Max Farnham

Max Farnham is a fictional character in the British soap opera Brookside, who first appeared in 1990 and remained in the show until just before the show was axed in 2003.

Background

Max Farnham arrived on Brookside Close in 1990 with his second wife, Patricia, and their son, Thomas. Max had previously been married to Susannah and had two children with her, Matthew and Emily. His marriage to Susannah had broken up as a result of his affair with Patricia. In 1993, while Max was out in Florida to try and stop Susannah from taking their kids to live out there with her new boyfriend, Andrew, Patricia's dad, David, caught Max in bed with Susannah, and told his daughter about what he had seen. Patricia was furious, and started divorce proceedings. Susannah went back to Florida when Max refused to pick her over Patricia. Max and Patricia later reconciled, and got remarried just days after their divorce had been finalised. In 1994, Max and Patricia had a daughter named Alice, who was born with Down's Syndrome.

In September 1995, Susannah returned to Brookside as a regular character after her relationship with Andrew had ended badly in terms of finance, leaving her penniless. Susannah became intent on winning Max back from Patricia and destroying their reconciled marriage, trying to make him jealous by living with Max's business associate, Dil Palmer. The marriage finally broke down completely in the spring of 1996 when Max was falsely arrested for kerb crawling after he got lost driving his car and stopped to ask a nearby woman for directions, not realizing she was a prostitute. Although Max was found innocent, Patricia refused to believe him and left the Close for France with their children, Thomas and Alice. However, Susannah was more than happy to support Max throughout the case and with her help, he was acquitted. Although Patricia eventually returned to try and make amends with Max after she learned of his acquittal, he walked out on her, remarking bitterly about her lack of support and that he still had feelings for Susannah. Weeks later, Patricia left the Close again and returned to France, this time for good, and soon after, Max and Susannah rekindled their relationship.

Max and Susannah's relationship was severely tested by the death of their children, Matthew and Emily, in a car crash in April 1997, and Susannah also found it tough when Thomas and Alice came for a brief stay at their house to be with their father. After being told she could never have children have children again due to complications from the accident, Susannah, desperate for another child, was delighted when Jacqui Dixon later agreed to be a surrogate mother for her and Max in late 1997. The tough times made Max and Susannah's relationship stronger. Jacqui became pregnant as part of the surrogacy arrangement but shockingly, Susannah also became pregnant again, which led to her and Jacqui falling out. Max and Susannah got married for the second time in 1998, 10 years after their first marriage had ended in divorce. Jacqui gave birth to a son, Harry, while Susannah later gave birth to a daughter, Emma. Jacqui became concerned when Susanah became distraught on learning that one of her babies was ill, but was clearly relieved that it wasn't Emma. This made Jacqui look into the legal possibility of getting custody of Harry, and to bond with Max as he was equally concerned about Susannah's behaviour over Harry.

In 1998, actor Steven Pinder made the decision to leave Brookside temporarily to do some theatre work, and in a heavily criticised and highly unrealistic plot development, Max was discovered to have been having an affair with a woman named "Faye" for the previous 20 years (in a storyline which was extremely unpopular as Max's mistress had never been seen or mentioned before and felt like a complete retcon on the part of the writers). Susannah threw Max out, and went on to have affairs herself with three of the main characters, Greg Shadwick, Mick Johnson and Darren Roebuck. Max and Susannah's divorce was finalised in 2000.

Susannah died in November 2000, after a fall down the stairs. Although there were several people suspected of her murder (as she had begun sleeping around after her separation from Max), it was discovered that Max was responsible, but indirectly as she had accidentally fallen down the stairs following a blazing argument with Max on the landing.^[1]

In 2001, Max married Jacqui Dixon, the biological mother of his son, Harry. In 2003, shortly before Brookside ended, Max and Jacqui, along with Harry and Emma, left Brookside to move to Woolton. Reflecting the crisis of Brookside at the time, Max didn't actually have a leaving scene. For months before Max's departure, the character was in the show despite the fact that actor Steven Pinder had already made his last on-screen appearance in May 2003. Jacqui would be seen talking to her husband on the telephone.

Max and Jacqui sold their house to Jack Michaelson, a drug dealer who terrorised Brookside Close, until the other residents lynched him from the bedroom window.

Feud with Ron Dixon

Throughout his time on Brookside Close, Max Farnham had an ongoing feud with Ron Dixon. This started when Ron put up a fence. The conflict between the neighbours escalated when Ron's daughter Jacqui had a surrogate child for Max and later married him. The hostility continued until Max left.

References