Maxine Minniver

Maxine Minniver
Hollyoaks character
Portrayed by	Nikki Sanderson
Duration	2012–
First appearance	6 November 2012
Introduced by	Bryan Kirkwood
Classification	Present; regular
Profile
Other names	Maxine Blake
Occupation	Barmaid Café manager Switchboard operator Businesswoman Taxi driver
Home	5 Oakdale drive 17 Basswood Road
Family Mother Trish Minniver Sisters Mitzeee Minniver Husband Patrick Blake (2014–16) Daughters Minnie Minniver Stepsons Dodger Savage (2014–16) Stepdaughters Sienna Blake (2014–16) Nephews Phoenix Costello First cousins Heidi Costello Wendy Blissett Other relatives Riley Costello Seth Costello Jason Costello Bobby Costello

Maxine Stephanie Minniver (previously Blake) is a fictional character from the British soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Nikki Sanderson. The character made her first on-screen appearance on 6 November 2012. Maxine's storylines have included: domestic violence at the hands of Patrick Blake (Jeremy Sheffield); giving birth to Patrick's daughter Minnie with Down's syndrome; a custody battle against Patrick for Minnie, with him attempting to portray her as an alcoholic; her relationship with Darren Osborne (Ashley Taylor Dawson); coping with Patrick's motor neurone disease; burying Patrick's body in the city wall after he was murdered by his granddaughter Nico Blake (Persephone Swales-Dawson) and discovering that he framed her for his murder; getting engaged to a man on holiday called Mike Jones who is actually Warren Fox (Jamie Lomas); falling pregnant and not knowing whether the father is Warren or her boyfriend Adam Donovan (Jimmy Essex); and miscarrying the baby after being trapped in a lift by Nico.

Storylines

Maxine arrives from Marbella to visit her sister, Mitzeee, after stealing money from her cheating boyfriend and leaving him. However, Mitzeee isn't happy with her arrival after Maxine stole the first man she loved, her fiancee Gary. Maxine apologizes and reminds Mitzee of the happier times they shared together. Mitzeee tells her sister that she has to stop to lying to her and Maxine says that she has changed and only needs a chance to prove it. Maxine surprises Mitzeee by buying her old place and they decide to call it even. Maxine is drugged by Kevin Foster because he was told to kill her. Mitzee told Maxine what happened to Riley Costello, as she was devastated as he was killed and she never got a chance to see him. She later supports her sister and her cousin Heidi's husband, Carl, to get revenge for Riley's death.

After the Bradys leave Hollyoaks, Maxine borrows some money from Mitzeee and decides to bid for Chez Chez and run it with her business partner Liam Gilmore (James Farrar) but their attempts are unsuccessful. After an infestation at their home, Maxine asks Patrick (Jeremy Sheffield) and Sienna Blake (Anna Passey) to live with her. After moving in, Patrick discovers that Maxine is unable to read properly and offers to tutor her, much to the delight of Cindy Cunningham (Stephanie Waring) who finds it extremely humorous. Patrick and Maxine break up numerous times mainly over her behaviour. He has been seen controlling her, leading to Ash Kane (Holly Weston) becoming suspicious about him.

Maxine has a one-night stand with Patrick's son, Dodger Savage (Danny Mac) and later learns she is pregnant. Maxine has an abortion because Patrick would know he is not the father as he has had a vasectomy but Patrick finds a pamphlet about abortion after care. Dodger also learns that Maxine had an abortion and confronts her. Maxine begins experiencing pain and later collapses. After being discharged from the hospital, Maxine prepares a dinner for Patrick. When she mentions Dodger's name, Patrick punches her. Patrick's abuse continues and Maxine later learns that she is pregnant. She also learns that their child has Down's syndrome, and during an argument by The Loft fire escape, Patrick grabs Maxine and she falls down the stairs. Patrick's mistreatment of Maxine escalates over the next few weeks, with several incidents including him forcing her to eat an entire cake, threatening her with a knife, and physically beating her. Maxine enlists the help of Blessing Chambers (Modupe Adeyeye) and Dennis Savage (Joe Tracini) in order to help her escape. She uses a flower in her window to signal to them when Patrick is absent, thus it is safe for them to visit. She leaves an emergency escape bag containing clothes and her belongings in Dennis's shop.

