Maxine Minniver (previously Blake, Donovan and Kinsella) is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Nikki Sanderson.

Maxine's storylines have included: domestic violence at the hands of Patrick Blake (Jeremy Sheffield); giving birth to Patrick's daughter Minnie with Down's syndrome, a relationship with her stepson Dodger Savage, a custody battle against Patrick for Minnie, with him attempting to portray her as an alcoholic; her relationship with Darren Osborne (Ashley Taylor Dawson); coping with Patrick's motor neurone disease; burying Patrick's body in the city wall after he was murdered by his great-niece Nico Blake (Persephone Swales-Dawson) and discovering that he framed her for his murder; getting engaged to Warren Fox (Jamie Lomas); falling pregnant and not knowing whether the father is Warren or her boyfriend Adam Donovan (Jimmy Essex); miscarrying the baby after being trapped in a lift by Nico; a love triangle with Adam and his ex-fiancée, Darcy Wilde (Aisling Jarrett-Gavin); a relationship with Damon Kinsella (Jacob Roberts); and having Munchausen syndrome.

Maxine arrives from Marbella to visit her sister, Mitzeee (Rachel Shenton), after stealing money from her cheating boyfriend and leaving him.

She later supports Mitzeee and her cousin Heidi Costello's (Kim Tiddy) husband, Carl (Paul Opacic), to get revenge for Riley's death.

After moving in, Patrick discovers that Maxine is unable to read properly and offers to tutor her, much to the delight of Cindy Cunningham (Stephanie Waring) who finds it extremely humorous.

Patrick's mistreatment of Maxine escalates over the next few weeks, with several incidents including him forcing her to eat an entire cake, threatening her with a knife, and physically beating her.

He tells everyone that she died during childbirth but Maxine is found by Theresa (Jorgie Porter) and Celine McQueen (Sarah George) and taken to the hospital.

When Maxine returns in the New Year, she is held hostage by Patrick, who plans to take her and Minnie to America against her will, but the police manage to stop him.

Will Savage (James Atherton) kidnaps Maxine and Theresa, trapping them in a boat which he later sets fire to in an attempt to murder them in order to ruin his brother Dodger's life.

Maxine moves in with Darren Osborne (Ashley Taylor Dawson) at the boarding house and he offers her a job as a receptionist at his company Daz Cabs.

Devastated Maxine tries to commit suicide by jumping off a church roof, but Darren talks her down and reveals why he did it: Patrick saw him bury the gun that shot Phoebe McQueen (Mandip Gill).

To prove that she is a suitable mother, Maxine, with Darren's help, starts her own female taxi service named "Minnie Cabs" so she will be able to provide for her future.

She tells DS Gavin Armstrong (Andrew Hayden-Smith) that she gave a false statement before and reveals what she really did with Patrick's body.

DS Armstrong refuses to believe her, claiming that she smothered Patrick with a pillow, leaving Maxine to plead her innocence.

Adam starts to spend time with his son Toby Wilde (Lucas Haywood) but when Maxine's daughter Minnie goes for an operation, he decides to support her.

Maxine and Adam reconcile a few months later and she is shocked when she finds out he has been working for his corrupt father Glenn Donovan (Bob Cryer).

Glenn discovers that Adam has been working with the police and kills him, and his body is dumped in front of Maxine leaving her devastated.

Maxine is devastated when Glenn shows her footage of Adam sleeping with DS Roxy Cassidy (Lizzie Stavrou), leaving her furious.

At the re-opening of Hollyoaks High, Maxine, Grace, Simone and Courtney Campbell (Amy Conachan) sabotage a banner revealing that Glenn killed Adam.

Kim takes the blame and leaves the village but Liam threatens Maxine, Grace and Simone telling them that he will find out the truth.

Jesse and Lisa Loveday (Rachel Adedeji) arrive and stop Liam and Grace later reveals that she also didn't spike Glenn's drink.

On New Year's Eve, Maxine flirts with Zack to try and make Damon jealous and drinks a dodgy bottle of vodka.

Maxine faints and is found by James Nightingale (Gregory Finnegan) and his son Romeo Quinn (Owen Warner).

Upon seeing this, Damon attempts to help Maxine, until he decides to not talk to her for a day after learning that she been kicked out at her home for not paying the rent.

Grace then forgives Maxine for her lies and Jesse's death, while everybody decides to do the same, leading her to begin her new life away from the past especially Patrick.

Damon begins to understand Maxine been through towards Patrick, and decide to forgive her and become friends, despite they already divorced and allows him to hang out with Minnie as a father figure anytime he wants.

"[6] Sanderson explained the character's backstory, saying she has "just come back from Marbella, where she sold the bar she had with her boyfriend over there, took the money and ran.

[7] She added that the relationship is "more than strained" but Maxine "is so ignorant she reckons she can swan back into Mitzeee's life and everything will be totally hunky dory".

[9] Sanderson said "I am proud to be supporting the ‘No to injury time’ campaign as shockingly, the issue of domestic abuse affects so many people each and every day.

[15] The Manchester Evening News noted Maxine's most notable storyline (Domestic abuse at the hands of Patrick Blake) when reporting about her birthday.