Beautiful People is British comedy series, following the life of Simon Doonan, a schoolboy living in Reading, England in 1997. Simon is also seen in present-day New York (and in the second series, present day Reading) using short prologues and epilogues in the show. Alongside Simon, are his mother, Debbie, his father, Andy, his older sister Ashlene and his best friend, Kyle "Kylie" Parkinson.
Simon Doonan
Simon Doonan (Luke Ward-Wilkinson/Samuel Barnett) is the main character and narrator of Beautiful People. He is based on the Barneys window dresser Simon Doonan, who grew up in the 1960s, however, the character grows up in the 1990s. Like his real namesake, Simon is half English and Irish. In 1997, Simon lived in Reading with his parents, sister, and his mother's best friend, Hayley. However, in the present day he lives in New York City with his boyfriend Sacha, and later returns to Reading when he splits up with Sacha. Simon is known by his camp, effeminate behaviour. His best friend is Kyle "Kylie" Parkinson, an equally camp boy who lives across the road in Reading. They are close friends and have only once fallen out, when Simon dyed Kylie's hair wrong, causing him to look like a blond "Ronald McDonald". In 1997 Simon had curtained hair, a haircut very popular in the 1990s. Simon became an accomplished football player after he discovered his idol, Victoria Beckham (then known as Victoria "Posh Spice" Adams), was to marry David Beckham. Simon has a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead, similar to Harry Potter, however he always conceals it with makeup. Simon was a big fan of Steps when he was younger. Simon and Kylie ran away from home to London, but his parents realised and called the police after seeing him on Live & Kicking. Simon, who hoped to be on the stage, wanted to be educated at Madame Darcy's School of Theatre, but his parents refused. After qualifying at school Simon became a set dresser on Live With Loretta (a parody of GMTV with Lorraine). He then becomes a window dresser at Barneys in New York. In the second series, Simon and Sacha have split up and Simon returns to the family home in Reading; he soon finds a new job at Selfridges in London. He comes out to his mother (through a letter, read in voice-over while he and his crush Mickey dance on the roof and almost kiss) in the last episode of season 2, after she tells him that she loves him no matter what and that other boys are crap (after he says that he isn't "like other boys"). Simon becomes engaged to Mickey in the last episode of season 2 (in the 2009 epilogue). In the end, Simon states that even though he spent his life wishing he was with the beautiful people, he now knows they were with him all along, quoting Judy Garland 'There really is no place like home'.
Debbie Doonan
Debbie Doonan (Olivia Colman) is Simon's mother, who lives with him, Andy, Ashlene and best friend Hayley at 19 Melody Crescent. Debbie Doonan is described by Simon as "the most glamorous woman in Reading", however, her glamorous reputation is temporarily tarnished when her hairdresser, Tameka, dies half way through her haircut. She has peroxide blonde bleached hair and hair extensions. Debbie is a cigarette smoker and a heavy drinker, and won a year's free supply of gin in a poetry competition. Supposedly, Debbie and Andy drank so heavily when they married that they cannot remember the date (either June 14 or May 8), but it is eventually revealed that this is actually because they had both been lying, and had not in fact got married at all. Debbie quits drinking for a week to prove to Simon that she is not "Reading's answer to Oliver Reed", however Debbie eventually succumbs to Andy's homemade gherkin and cucumber wine after being called a "moody bitch" when sober. Debbie is outspoken and very opinionated, but always loving to her children. A barmaid at the local pub, Debbie attacks Simon's teacher, after discovering she allowed him to drink with her in the pub. She also charges people to read their tea leaves, despite her possessing no psychic ability. Debbie is an excellent fighter and has various brawls with Reba (Kylie's mother) and pushes an American woman through a plate glass window for "suspiciously" touching her bum bag. She also gets arrested for assault after punching Tristram Bell, the school drama teacher, but he decides not to press charges. Her previous criminal record involved her throwing a Cadbury's Creme Egg at Margaret Thatcher, but she missed and hit a police officer, causing his eye to swell up the size of a golf ball according to the judge. She speaks fluent Polish, after taking in two Polish lodgers in 2009.