Sketch (Skins character)

Lucy Sketch (commonly known as Sketch) is a fictional character in British teen drama series Skins. She is portrayed by Aimee-Ffion Edwards.^[1]

Characterization

Sketch is portrayed as an obsessive and somewhat delusional Welsh girl. When officially first introduced in Sketch, she is seen to have a huge infatuation, bordering on pathological, with Maxxie Oliver, a boy with whom she goes to school. It is unclear when or how her infatuation developed, but several factors which can lead to obsessive love ^[2] seem to have been experienced by Sketch, such as her feelings of vulnerability which may stem from the fact that she acts as a carer for her mother who suffers from multiple sclerosis. She harbours some rage towards her mother, who she feels has never looked after her properly. On top of this, she seems quite distant from a lot of her peers and most likely has feelings of unworthiness or low self-esteem. She sees Maxxie as someone who can make her life much better, and is so 'in love' with him that she pretends to her mother that they're boyfriend and girlfriend, as well as wearing male clothes and flattening her chest with a sash in order to make herself look more masculine in order to appeal to Maxxie who is gay. She also displays manipulative and deceitful behaviour showing little regard for anyone she hurts in her delusional quest to become Maxxie's girlfriend. As her story progresses, she later shows some regret for how she acted, though continues to be besotted with Maxxie, and even enters into a relationship with Maxxie's friend Anwar Kharral, in hopes to stay close to him. Although her first name is Lucy, the episode title and all of her peers refer to her by her last name, Sketch.

Character history

Series 2

Introduced in the second episode of series 2, Sketch is shown to be a pathologically obsessed stalker of Maxxie Oliver's and dreams of becoming his girlfriend, even though she is well aware that he is homosexual. She works on the lighting for a play directed by Mr. Gelcart, a drama teacher. After she sees Michelle kissing Maxxie as part of her role, she drops a light from the rafters, surprising even herself. Later Sketch secretly attends a house party held by Mr Gelcart where she pleads with him to give her Michelle's part and when he laughs at her, she later tells the headteacher of the school that he kissed and rubbed her, getting him fired. That same evening she is asked by Maxxie if she would like to go on a date with Anwar and becomes distraught when she realises Maxxie is not asking for her himself and abruptly leaves the room and later bonds with Michelle over their disdain for men.

After this, she breaks into Maxxie's home by picking the lock with her hair clip and masturbates on his bed, until Maxxie arrives back after the party, then stays the night underneath his bed. Maxxie soon realises that Sketch is his stalker when he finds a red hair clip on the floor in his bedroom, he later sees Sketch sitting with Michelle wearing the same hair clip, after seeing another picture get taken he calls at her flat, where he discovers that Sketch has made out to her mother that Maxxie is her boyfriend, whereby her mother discovers the truth about her infatuation and realises she lied about Mr Gelcart. When she threatens to reveal this, Sketch, in panic and desperation, ties her mother to her bed.

Finally, she steals Michelle's main role in the school play (Osama:The Musical) by giving her emetics. On stage, she gets to kiss Maxxie who is disgusted by the number of people she has manipulated to get close to him and how obsessed she is with him. At the moment of their kiss, Maxxie whispers to her that he 'felt nothing' during their kiss and that she disgusts him. She proceeds to slap him on stage, and Maxxie yells at her and walks off. The plays abruptly ends to an awkward and confused audience. She goes home and gets rid of the boyish clothes she wore in the hope it would help Maxxie to find her attractive and proceeds to Anwar's house, claiming she fancied him all along, and has sex with him whilst concentrating on a photograph of Maxxie, showing her obsession is not yet resolved. She breaks the fourth wall by looking directly at the camera, at the very end of her centric episode, she, Effy and Rich are the only characters in Skins to do so.

She makes an appearance in Sid, where she is shown to be continuing her sexual relationship with Anwar, even going as far as having sex with him in Sid Jenkins's bed. Sketch states in Anwar and Sketch's date that she still loves Maxxie (even though she does state that she is rethinking her actions and seeking redemption), however her attempts at dumping Anwar are stifled when he calls her his girlfriend, to get rid of an overbearing waiter.

In Michelle, Sketch crashes Michelle's birthday camping trip. She is caught having sex with Anwar by Michelle and Maxxie, who are both outraged that Anwar is now in a relationship with her, considering her past history. Sketch apologises for what she has done, tells Maxxie that she is over him, and that she now likes Anwar. Later over the campfire, she sings If You're Not The One with Scarlett. She stares at Maxxie intensely as she sings, obviously still infatuated with him.

At Chris Miles's house party in Chris, Sketch once again meets Maxxie. The two still have a very hostile relationship even though she insists she is over him. Her relationship with Anwar continues, but she has persuaded him into dressing in a style exactly like Maxxie's with a matching hairstyle as well. When Maxxie forces Anwar to realise this, he dumps Sketch on the spot.

In the last episode of Skins's second series, Sketch tries to convince the emotional and isolated Anwar that he perhaps has no future with his friends—that they will move on without him. We learn that after school she plans on remaining at home to take care of her mother, where she further explains that nothing is wrong with that kind of life style to ease Anwar's doubts. She seems to have accepted that she and Anwar should be together, as the ones left behind. Eventually Anwar is invited to share a flat with Maxxie in London, where he leaves a distraught Sketch behind.

References

External links

• Sketch on the official E4 Skins site
• Sketch at the Internet Movie Database
• Sketch on Myspace