Max Cunningham

Max Cunningham was the son of Gordon and Angela Cunningham. Max originally had three sisters: Dawn, Jude and Cindy, but gained two step-siblings (Lewis and Mandy Richardson) and a half-brother (Tom Cunningham) from Gordon's marriage to Helen Richardson.
Gordon and Angela divorced in 1991, meaning that Max and Cindy were subject to a custody battle. In 1997, Max met his future best friend O.B. and the pair were left joined at the hip as they embarked on various schemes, relationships and lived out their teen/young adult years. However, things turned serious when Gordon and Helen were killed in a car accident, leaving Max as Tom's sole caregiver. After Tom set O.B.'s fireworks off and gutted the family home, Max was forced to find a new place to live.
A relationship with Clare Devine almost saw the end of Max and O.B.'s friendship - and even Max himself, until O.B. came to his rescue! Max finally found his destined partner, Steph Dean, in 2008. However, it was not meant to be as Max was fatally struck on his wedding day by the car of his drunken rival Niall Rafferty. His death devastated his friends and family, with Tom continuing to miss Max to the present day.
==Biography==
=== 1995-1999: Family Troubles ===
Max Cunningham was the only son of Angela and Gordon Cunningham, who divorced in 1991. With Max and his sister Cindy being the only of their children under 18, they were subjected to a messy custody battle in June 1996. Max and Cindy were also caught up in the family's other troubles, such as Angela's breast cancer diagnosis and marriage to the creepy Terry Williams, who left the family with his £55,000 debt. He also befriended Darren Osborne and began getting into trouble. In October 1997, Max met O.B. and Sash Marwan, who he initially took a disliking to. In November 1997, Max's eldest sister Dawn was diagnosed with leukemia and passed away on Christmas Day. However, the family were delivered a shock on the day of her funeral when Cindy collapsed after suddenly giving birth!
After becoming friends with O.B., he and Max began embarking on various schemes. In September 1998, Max and O.B. hid in Jude Cunningham's van as she delivered cases of wine to France, drinking some of it on the way. Cindy began a relationship with Sean Tate in 1999, and Max suspected him of abusing Sean when Cindy discovered a bruise on Holly. In September 1999, Max found Holly, who had been locked in a cupboard by Sean, and told Cindy's friend Mandy Richardson. Mandy helped Max convince Angela that Sean was being abusive, but Cindy refused to believe them and moved with Sean and Holly to Wales. Max and Gordon attempted to bring her back home, but she refused until Sean left her in December 1999.
Meanwhile, Gordon's fling with Mandy's mother Helen Richardson resulted in Helen falling pregnant. The pair married in August 1999, with Max serving as Gordon's best man and subsequently gaining Mandy and Lewis Richardson as step-siblings. Max's brother Tom Cunningham was born on Millenium Eve.
=== 2000-2002: Romances and Schemes ===
Max began gaining his independence as he began working at Drive 'n' Buy. In March, he lost his virginity to Chloe Bruce after O.B. set him up on a date with her. However, O.B. also fell for Chloe, so he and Max decided to draw up a rota and both date her. However, Chloe got bored of both relationships and the trio became close friends. In May, he and O.B. bought a campervan as Max had passed his driving test in February. However, after a trip to Glastonbury, the pair ended up returning with scabies and passed it on to the Cunningham family, resulting in the house and van being fumigated. During the grand opening of Steam Team, Max hijacked the steamroller and accidentally hit Mandy with it.
After failing his A-levels and lying to his family, Max decided to flee the village in his campervan and took O.B. to Blackpool. The pair worked arranging donkey rides on the beach, but were fired when Max had a dispute with a customer. Gordon and Chloe brought them back to the village in October. Max then became a vacuum salesman but ruined Tony Hutchinson's carpet; he and O.B. became interior decorators for Luke Morgan, but misunderstood what he wanted and painted his flat pink; and then they became sperm donors, unaware that they weren't being paid. In December 2000, Max went on Finn's stag do to Barcelona and slept with a woman, Diti.
Upon their return, Max and O.B. attempted to get into the entertainment industry. When their track "Get Down With That Thing" failed to make an impact, Max turned to stage acting when O.B. joined a drama society. However, Max was fired from Izzy Cornwell's play in September. Max embarked on a brief fling with Jodie Nash before beginning a relationship with Anna Green, who was pregnant by her ex-boyfriend Alex Bell. Anna gave birth to a son merely weeks into their relationship, with Max helping Anna raise him. However, their relationship did not last as Anna and Alex reconciled. Max then decided to convert the campervan into a burger van.
