Characterisation
Michelle is portrayed initially as primarily interested in serving her boyfriend Tony Stonem's needs and in "looking shaggable" which she places as her primary function, compared with Jal Fazer's interest in the clarinet. She is very confident in her appearance; on the Skins website in a Myspace-style "about me" section, she protests that her photos have not been Photoshopped, and that she is "this gorgeous in real life". She is well aware that Tony's friend, Sid is in love with her, and sometimes wonders if he would be a better boyfriend than Tony. She is often angry at Tony for him calling her "nips" in reference to her nipples, and protesting that her breasts are uneven.
Despite lack of academic interest, she is a very talented linguist. It is stated that she is very talented with languages and seems to be fluent in French and Spanish. Also, in the first episode of Series One, she seems to understand Italian when it is spoken near her. It is also hinted in the last episode of series 2 that her oldest/longest known friend is Chris Miles when she says she first met him when she was 7. However, on the Skins website she states that she and her best friend Jal have been in the same class since they were 4.
On Michelle's MySpace page she says that her favourite musicians are Stevie Nicks, Peaches, and Eminem, but she doesn't like Keane and James Blunt. Her favourite films are Mean Girls, Emperor's New Groove, and The Last Seduction, and her favourite television shows are One Tree Hill, Scrubs, and Extreme Makeover; stating the latter brings her to tears.
Michelle was one of the original characters from Jamie Brittain's original concept for the show. He has stated in an interview that her name was originally Annie. She, Sid and Tony were the characters in Brittain's novel he wrote as a teenager, but never finished. Jamie Brittain has said that while his original story line wasn't strong enough, he believed the characters were strong enough to carry in a television series.
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