Francesca "Franky" Fitzgerald is a fictional character from the third generation of the British teen drama Skins. She is portrayed by Dakota Blue Richards.
Characterisation
Before the start of the series, Franky had been living in Oxford with her new adoptive fathers, where she was regularly bullied by gang of local girls, led by a girl named Riga. In one particularly nasty incident, Riga's gang had stripped her down to her underwear, thrown eggs and flour at her, snapped pictures of her in this condition, and posted them on the Internet, leaving her tied up in a bathroom. They then vandalised her home and her father's car. In retaliation, her only friend, Dean, ambushed Riga outside her home and threatened to burn her alive unless she stayed away from Franky. As a result, Dean was arrested and Franky's fathers decided to move somewhere else and get a new start.
Franky is a complicated character, having been described in series 5 as an "androgynous and super-intelligent" girl who acts "strange". She dresses in gender neutral clothing, wears her hair close-cropped and, although quite aloof, tends to be quite timid and low key. In series 6, she loses her androgynous and passive nature in favour of a more feminine, headstrong and blunt personality. Nevertheless, a defining feature of her character is her troubled past, something that plagues her throughout the series and occasionally causes concern from her friends. Very little of Franky's past is explained until towards the end of the series. It is known that her mother, Maria, had put her up for adoption when she was six years old, after a comment she made suggested that she was mentally ill (although it is later suggested that her mother was mentally ill herself). Although Franky's mental state has caused concern for her friends, particularly Liv, it is never addressed in detail.
Series 5
In "Franky" introduces Franky (Dakota Blue Richards) as a timid, isolated androgynous youth. She arrives in Bristol after moving from Oxford, and is told by her fathers to try to blend in. It soon emerges that this is not an easy task, as Franky arrives at Roundview College on a motorised scooter after being chased by a gang of youths. Things do not get much better, when she is made to wear some dirty, second-hand clothes to a sports lesson. Mini McGuinness (Freya Mavor), the queen bee of the school, immediately takes issue with Franky's androgynous dress sense, due to her obsession with fashion. The two then get into a fight on the sports field. At lunch, she is approached by Alo Creevey (Will Merrick) and Rich Hardbeck (Alex Arnold), two fellow outcasts, who hope to make friends. The two are chased off by Mini and her friends, Liv Malone (Laya Lewis) and Grace Blood (Jessica Sula), and is invited to hang out later. Though she refuses at first, she eventually agrees. The three take some Miaow-Miaow and have fun at the local shopping centre. They return home to meet Franky's two dads, Geoff and Jeff (Gareth Farr and John Sessions). There, they discover via some pictures on "Friendlook" that Franky was victimised mercilessly in Oxford. The very next day, after Frank with Mini and calls her a "bulimic Barbie," Mini has her boyfriend, Nick Levan (Sean Teale), post the pictures she found on the walls of the school, causing Franky to run off, crying. She goes to a rubbish dump to smoke a joint and take out her frustration by shooting an old fridge. There, she is approached by Matty (Sebastian De Souza), Nick's older brother, who tells her she is beautiful. She then discovers Grace, who had taken an interest in her from the beginning, in her room. Empowered by these two encounters, she confronts Mini at a party, and appeals to Grace and Liv that they truly like her. When they do not verbally respond, she leaves in frustration. Grace in turn persuades Alo and Rich to go after Franky, and the three abduct her and take her to a swimming pool. There, they unite as a gang of their own.
In "Rich", Franky is approached by Rich Hardbeck to help him understand girls. She is unable to help, as she claims she does not know much about girls, but does recommend Rich talks to Grace instead.
In "Mini", Franky is recruited by Grace to help with Mini's fashion show. But Mini rejects her and decides to overhaul the show herself. However, when Mini suffers a meltdown, Franky's ideas are used instead, to a standing ovation. Franky approaches Mini outside the rave she is at later on, and explains the real reason she is friends with Liv and Grace. Empowered by this, Mini returns to the rave with Franky. In the crowd, Franky sees Matty again.