[[/folder]]
!!Parents
[[folder:Jean Milburn]]
!!Dr. Jean Milburn
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jean_milburn.png]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/GillianAnderson
Otis's mother and renowned sex and relationship therapist.
----
* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Otis is deeply ashamed of his mother's profession and petrified of anyone finding out about it, and Jean is a lot more open-minded about sex than Otis would prefer her to be.
* AmicableExes: Subverted. She and her ex-husband can have conversations with each other rather easily, but once those are over Jean tends to explode into {{Cluster F Bomb}}s.
* ButWeUsedACondom : [[spoiler: She's revealed to be pregnant at the end of season 2, even though Jakob had a vasectomy (and she's pre-menopausal). ]]
* CoolOldLady: She's not ''that'' old, but she's a savvy middle-aged woman who Otis's teenage classmates occasionally experience attraction to.
* EveryoneHasStandards: As much as she tries to be supportive of anything Otis does regarding sex, she is understandably quite squicked when she catches him masturbating in the car, in public. Though she later tries to focus purely on the logistics, that the car is a shared space and that exposing yourself in public is a crime, at-the-time she was visibly grossed out to see his semen ejaculated onto the window.
* FlowerMotifs: The cowslip, which symbolises women and birth. Jean's sex therapy is primarily focused on the female gender and she gets pregnant in Series 3 despite her age.
* LadykillerInLove: Gender-inverted. After a long string of one-night stands, she realizes that she's fallen for Jakob, who makes it clear he's only interested in having a committed relationship.
* MyBelovedSmother: The main source of conflict between her and Otis. Jean has trouble respecting Otis's boundaries both by invading his room on a regular basis and constantly prying and getting him to discuss his sexual problems when he's clearly uncomfortable about it.
* NiceGirl: An OpenMindedParent who is non judgemental and is a strong force for good when it comes to sex education openness in schools.
* OpenMindedParent: Has no problem with letting Otis drink, do drugs or have sex, just as long as he remembers to buddy up (for the former two) and offers him condoms before leaving for a party.
* ParentsAsPeople: Jean tries to be a good mother to Otis, and struggles in creating a balance between wanting to help him and giving him space to grow up and let him deal with issues on his own. She also hides a lot of loneliness and fear of being left out of her son's life.
* PowerHair: Jean has short stylish hair in the first two series, but once she gets pregnant she lets it grow out.
* ReallyGetsAround: As could be expected from a sexually-open attractive single woman, Jean has a series of one-night stands, which embarrasses her son.
* TheShrink: An interesting combination of the Awesome and Ineffective Shrink. There's no doubt she's talented in her vocation; she unknowingly gives Otis helpful advice and he channels her when counselling his own clients. But Jean also blurs the boundary between treating Otis as a patient (and later [[spoiler: the unwitting subject of her new book]]) rather than as her son by prodding him to open up and discuss his problems even when he's unwilling.
* SingleMomStripper: Is perceived as such by Adam, who thinks she's a prostitute at first.
* StacysMom: Definitely has this vibe going on. Jean attracts quite a few younger men throughout the show. Adam, her son's classmate, points out that she's like a "sexy witch".
* TheStoic: In both her personal and professional life, Jean tries to keep herself emotionally distant and not let her feelings get the better of her. Though, this being a comedy there are moments when she's NotSoStoic (see Jean cursing her ex-husband when he sends numerous copies of his new book to spite her and getting stuck in a driveway after following Otis to a party).
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Michael Groff]]
!!Headmaster Michael Groff
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mr_groff_sex_education_1491513.jpg]]
%% [[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]
!!!'''Played By:''' Creator/AlistairPetrie
Headmaster of Moordale, and Adam's strict father.
----
* AbusiveParents:
** His affection for Adam is entirely contingent on his academic performance...so, basically nonexistent. [[spoiler: Comes to a head in Episode 7, when Adam snaps, grabs his father's neck, and screams "I HATE YOU" in public]].
** A flashback to his childhood reveals that his father was this by forcing him not to cry or show emotion.
* AlasPoorVillain: After being fired, Season 3 brings pity to Groff by showing just how miserable and humiliating his life is after. It's all his own fault, but still.
* BeingGoodSucks: After 2 series of being a DeanBitterman and suffering the consequences over the course of series 3, Groff rediscovers himself and embraces his sensitive side. This manages to win over Maureen, but she still won't take him back because she's worried that Adam might still have issues with his father. However, he did manage to experience joys that he was blind to for a lifetime using his newfound introspection, and he doesn't seem too deterred by his failure to reconnect with his family to make further progress.
