Mimi Maguire

Katherine Harmonica Joy Catherine "Mimi" Tutton^[1] (née Murphy, previously Maguire; born 4 October 1963) is a fictional character from the Channel 4 drama Shameless. Mimi is the foul-mouthed, loud, brash and violent matriarch of the Maguire family. She is also a drug dealer on the Chatsworth Estate and is frequently seen selling drugs on the show. She is extremely violent and easily angered. She has "headbutted" several characters on the show including Lip Gallagher, Sue Garland, Cassie Western and even her own son Shane. Mimi is as hard as nails, and she can hold her own with men and women; at one point during series 3 a whole riot squad is needed to restrain her after she attempts to free her daughter from incarceration at the police station.

She is the wife of Paddy Maguire and the mother of Mandy Maguire and the Maguire boys (Jamie, Shane, Micky, the late Fergal and the little-seen Joey and Donny) and the daughter of "Nana" Murphy. Her ex-boyfriend is also called Paddy. In series 5 a more sensitive side to Mimi is introduced after her ex-boyfriend, Paddy, makes a crass comment about her weight. She describes herself as a "bulimic who can't stand vomit". In the same series, she is shown attending anger management classes. In series 6, Mimi experiences some regret over her lack of education when her son Micky takes film classes. Mimi does most of his coursework for him, and when he decides the class is not for him, he allows Mimi to take his place.

Mimi is presented in the series as somewhat of a character who behaves in ways which are polar opposites. For example, she has no qualms about selling drugs to children and behaving in a violent manner. However, she also has maternal instincts and shows compassion for others. For example, when Chesney reacts badly after consuming drugs, she and Paddy care for Chesney by feeding him and ensuring that he recovers. Furthermore, when Yvonne accuses Mimi of being racist and intolerant, Mimi retorts by describing the large amount of racism that Paddy faced when he arrived in England from Ireland. Yvonne and Mimi realise that they share love for their own children and would do anything to ensure the happiness of their respective children. Lastly, Mimi is someone upon whom Libby can depend when she seeks Mimi's assistance.

The Maguire family's drug dealing business comes to haunt them when Mimi's beloved Paddy is abducted and forcibly addicted to heroin by the bereaved mother of one of their deceased customers. To make matters worse, she is arrested for an assault that her son Jamie carried out, though she openly wants to take the blame for the attack, claiming "A mam's gotta do what a mam's gotta do". This is because she does not want to see her son go to jail again. At the end of series 6, her beloved daughter Mandy is killed by the woman who got Paddy addicted to heroin. The strain of this loss causes Paddy and Mimi to split up.

In series 7, Mimi lives in The Jockey as the landlord and also has an affair with a friend of her son Micky, until she finds out that he is only 14 years old (although he looks just as old as Micky). After the boy starts to blackmail Mimi into a secret relationship, Mimi tries to threaten him away from her, finally giving him a gun filled with blanks and daring him to shoot her. When he does, she pretends to be dead, and he flees Chatsworth.

Mimi attempts to join a local women's group to feel better about herself, but they rebuff her attempts to appear in their risque charity calendar, and make her feel worthless. To add insult to injury, they ask Mimi to supply them with some party drugs to help loosen them up before the photo shoot. In revenge, Mimi gives them such a strong supply that they begin dancing around in their underwear and groping each other. Mimi sets up a pornographic website to display the shots.

Mimi gives birth to a newborn daughter at the end of series 7 after complaining of stomach pains and nausea which scared her into believing she had started her menopause. The baby was presumably fathered by her estranged husband Paddy. According to the Shameless website, Mimi will return to the Maguire house, with her baby daughter Cilla, in series 8. It is implied that she does not know who fathered Cilla because of her fling with the underage football star Billy.

Mimi returns to the Jockey with baby Cilla, marries Billy Tutton, where her full name is revealed, and lives happily ever after ^[2]

References