Mickey Maguire (Shameless)

Mickey Maguire (UK) and Mickey Milkovich (US) are characters from the British Channel 4 comedy drama, and American remake on Showtime, Shameless

U.K. version

Mickey Maguire^[1] is a character from the British Channel 4 comedy drama, Shameless. Originally, he was just like the rest of the Maguire family. He was aggressive, violent, and prone to violent outbursts. He is erratic and obsessively licks the side of his mouth, which could be a tic and/or hint of a behavioural disorder. However, Mickey is a closeted homosexual, something which has become a running gag in later seasons. Mickey slowly matured as the show progresses, becoming less violent and aggressive and more kinder to people, something which results in mockery by the rest of his family. Despite his exaggerated personality, he is mentally weak due to being closeted and often runs away at the first sign of trouble. Although his father Paddy Maguire (Sean Gilder) often shows him disrespect and is violent towards him, Paddy still loves his son. Mickey is the most idealistic of his family and the most loyal to his parents. In spite of Paddy's lack of faith in him, Mickey was the only person who tracked down Paddy after he was shot and left for dead. Mickey appeared in 84 episodes in total.

Character biography

When Mickey initiates a brief and casual affair with Ian Gallagher (Gerard Kearns) and falls in love with him, Mickey exhibits the fact that he is an eager suitor when he follows Ian around and is very emotionally demanding. Unlike Ian, none of Mickey's family are aware of his homosexuality, despite several occasions when Mickey has come close to coming out to them, or has daydreams about revealing his homosexuality to his family. In his early appearances, Mickey has a dog, Nelson, whom he's been close to for years. Ian is disgusted to learn just how close they had become at one time, and declines to continue a relationship with Mickey. By this time, Mickey is in love with Ian and wants everyone to know. When Mickey is about to tell his family, Ian bursts into the room and tells them about what had happened with Mickey and Nelson. Paddy immediately has Nelson put down, deeply upsetting Mickey. After that, Mickey becomes obsessed with Ian, much to Ian’s dismay, who constantly tries to avoid Mickey’s constant advances.

The early episodes of the sixth series show Mickey attending college to study film. When he reveals to his parents that he wants to pursue further education, Paddy and

In the seventh series, Mickey continues to build a friendship with Ian, with whom he now shares a house. This series has proved that Mickey has a sensitive side, as explained through his dialogue with Ian when Ian became involved with Maxine Donnelly (Joanna Higson). Mickey tries to warn Ian that Maxine fancies him, not realising that Ian felt the same way about Maxine. Ian then has sex with Mickey in an attempt to forget about Maxine, but he and Maxine later have sex, which Mickey witnesses. Mickey is devastated when Ian insists he loves Maxine and wants to be with her. Mickey tells Ian that he felt like a freak before he had Ian to look up to, and now Ian has taken that away from him. Relations between Mickey and the new couple remain strained, but eventually, Mickey decides to stop letting their relationship bother him. He informs Maxine that all he wants is that when she finally realises she cannot be happy with a gay man, that she lets Ian down gently.^[2] Mickey leaves Chatsworth during ninth series after helping a young woman, Liz, give birth to a baby girl. After Liz dies in childbirth, Mickey decides to move away from Chatsworth to raise the baby, whom Liz named Jasmine before she died. When saying goodbye to Mimi, he is on the verge of telling her he is gay. However, she silences him and tells him to keep in contact. Mimi implies that she has guessed Mickey is gay.

The actor who plays Mickey, Ciarán Griffiths, announced that he would leave Shameless in 2012 during Series 9.^[3]

U.S. version

In the American remake, also called