=== 2002-2004: Business Ventures and Custody of Tom ===
The burger van proved to be a success for Max and O.B. After Anna and Alex split up and Alex moved to Hong Kong, Max and Anna reconciled. In November 2002, Max and O.B. went on a potholing trip in the Yorkshire Dales with Ben Davies, Jamie Nash, Theo Sankofa and Kristian Hargreaves. Heavy rain caused a landslide and their van to overturn and - whilst Max and O.B. managed to escape as it teetered over a cliff edge - their friend Jamie and O.B.'s friend Theo were killed in the disaster. Upon his return home, Max began to find Anna and Charlie too much to handle and broke up with her. Anna then left the village.
In March 2003, O.B. discovered that Helen had been having an affair with Tony. Max attacked Tony before eventually telling Gordon. After Max fell for Mandy but she began a relationship with Tony, Max began a feud with him. Max rented The Octagon from Tony and named it 'Gnot Gnosh', attempting to sell the van to Bombhead and Lee Hunter (who accidentally set it ablaze). He then stole Tony's expensive new car and damaged it, and stole the takings from Gnosh Village. After Mandy convinced Tony not to call the police, Max ended the feud.
Max and Mandy were left devastated when Gordon and Helen were killed in a car accident in February 2004. In their wills, they were left the house, Drive 'n' Buy and Mandy was made Tom's guardian. Cindy returned for the funeral and will readings, and attempted to convince them to sell the house and businesses so she could have a share of the money. The pair refused and Max and Cindy fell out when Cindy began putting pressure on Max. Mandy sold Washed Up to Tony, and Cindy returned to Spain.
Max's niece Bethany Johnson (the daughter Dawn gave up after her birth) returned to see her biological family before moving to Australia. Max was - at first - suspicious of Beth, but soon came round. Beth was upset to learn that Dawn had died six years earlier, but was grateful when Max gifted her Dawn's pendant before she left. Max also later met Beth's adoptive brother Noah after he followed her when she was seeing Max.
=== 2005-2007: Relationship with Clare ===
Towards the start of 2005, Max and O.B. went on a double-date with identical twins Mel and Sophie. The pair swapped dates part way through, leaving Tom especially confused. However, the twins were unimpressed when Max and O.B. insuated that they were escorts and exacted their revenge at their Comic Relief fundraiser. In March 2005, the house was set alight when Tom lit fireworks hidden in O.B.'s bedroom. The insurance refused to pay out and Tom overheard Max wondering if he should place Tom in care, resulting in Tom running away. However, Mandy later found Tom at Gordon and Helen's graves. Max, Tom and O.B. later moved into 3 Oakdale Drive, Flat 3.
After purchasing The Loft (which had been destroyed in a fire in June 2004), Tony hired Max and O.B. to manage the business. The pair hired events manager Clare Devine in December 2005, competing for her affections. Clare ended up choosing Max over O.B., but Mel - O.B.'s new girlfriend - discovered that Clare had slept with Sean Kennedy. Clare threatened her into silence over her alcoholism and began attempting to split Max and O.B. As Clare began mistreating Tom, O.B. warned him about her behaviour and her lies over her supposedly-deceased father, but Max refused to listen. Max decided to marry Clare, with O.B.'s oppositions ruining their marriage. On their wedding day, Clare planted drugs on O.B. and had him arrested, preventing him from stopping the wedding in time.
Unbeknownst to Max, Clare made plans to flee to Malaga after Max gave her £50,000 for 'fertility treatment'. After Max hired Warren Fox as a security guard (later promoting him to manager), Clare and Warren began an affair. Mel and O.B. managed to get ahold of the CCTV footage of them sleeping together in the office, but Mel was killed and O.B. injured in The Dog in the Pond Explosion, allowing Clare to destroy the tape before Max could see it. After catching Warren and Clare taking the confisgated drugs from the club, Max decided to start taking cocaine. After suffering a heart attack, he ended up on medication. Clare took Max and Tom to a log cabin for Christmas so she could kill him and inherit his life insurance. After tampering with his medication, Clare tricked Max into thinking Tom had fallen into the lake, but O.B. caught onto her plan and rescued Max.
Upon being discharged from hospital, Max evicted Clare from the flat, but she hounded him until he signed The Loft over to her. However, Clare did not stick by her word and continued in her attempts to ruin Max's life. After telling Tom that he was cursed and Max would die because of him, she phoned social services and lied that Tom was at risk. Tom ended up being taken into care and Max soon discovered that Clare was behind it all. After Clare was pushed over The Loft's balcony by an unknown attacker, Max began scaring and threatening Clare, getting her to confess to social services. However, after Clare kidnapped Warren's sister Katy - the girlfriend of her attacker Justin Burton - Max tried to help with her release. After Clare crashed into the quarry, Max failed to save her from drowning and was left upset by her "death".
