Mickey Maguire (Shameless)

Michael "Mickey" Maguire^[1] (born 20 June 1985) is a fictional character from the Channel 4 drama Shameless. He is a "paranoid, aggressive, violent, homosexual yet homophobe" who is a member of the Maguire family. He is erratic and obsessively licks the side of his mouth, which could be a tic and/or hint of a behavioral disorder. Despite his aggressive, exaggerated personality, he is mentally weak and often runs away at the first sign of trouble. Although his father Paddy 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 one who tracked down Paddy after he was shot and left for dead.

When Mickey initiates a brief and casual affair with Ian 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, Micky 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 Micky is in love with him 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.

The early episodes of the sixth series show Micky attending college to study film. When he reveals to his parents that he wants to pursue further education, Paddy and Mimi ridicule him. Later on in the series, Mimi accepts the fact that Mickey is going to college and supports her son in his educational endeavours. Unfortunately, Mickey struggles with the course and is distracted by an erotic story his professor accidentally slips in with his coursework. Mickey decides that his true talents are in erotic writing and gives up his place in the class for his mother, Mimi, who loves film and has always wanted to go to college.

In the seventh series, Mickey continues to build a friendship with Ian, with whom he 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. Mickey tried to warn Ian that Maxine fancied him, not realising that Ian felt the same way about Maxine. Ian had sex with Mickey to get Maxine off his mind, but this didn't help, and he and Maxine had sex, which Mickey witnessed. Mickey was devastated when Ian insisted he cared for Maxine and wanted to be with her. Mickey told Ian that he'd felt like a freak before he'd had Ian to look up to, and now Ian had taken that away. Relations between Mickey and the new couple remained strained, but eventually Mickey decided to stop letting the relationship bother him. He told Maxine that all he wanted was that when she finally realises she cannot be happy with a gay man, that she let Ian down gently.^[2] Mickey leaves Shameless during series 9 after helping a young lady give birth to a baby. But after the lady dies Mickey decides to move away from Chatsworth to look after the baby. When saying goodbye to Mimi as he is on the verge of telling her he is gay she silences him and tells him to keep in contact. Mimi implies that she has guessed he is gay.

Ciarán Griffiths who plays Mickey confirmed on Twitter and in Attitude magazine that he is to leave Shameless in 2012 during Series 9.

US version

In the American remake, also called Shameless, Mickey Maguire is renamed Mickey Milkovich. He is portrayed by Noel Fisher.

Fictional biography

When the actor is asked about Mickey's age, he answers "I don’t have an answer for you. It’s actually something that has been joked about on set for a little while now because no one seems to know! My idea is that he is a few years older than Ian. I wouldn’t think more than three though but again, I’m totally making this up".^[3] The only reference in the show is in Season 3, where Mickey says that he's not going back to school because he'd still be a freshman due to not passing classes the previous year.^[4]

Mickey's presented as the neighborhood thug, violent and homophobic, but as the series goes on it is revealed to the audience that he's secretly gay.

References