Karen McClair

Karen McClair was a fictional character in the television series Skins, and was portrayed by Klariza Clayton. She was a secondary main character and was included in promotional materials with the main cast.

Characterization
Karen is Freddie's older sister. In Series 3, her goal is to become a singer any way possible. In her quest for fame, she alienated Freddie. In Series 4, Karen seems to have given up on the dream and is trying to become a hairdresser. She and Freddie have patched up their relationship and become much closer.

Her personality comes out in quotes like this list of "the wrong things" that she likes:

"Gossip Girl, Davina, Dick Van Dyke, Lady and the Tramp, Hannah Montana, monster trucks, Dancing on Ice, mojitos, Rio Ferdinand, Masala Zone, Pop Tarts, Jude Law's accent in Cold Mountain, hair straighteners, Love Actually, Kylie, Whitney, Britney, Robbie, Brucie, L'oreal, Wild At Heart, milk, Comic Relief, ponies, Posh, Becks, pecs, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and heavy petting."

In "Everyone", she tells Thomas that only Freddie accepts her weird personality traits. She tells Cook that "no one loves him [Freddie] like I do, not even that crazy bitch Effy" when Cook tells Karen that they should stop looking for the missing Freddie, who they think ran away.

Series 3


In "Cook", Freddie gets a call from Karen and tells him about her best friend Kayleigh's engagement party, and if they have any drugs. Cook rounds the gang up and they head over there uninvited.

In "Freddie", she is involved in a talent search for a new girl-band called "Da Sexxbombz". In an attempt to gain the audience's pity, she uses her mother's death as a sympathy vote, which deeply angers Freddie. Freddie despises her blind lust for celebrity but is emotionally blackmailed into sticking to the story she and their Dad, Leo are spinning about their supposed deceased mother, all to look good in front of the cameras, and thereby increase her chances of success.

But his Dad is increasingly favouring Karen over Freddie, up to the point of clearing out Freddie's shed and turning it into Karen's studio. Karen loses the show finale by fifteen votes; Freddie even turning up to support her. Cook and JJ visit the McClair house, Cook admits he got the entire pub to vote against Karen as a revenge plan as she "stole the shed" along with telling Freddie that he had previously slept with Karen as well. Freddie physical lashes out at Cook, accusing him of being selfish for doing that to Karen.

Series 4
In "Freddie", she has lost much of her "sexual" image from the previous series and is now trying to become a hairdresser. She and Freddie are a lot closer than they were in the previous series.

In "Everyone", To cover his crime, Foster planted evidence that makes it seem that Freddie had run away, not being able to deal with Effy's problems. Most of the gang believes this explanation, however, Karen is the first person to realise something is off, as most of his things (including his favourite shirt) are still in his room.

Later, Karen finds evidence that makes her think that something more sinister happened to Freddie and talks to Cook. When Cook tries to tell her to accept that Freddie ran away, she attacks him. She tells him that if Cook was really Freddie's friend, he would look for him, as Freddie did for Cook in "Finale" (episode 3.10). She gives the evidence she found to Cook and tells him that he should read it and see if it changes his mind. The rest of the gang (including Karen) meet there and decide to throw a party for Freddie's birthday even though he isn't there.