SID JENKINS

'Sidney "Sid" Jenkins' is a fictional character in the television series ''Skins'' portrayed by Mike Bailey.

Contents

Characterisation

Character history

References

Characterisation

Sid is portrayed as an unlucky virgin who is in love with his best friend Tony's girlfriend, Michelle. He is frequently unlucky: losing expensive weed, getting beaten up by Jal's brothers, getting urinated on by a dog and a homeless person. He is also at first oblivious to the machinations of his best friend who, aware of Sid's undying adoration of Michelle, exploits it for his amusement. Despite this, he seems, at least in earlier episodes, to idolise Tony, replying to the question 'Is that all you do Sid, hang around with Tony?' with 'pretty much'.
Sid's character is generally supposed to be the nice guy to contrast Tony's in it for himself attitude. Sid's nice guy attitude is quick to win the affections of Cassie, but Sid is oblivious, which leads to him hurting her feelings on occasion. Sid is also very intelligent but underachieves in school because he is easily distracted. His characterisation is often completed by his choice of clothes, including a bright yellow 'Mega Dog' t-shirt, which includes a button which when pressed produces a 'Mega Dog' catchphrase from a sewn on speaker.
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Character history

In "Tony" Sid is promised that he will lose his virginity before he is 17 because, according to Tony, it is uncool to be a 17 year old virgin and he would no longer be able to be Tony's friend. Tony employs the help of his girlfriend Michelle, whom Sid is madly in love with, to find someone stupid to sleep with him. Michelle suggests Cassie who has just got out of hospital. Sid agrees, though less than enthusiastically, and is sent off to buy drugs on credit from someone called Mad Twatter. Arriving at Mad's house he finds it homes prostitutes, feeling uncomfortable he tries to leave but is told to just wait. When Mad arrives they exchange a bizarre conversation and Sid is coerced into buying £300 of weed which he will have to pay back or Mad will take his balls. Sid returns to college only to find out that no one is coming to the party he bought the drugs for. He is told by Michelle that he will be looking after a slightly deranged Cassie for the duration of the party, who he finds in the kitchen rearranging the food. He smokes a spliff while she bounces on the trampoline outside, finally joining her when he is finished. The pair kiss, but Cassie informs him that both she and Michelle know of his love for the latter. Cassie then offers to have sex with him, but only if he is quick as she had taken a load of pills, she then falls unconscious. The group rushed to get her to an overnight clinic, but she woke up, so they drove around a bit in the stolen car. When they stopped to let Anwar pee, Sid leant over to help Tony look for his skins, accidentally causing the car to plunge into the canal where he lost the £300 of weed.
In "Cassie" Sid is seen asleep at the end of Michelle's bed which she is sharing with Tony, he has a post-it note stuck to his head reading VIRGIN. Cassie removes it and kisses him, leaving a lipstick mark, showing her budding crush on him which seems to escalate throughout the episode as she becomes increasingly convinced he is sending her texts saying 'EAT!'. Sid meanwhile, seems completely oblivious. At Cassie's group therapy meeting she finds Mad Twatter, who has Sid's student ID and is very angry that he has not yet received his money. Meanwhile Sid has gone straight from Michelle's house party to college, so he has not bathed and still has lipstick on his face. Cassie joins him and he asks how she gets away with not eating, she appears to get angry, saying 'it's not like anybody cares' to which Sid replies 'I care', showing his kindness and helping to convince Cassie in her mind that he is in love with her. When Tony arrives he shows just how much he abuses Sid, telling him that he is a waste of space and smells and still has lipstick on his face. Sid ignores Tony's abuse with the shock that someone had kissed him, but Tony continues despite this until Cassie knocks his coke over him making it look like he had wet himself. As Sid and Tony leave, Cassie tells him that Mad Twatter has his student ID and he is not happy, Sid then rushes of to tell Tony. The pair discuss it, but Tony is of no help, so Sid goes and sits in his psychology room where he is found by Angie who is curious as to why he is there alone. He tells her about his problem with Mad, and after looking at all of his possible options, they both agree he is screwed. In english, Tony manages to reassure Sid by telling him that they attend a 3000+ college and it would be hard for Mad to find him, this is before they are told by their teacher that he will be going away for a week and they will be having a substitute teacher: Mad. After english Sid sits outside taking deep breaths when Jal comes and asks what the emergency, Maxxie replies 'his fucking dealers the supply teacher'. Tony comes over and slaps Sid and tells the group to think of a way to help, they all come up with nothing and set off to go to lessons, assuring Sid that they will think of something, with no-one else to turn to, Sid phones his mum and leaves her a message. Cassie then aproaches him and tells him she appreciates what he is doing but it won't work, he replies honestly that he doesn't know what she's talking about and she shows him her phone and he tells her there are no messages on it. She whispers 'I thought you liked me' but Sid does not hear her, too caught up in his own problem.