On the night before the wedding, she manages to escape and Blessing drives her to the airport. However, at the airport, security are summoned when Maxine discovers Patrick planted a knife in her escape bag, so she cannot board the plane. She goes through with the wedding and they get married. However, at the reception, she realizes she has made a mistake and publicly humiliates Patrick, telling the entire village what Patrick does to her. Some believe her, including Sienna and Nancy Osborne (Jessica Fox), however, most believe Patrick - who has told the village that Maxine beats him. Maxine reunites with Dodger and they plan to go to America. While Dodger is in the toilet, Patrick arrives and tries to take Maxine home. Dodger then attacks Patrick, leaving Maxine horrified and she tells Dodger that he is exactly like Patrick. The next day, Dennis gets Maxine to talk to Dodger but he is arrested for assaulting Patrick. Maxine then goes to stay with Mitzeee in America. However, Dodger bumps into Maxine at the hospital and they agree to give their relationship a chance. Maxine plans to propose to Dodger, but the event is ruined by Sienna, and Maxine believes Patrick was responsible. When Patrick is run over by Sienna. Maxine is arrested and charged after Sienna left her engagement ring in the car.

After Maxine is released, Sienna tries to get her to Dodger to tell him how she feels; but Patrick put a tracking device on her phone and chases them, causing Sienna's car to get stuck on the tracks. Maxine rescues Sienna just before the train hits, and then phones for help, while Sienna rescues Dodger. She then goes into labour and gives birth to daughter 'Minnie Minniver' in a shack with Patrick delivering the baby. Straight after giving birth, Patrick takes the baby and abandons Maxine. He tells everyone that she died during childbirth but Maxine is found by Theresa and Celine McQueen and taken to the hospital. Patrick then tricks Maxine into driving, which is against her bail conditions by pretending that Minnie is dying. The plan works and Maxine goes back to prison. At her trial, Patrick lies to the jury about what happened but Maxine is found not guilty. Nancy then helps Maxine get to America with Minnie. When Maxine returns in the New Year, she is held hostage by Patrick, who plans to take her and Minnie to America against her will, but the police manage to stop him.

Will Savage (James Atherton) kidnaps Maxine and Theresa, trapping them in a boat which he later sets fire to in an attempt to murder them in order to ruin his brother Dodger's life. However, she is rescued by Dodger. Dodger takes the blame for pushing Will off the hospital roof for his daughter, Nico Blake (Persephone Swales-Dawson), he invites Maxine and Minnie to run away with him but she refuses and Dodger leaves alone.

Maxine moves in with Darren Osborne (Ashley Taylor Dawson) at the boarding house and he offers her a job as receptionist at his company 'Daz Cabs'. He supports her through her custody battle with Patrick and they start a relationship. On the day of the hearing however, Darren being blackmailed by Patrick, lies to the judge that Maxine is an alcoholic. Patrick also puts a bottle filled with alcohol in her bag and she loses custody of Minnie. Devastated Maxine tries to commit suicide by jumping off a church roof, but Darren talks her down and reveals why he did it: Patrick saw him bury the gun that shot Phoebe McQueen. Maxine forgives him for it, and says that Patrick already took Minnie away from her, but she's not letting him take Darren too. To prove that she is a suitable mother, Maxine, with Darren's help, starts her own female taxi service named 'Minnie Cabs' so she'll be able to provide for her future. Patrick then tampers with her relationship with Darren and she breaks up with him, unable to see that Patrick is controlling her again. When Maxine finds out that Patrick has Motor Neurone Disease, she feels sorry for him and spends her days looking after Patrick. One day, Patrick overhears a conversation between Maxine and Darren Osborne and thinks they are getting back together as soon as he dies. Without Maxine knowing, he plots a plan to make Maxine look responsible for his murder, such as pretending Maxine hit him and transferring grand sums of money to Maxine's account. Patrick also persuades Maxine to help him die after they renew their vows, so it looks like Maxine murdered him. However, Maxine does not go ahead with it and Nico ends up suffocating him with a pillow.