* BigBad: [[spoiler: He becomes the closest thing the show has to one in season 2. While he had always been sort of a thorn in the side of Maeve, he goes above and beyond when he prints the diary of Jean and publishes all across the entire school.]]
* TheBully: He is one in general, particularly to his son. Season 3 shows how his older brother Peter and his father bullied him as a child, and how he’s unintentionally carrying that behaviour on.
* DeanBitterman: Crabby and stern, and so concerned about his school's public image that he blatantly plays favorites with students.
* FreudianExcuse: A session with Jean and a flashback reveals that his father and older brother bullied him as a child, along with his father forcibly telling him "boys don't cry" is the reason why he is cold and unemotional.
* GenerationXerox: Much like his son, Groff has some pretty obvious insecurities and self-loathing, which he takes out on others via bullying, and both have a tendency to cause their own misfortune through completely avoidable mistakes. They even both struggle with intimacy with their partners. Of course, it's entirely ''because'' of Groff's bullying that Adam is the way he is, but it's notable he deals with it the exact same way his father did.
* GRatedDrug: He has a huge stash of chocolate bars in his desk, possibly ones confiscated from students. Sean knows about it and implies it's something Groff doesn't want getting out.
* HiddenDepths: For all his negative qualities, he does have a keen eye for noticing details. [[spoiler: He finds the drugs of Maeve's brother, and he sees Jean's notebook when Otis puts it in there]]. He also [[spoiler: leaves the house when his wife asks him for a divorce, instead of making her leave, and does seem to love her despite all that happened.]]
** Invoked - after admitting he doesn’t know how to feel joy or any emotion, Jean advises him to seek something that brings him pleasure. He takes up cooking and proves to be a very competent chef.
* {{Jerkass}}: A very rigid and uptight person, both as a teacher and parent. Most notable is his treatment of Adam and Maeve, [[spoiler: the latter he assumes is part of a drug ring with her brother Sean and Otis]] and when she is caught it's obvious his mind is made up [[spoiler: in his decision to expel her despite the pleas of Maeve and Mrs. Sands]].
* KickTheDog:
** [[spoiler: Despite showing extreme favoritism towards Jackson and promising him not to expel Maeve if he wins his swimming competition, he responds that he "doesn't take bribes" when Jackson does win and tells him to forget her]].
** [[spoiler: Copying pages from Jean's diary and spreading them around school in an attempt to discredit her]]
** The treatment of his son.
* LargeHam: Some of his monologues fall into this category, particularly when he's lecturing Maeve over [[spoiler: the drug ring he inaccurately presumes that she runs]].
* LaserGuidedKarma: In season 3, he's been fired and the publicity of his mismanagement at Moordale has made him virtually unemployable in education. He's living with his much more successful brother, whose upbeat nature unintentionally makes him feel so ashamed by his own failures he ends up lying about getting a job and finding a new place to live.
* NeverMyFault: [[spoiler: Instead of just accepting he was a bad husband and parent, and facing his own fears and insecurities, he blames his failing marriage on Jean's influence. Subverted in Season 3, where he owns up to his flaws and actions in conversation with Maureen and Jean.]]
* ProfessionalButtKisser: Bows and scrapes at any attempt to boost his school's reputation. Picture Basil Fawlty as a school headmaster.
* SexlessMarriage: He hasn't has sex with his wife in years and shuts down any attempt she makes to initiate. She's getting a bit desperate over the whole thing.
* SternTeacher: Principal technically, but is an austere educator nonetheless. This bleeds into his personal life, especially when dealing with his delinquent son Adam.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: After spending all of Season 3 being mocked and ridiculed by his brother, he finally snaps and gives one during a dinner party when Peter insults his cooking.
-->My life is a failure. My wife’s left, I’m quite sure my son hates me, and I’m unemployed. But I’d rather all those things than be a pumped-up shit of a man like you. You’ve been a shit since you were a child, and I think you’ll be a shit until you die, probably because our dad was the biggest shit of all, and you learnt to bully me so he wouldn’t bully you. And that is such a great shame, but I am too old for it to be my problem any more. Goodbye, Peter.
* VillainousBreakdown: Starts cracking throughout season 2 with [[spoiler:his wife leaving him and Jean undermining his authority]], and finally has one [[spoiler:at the end of the season when he goes on a tirade at the school play, humiliating himself in public and being suspended from his job.]]
[[/folder]]
----