In "Jal" Sid seems to be moping about Michelle more than ever. When Jal is annoyed with Michelle for going to fuck Tony rather than go shopping like she promised, she takes Sid instead. They talk about his love for Michelle where he tells her how he imagines ever hooking up with her (which involves a frighteningly drunken Michelle mistaking him for Tony). Jal tells him he should give it up, but he still thinks he has a small chance. When Jal gets them into a party thrown by her father, he sits with Michelle and tries to initiate conversation with her, but she is too caught up in watching Tony flirt with Abigail. When she realises he is annoyed she tells him that she loves him, but in a brother sister kind of way, and gives him a 'one for luck' kiss. He suggests they could be like a welsh brother and sister, locked away by their beastly father, seemingly in a bid to get another kiss, but Michelle tells him he is funny and leaves to snog Tony in order to get between him and Abigail. Sid watches on upset, and takes the beer Cassie buys him and downs half of it telling her he needs to be drunk before leaving her. At the end of the night, Jal sits on the sofa with him, trying to be reasurring while he complains that the whole world knows he has a thing for Michelle. When Jal is asked back to a pub by a man, she persuades Sid to go with her, not willing to leave with a stranger on her own. They end up cornered down an alley where the man reveals himself to be an accomplice of Mad Twatter. Mad takes Jal and Sid's credit cards and bullies Sid into giving his PIN number. Mad then takes Jal's clarinet and plays it (well) before smashing it on the wall. At this point, Jal's brothers come and beat Sid up, thinking he is the reason Jal is upset before she corrects them and they run off to get Mad, who beats them up and they end up in hospital. At the end of the episode, Jal's father is seen taking Mad into his car forcefully with a couple of henchmen, assumingly sorting out the problem of the owed money.
In "Chris", at Chris' party he tries and fails to pull a girl who ends up puking on him. He goes to Chris' room in order to borrow a shirt but finds a naked Michelle in the bed and Tony i his underwear looking at Chris' fish. Sid goes to leave but is stopped by Michelle who reveals her breasts and asks them what he thinks of them. He mumbles uncomfortably, fully aware that Tony is standing in the room, but he doesn't seem interested by the conversation. Sid then mumbles about getting a spare t-shirt which Tony picks out for him, showing again how much control he has over his friend. The next morning Cassie is trying to convince Sid that there are more girls in the world other than Michelle, to which he replies 'yeah? Where?' upsetting Cassie unintentionally. Later in the episode, Cassie asks Sid out on a date.
"Sid" starts with Sid being told that he has basically failed his History AS level and unless he can complete an extension paper. His father assures his teacher that he will complete the assignment and drags him to his Drama lesson and leaves. Anwar and Maxxie then act as the angel and devil on his shoulders, convincing him to either skip the class and do drugs or be a good boy and go to Drama, with Anwar being the angel and wearing a halo, and Maxxie being the devil and wearing horns. Sid decides to skip the class and goes to leave with Maxxie and Anwar when he bumps into Cassie who reminds him of their date, where he cancels because he has been grounded in order to complete the assignment, Cassie assures him that she can come visit him because she is upset that he has cancelled but she does not tell him this reason and Sid agrees. At home, Sid becomes distracted from his assignment and watches TV instead, until his dad turns up and confiscates it along with his stereo and porn magazines. Once his dad has left, Sid pulls out a picture of Michelle and begins to masturbate, but is interrupted by Tony. Tony leaves and walks in again as if nothing has happened, not asking Sid why he was masturbating to a picture of Michelle which Sid is appreciative of. Tony then rewrites the first sentence of his assignment for him making it sound better and tells him that he is to accompany Michelle to his performance with the private school that night. Sid agrees and dresses in the only thing that is clean, a dyno dog t-shirt. He sneaks from the house under the noise of his parents arguing and meets up with Michelle and Chris. When Tony kisses Abigail on stage, Sid follows a distraught Michelle who is convinced that he knew. He tries to convince her that is not the case but she storms off. He is then ambushed and beaten up by a group of chav girls who Michelle had had a disagreement with earlier and received a black eye. They leave Sid on the floor where a homeless man urinates on him. When Sid arrives home he is met by his furious parents, his father shouts at him and seems to finally hit breaking point and defends himself causing his father to storm off. Sid then goes to his room where he finds Cassie who was visiting him like she promised. She asks where he was and he reveals he was out with Michelle, Cassie becomes extremely upset and doesn't seem to make a lot of sense as she uses her happy voice to cover her anger. She then squirts him with a water gun and kisses him telling him that it's his choice before leaving.