Maxine comes home, overjoyed with the news that Patrick may not be going through with the suicide, according to Sienna. She enters the bedroom, and is shocked to find Patrick's lifeless body lying on the bed. She screams, alerting Darren outside. He enters the house and finds Patrick. Darren finds a camera and then tells Maxine about Patrick's plan. Darren drives to a cliff side and tips Patrick's wheelchair over to make it look like he committed suicide. For a few months, Maxine is haunted by what she had done to Patrick, nearly going into a mental breakdown. Darren and Nancy become fed up with Maxine's worries so they decide to pair her up with Adam Donovan (Jimmy Essex). Darren suspects Adam as he is Grace Black's (Tamara Wall) brother. However, Darren and Nancy ruin Maxine and Adam's date. Maxine decides to go to America. When Maxine returns, she reveals that she is engaged to a guy called "Mike Jones", however it turns out that "Mike" is actually Warren Fox (Jamie Lomas). Maxine introduces Warren to Sienna. Unknown to Maxine, Sienna discovers who Warren really is and the pair team up to make Maxine confess to killing Patrick. Despite Warren's attempts, Maxine does not reveal what she has done with Darren, warning her that she will go to prison. Maxine ends her relationship with Warren but later goes to his house to speak to him. However, Maxine accidentally breaks something that belongs to Warren's sister, Katy Fox (Hannah Tointon), leaving Warren furious. Maxine refuses Warren's apology until Sienna reveals that Katy died. Maxine decides to reconcile with Warren. When Maxine is sleeping, Warren wakes her up and lies that Maxine was continuously screaming Patrick's name. Warren persuades her to tell him if she killed Patrick and Maxine reveals that she buried Patrick's body in the City Wall. Warren decides not to tell Sienna after discovering that Patrick was abusing Maxine but Sienna blackmails Warren and he reveals the truth. Maxine goes to Darren and Nancy revealing that she told Mike that she buried Patrick and they reveal that Mike is Warren, who kidnapped Mitzeee. Maxine is devastated as Nancy and Darren reveal that he is using her for revenge. When Maxine returns to Hollyoaks, she discovers police searching the city wall for Patrick's body. Unknown to her, Darren and Nancy have taken his body and planned on burying it in the woods.

Maxine later teams up with Tony, Darren and Grace to get rid off Warren. Maxine, Darren and Tony plan to torch his garage although Warren catches them. Grace accidentally shoots her brother, Liam Donovan (Maxim Baldry), and frames Warren for it. Maxine is taunted by Warren who continues to accuse Maxine of Patrick's murder. Warren attempts to call a truce with Maxine who refuses to believe anything he says. Maxine, Nancy and Darren are horrified when Patrick's real killer Nico and her friend Peri Lomax (Ruby O'Donnell) find Patrick's body in the woods. The police later confirm that they found someone's hair in Patrick's body. Maxine later goes to Adam and gives him Minnie's passport begging him to take Minnie to Mitzee in America, in case she is taken away. Adam is confused and refuses but later decides to do it. Unknown to everyone, Nancy and Darren took hair from a hairbrush in which they thought was Sienna's but it turned out that the hair came from Maxine's brush. On the start of "The Point of View Week" on 5 September 2016, the first episode mainly focused on Maxine. Maxine is shocked when her hair is found by Patrick's body and during a police interview, Maxine collapses. She is taken to hospital and Tegan Lomax (Jessica Ellis) suggests that she is pregnant. Maxine buys a pregnancy test which is seen by Sienna who tells Warren. Maxine tries the pregnancy test, which reveals positive. Adam starts thinking that the baby could be his after an encounter the pair had a couple of weeks ago although Maxine denies this. Warren barges into the house, revealing that he knows about the pregnancy test. Maxine lies that the baby is Adam's and tells Warren that he is a bad father. Warren redirects the same to Maxine calling her a bad mother, before revealing to Adam that she buried Patrick's body. Maxine reveals to Adam the abuse and torture she received from Patrick. Maxine later decides to hand herself in to the police. She tells DS Armstrong (Andrew Hayden-Smith) that she gave a false statement before and reveals what she really did with Patrick's body. DS Armstrong refuses to believe her, claiming that she smothered Patrick with a pillow, leaving Maxine to plead her innocence. He assures her that if she reveals who helped her, she has a better chance of not getting a sentence and that she should think about Minnie instead of whoever helped her, before bringing out a brochure and reveals that that was found by Patrick's body. It is later revealed to be Nancy's.

Casting

The character and Sanderson's casting was announced on 28 September 2012.^[1] Sanderson joined the serial on a year contract.^[2] On her casting, the actress said: "Being a member of the Hollyoaks team has so far been an absolute pleasure, and I am excited about what the future holds for my character. I feel very lucky to be part of such a wonderful show and to be working with an amazing team".^[1] Maxine was created as the sister of established character Mitzeee Minniver (Rachel Shenton).^[1] She has been described as being "a confident, lively and flirtatious bombshell, who lives her life on the edge and can spot an opportunity a mile off".^[1] Maxine does not mind taking risks and Digital Spy's Daniel Kilkelly stated that she would cause fireworks in the village.^[1] Sanderson described her character as being "a really interesting character to play" as she "has got a heart and she is lovely, but she just doesn't show it at first! When she first arrives, she's more interested in herself and how everyone should fit into her life, rather than her fitting into theirs".^[3] Sanderson added that Maxine is "a bit feisty, very confident and knows exactly what she wants, how she wants it and exactly how she's going to get it!"^[4]