=== 2007-2008: Marriage to Steph and Death ===
With Clare now out of his life, Max focused on his and O.B.'s new juice bar, MOBS (run out of the same building as Gnot Gnosh). Max began a relationship with Steph Dean in October 2007 after helping her following an epileptic seizure. The pair grew closer after Max told her about Clare's 'death', leaving Tom unhappy as he had a crush on Steph (until O.B. spoke with Tom). O.B. befriended lifeguard Simon Crosby, who began teaching Tom how to swim. However, Gilly Roach suspected that Simon was a pedophile and warned Max, who spread the accusations around the village. When Simon's ex-wife Gemma managed to set them straight, Simon rejected Max's apologies and moved to Tenerife, with O.B. declining his offer of joining him.
Max and Tom were left devastated when O.B. decided to move to London with new girlfriend Summer Shaw in February 2008, but supported his decision. In the aftermath of O.B.'s departure, Max decided to propose to Steph with a ring in her hot cross bun. Tom ended up eating the bun and had to be taken to hospital, but Steph accepted Max's proposal (with Tom's X-ray scans) nonetheless. However, Max was left uncomfortable by Steph's friendship with Evissa hairdresser Niall Rafferty, whilst Steph struggled to get along with Cindy when she returned in June 2008. Steph broke off their engagement when Max accused her of trying to sell MOBS (which was actually Cindy) but the pair reunited a few weeks later.
Steph and Max finally married at the end of June 2008. However, whilst attempting to move Steph's wedding present - a jukebox - from the flat to The Dog in the Pond, Max noticed Tom playing on the road in the path of a drunken Niall's car. Max pushed Tom out of the way before being struck by Niall, and died in O.B.'s arms. Steph received Max's estate in the will, but custody of Tom was placed into question. After initially deciding to leave with O.B., Tom worried about Steph being on her own and decided to stay with her. Max's funeral was held in July 2008, with O.B. seeing a vision of Max standing in the doorway of Drive 'n' Buy as he left the village afterwards.
=== 2008-2022: Aftermath ===
After being pushed down a flight of stairs merely days after Max's death, Tina Reilly went into labour and gave birth to a baby boy. The baby was named Max at the request of Tony, who was planning to adopt baby Max with girlfriend (and Tina's sister) Jacqui McQueen. Steph later began a relationship with Niall, which proved controversial especially with Max's family. However, Steph broke up with Niall and he jumped off a cliff in November 2008. In 2016, Jude returned to the village and visited Max's grave. In February 2020, Cindy opened a stall - MOBS Rejuiced - in her and Tom's new bazaar as a tribute to Max. In March 2022, Tom found Max's old video camera and Luke - suffering from frontotemporal dementia - recognised Max.
== Rescue Count ==
=== Successful Rescues ===
#Mandy Richardson, 23rd December 2002 - Rescued when Laura Burns kidnapped and poisoned her.
#Tom Cunningham, 27th June 2008 - Saved Tom from being run over by a drunken Niall Rafferty but was fatally struck by Niall's car.
=== Failed Rescues ===
#Clare Cunningham, 19th September 2007 - Tried to rescue her when she drove into a lake but Clare seemingly drowned.
==Appendices==
===Residences===
Address 	Duration
12 Tatton Crescent 	Until 29th March 2005
5 Oakdale Drive, Flat 1	30th March 2005 to 2005
3 Oakdale Drive, Flat 3	2005 to 27th June 2008
===Employment History===
Job 	Duration
Drive 'n' Buy employee	c.2000 to 27th June 2008
Donkey ride organiser 	September 2000
Stage actor 	May to September 2001
Burger van owner 	March 2002 to 2003
Gnot Gnosh owner 	2003 to c.2005
The Loft manager 	2005 to 2006
The Loft owner 	2006 to 2007
MOBS co-owner 	2007 to 2008
==Background Information==
*Actor Matt Littler quit the role of Max in 2008, intending on pursuing a directing career. Littler arranged to work on several jobs in London before planning on returning to direct on Hollyoaks. However, by the time he was available, Hollyoaks was not looking for new directors.
* Max celebrated his birthday in Episode 2258 (19th March 2008).
==Quotes==
==See Also==
*List of appearances
*Cunningham family
*Black family
*Dean family
Category:Hollyoaks characters
Category:1995 debuts
Category:2008 departures
Category:1982 births
Category:2006 marriages
Category:2008 marriages
Category:2008 deaths
Category:Deceased characters
Category:Cunningham family
Category:Black family
Category:Dean family
Category:Shopkeepers
Category:Businesspeople
Category:Drive 'n' Buy employees
Category:The Loft employees
Category:Residents of 12 Tatton Crescent
Category:Residents of 5 Oakdale Drive, Flat 1
Category:Residents of 3 Oakdale Drive, Flat 3
Category:Recasts
Category:Book characters