Sporting a black eye, Sid is driven to college by his mum who attempts to tell him something but decides not to and gives him her sunglasses to cover his eye. In History class, as a reward for passing their tests, everyone is let out early, except for Sid who did not pass. Sid told his teacher everything that had happened to him in the past two days and left with a piece of advice. He is then told by Tony to go for it with Michelle, that he really doesn't mind. Sid phones her and tells her he is desperate to talk to her, asking her to meet him in the pub, unaware that his conversation was overheard by Cassie. He goes to the pub and is met by Michelle who is wearing sunglasses to hide the black eye the chav girls gave her. Sid explains to her that he honestly didn't know what Tony was up to and Michelle admits that she forgets sometimes that he and Tony are different people because they seem to come in a package, and that she thinks Sid is a better person. Sid decides to admit that he is in love with her but she doesn't hear and asks him to dance. Tony comes into the pub as they are dancing and intervenes, ousting Sid but forcing him to stay and watch them dance and Michelle fall for him once more.
Sid attempts to make amends to Cassie, knowing what it's like to be shunned by someone you like, but he is told she is being rushed to hospital from drug abuse. He goes to the hospital but Jal tells him to leave as it is his fault Cassie did this, all he had to do was 'go on the stupid date with her'. Sid leaves upset and guilty and when he arrives home he finds his dad surprisingly calm and quiet. He is informed that his mum left them and snaps at his dad for not trying hard enough, hands him the phone and tells him to try harder at his relationship. Stunned his dad agrees. Sid then goes to his room and sits down to do his assignment when his phone rings, he picks it up, but does not answer as Tony taunts him for being a pussy. He puts down the phone and turns to his assignment, working through the night in order to complete it.
In "Maxxie and Anwar" Sid is repeatedly used by his friends. Tony forces him to conceal drugs in his anal cavity as a back up plan. As they approach airport security Sid becomes worried he will be caught smuggling drugs but it is Anwar who is taken for anal searching. In the boarding place, Sid informs Tony that he is unable to get the drugs out even after pushing. When Maxxie and Anwar fall out, Tony makes Sid swap rooms with Maxxie. Sid sees the russian girl Anwar has been seeing all trip being beaten by her father and goes with Anwar to save her. But, while Anwar and the girl escape through the window, Sid is left under the covers pretending to be the girl because her father is home. As he lies there he talks to himself about how much his friends take him for granted, 'what have we learned Sidney, you're friends are shit'. When he thinks the coast is clear and removes the cover only to find the father standing over him so he jumps from the window and runs, being persued by the man. On the plane home, Sid sees a picture that Maxxie has drawn of Cassie and says that he made her look beautiful, to which Maxxie replies 'but Cassie is beautiful'. Later the drugs Sid hid in his anus seem to be ready to come out as he states to the group 'guys, i think I'm about to give birth' to which Tony replies 'great, just in time to meet Heathrow security'.
"Michelle" is the episode where Sid realises he really wants Cassie. After a rebounding Michelle attempts to have sex with him, he realises that his love for her is at a level where she can only be his friend. They then both go to find Cassie at her rehab clinic, to tell her. After Sid confesses he likes her, she reveals her new boyfriend, Simon, who is also a patient at the clinic.
In "Effy", Sid is dragged by Tony to help him find his missing sister, Effy. Eventually, Sid and Tony come to blows, deriding each other's perceived character flaws: Tony sees Sid as wishing to emulate him, whereas Sid sees Tony as something he would never want to become. Later, Sid sees Cassie, agrees to meet with her, and the two finally kiss. Their reunion is cut short by a call from Michelle, which prompts him to try and find Tony and Effy who may be in danger. After he takes Tony and Effy to the hospital, he is the one to defend Tony, who he refers to as his best friend, against his parents' accusations.
Sid spends the beginning of the first series finale wondering about Cassie and attempts to write a letter explaining how much he loves her. Not caring if he would show himself up or not, Sid hurriedly dresses in mismatching clothes and rushes to Cassie's rehab clinic, just after she leaves in a taxi. Sid waits in the reception to see Cassie where a nurse attends to him. Sid explains his dilemma to her, not mentioning Cassie's name and the nurse locks him in a padded room, deducing that Sid needs their help. Tony eventually comes to his aid and Sid is released from the clinic and the two then look for Cassie, along with a reluctant Effy. Giving up hope, Sid eventually attends Anwar's party and he leaves soon after. At the end of the episode, it's revealed after he left Anwar's party he was meeting with Cassie, who is sitting on a bench overlooking Bristol. He sits besides her, where they then hold hands.

References

1. http://www.tv.com/skins/sid/episode/973840/recap.html