Development

Characterisation and introduction

Digital Spy noted that, "Maxine is billed as a "confident, lively and flirtatious bombshell" who lives her life on the edge and can spot an opportunity a mile off."^[1] The Standard stated "Maxine is described as savvy and not afraid to take risks and she is expected to cause fireworks when she arrives in the village."^[6]

Sanderson explained the character's backstory, saying she has "just come back from Marbella, where she sold the bar she had with her boyfriend over there, took the money and ran. She's come to Hollyoaks to find her sister, which was quite arrogant of her really because five years earlier she stole Mitzeee's fiance".^[7] She added that the relationship is "more than strained" but Maxine "is so ignorant she reckons she can swan back into Mitzeee's life and everything will be totally hunky dory".^[2] Sanderson said that Maxine does not feel guilty as she is "quite ignorant and quite selfish" and thinks "Mitzeee should get over it as it was such a long time ago". When speaking to Mitzeee, Maxine realises "the impact it had on her life". Sanderson added that "Maxine stops and thinks about it. She realises that she actually did cause a lot of pain for her younger sister. I don't think she'd realised what she'd caused until now. Maxine was looking after number one, but she sees that she did the wrong thing and maybe she shouldn't have turned up to see Mitzeee after all".^[3] Sanderson said that Maxine begins to"realise what a tough time Mitzeee has had" although she "doesn't understand the extent of Mitzeee's feelings" for Riley. She commented that Maxine "does want to put things right with Mitzeee - and with all the other people in Hollyoaks she upsets".^[4] Sanderson's initial scenes feature her being slapped by Mitzeee, she revealed that she was slapped for real to make the scenes look realistic. In some of the character's other early scenes she arrives in Hollyoaks village and "decides to pretty much con everybody that she meets on the way through".^[7] She added that her character is a "little bit of a conwoman" but will have to "face the music" when she meets those she has conned.^[3] Sanderson said this was a "wonderful way of coming into the show".^[7]

Domestic Abuse

The storyline of Domestic Abuse between Maxine and Patrick was first announced on 23 October 2013 in Metro. Actress Nikki Sanderson said she was "honored" to be apart of the storyline.^[8]

During the storyline, Nikki was showing support to Knowsley Council and Champs’ ‘No to injury time’ campaign.^[9] Nikki Sanderson said "I am proud to be supporting the ‘No to injury time’ campaign as shockingly, the issue of domestic abuse affects so many people each and every day."^[9]

Christian Today reported that the domestic abuse storyline "should challenge us all" it was also written "Hollyoaks couple Maxine Minniver and Patrick Blake are at the centre of what has been described as "one of the UK Soap's darkest storylines"."^[10] Speaking to the Mirror, Nikki Sanderson said that the storyline has helped real victims.^[11]
In Revealation TV, it was said "With the demographic of Hollyoaks’ viewers being younger than many of the other soaps, it has used the Patrick/Maxine storyline to raise awareness about abuse within teenage relationships, partnering with the Home Office’s This Is Abuse Campaign. In the UK, by age 16, 25 per cent of girls will have experienced physical abuse and 72 per cent will have experienced emotional abuse from a partner."^[12]

During the storyline where Patrick is trying to get custody of Minnie, the boarding house that Maxine is staying at with Darren Osborne and Tony Hutchison, is vandalized with the words "Once a Victim, Always A Victim".^[13]

Relationship with Darren Osborne

In March 2015, it was announced that Maxine would find love in friend Darren Osborne. It was also said in Daily Mail "She’s had a tumultuous time where her romance with abusive ex Patrick Blake is concerned. But it appears as if Maxine Minniver is set to find love with Darren Osborne as the pair share their first ever kiss in an episode of Hollyoaks."^[14] It was also noted in the article that Patrick Blake would be watching it from his car.^[14]

Reception

Nikki Sanderson was nominated for a Best Serial Drama Performance in the National Television Awards in 2015. But she lost the award to Danny Dyer^[15] The Liverpool Echo talked about the way Nikki Sanderson was dressed at the TV Choice Awards.^[16] The Manchester Evening News noted Maxine's most notable storyline (Domestic abuse at the hands of Patrick Blake) when reporting about her birthday.^[17] Sanderson has been nominated for "Best Actress" and "Best show-stopper" in the Inside Soap Awards of 2015 as Maxine Minniver. The Show-Stopper award is for when the character was contemplating suicide off a church roof.^[18]

References