Michelle Richardson is a fictional character in both the teen drama British series and American remake of Skins.
She is very confident in her appearance; on the Skins website in a Myspace-style "about me" section, she protests that her photos have not been Photoshopped, and that she is "this gorgeous in real life".
On Michelle's MySpace page she says that her favourite musicians are Stevie Nicks, Peaches and Eminem, but she doesn't like Keane and James Blunt.
After a brief run in with some chav girls where she's assaulted, emotional and upset, she tells Sid she believes he was in on her humiliation and becomes angry with him as well.
In "Maxxie and Anwar", she and her best friend Jal attempt to reconnect while on a school trip in Russia, going out to a bar and getting incredibly drunk.
The next day on the plane home, Michelle doesn't confront Tony immediately, but rather tries to get him to tell her first by subtly probing him, but he fails to confess.
Although Michelle becomes depressed and even gets caught by Angie drinking in the school supply room, she is adamant about not seeing Tony, and has been ignoring his pursuits to get her back.
Michelle finds that she genuinely enjoys her time with Josh, and is able to have an equal conversation with him, unlike Tony who she describes as difficult to talk to.
Michelle finds comfort with Jal, but is both distraught and disgusted with Josh—figuring the photos were related to his mental illness.
Later in the episode Michelle attends with Jal to friend Anwar Kharral's 17th birthday party.
In an Unseen Skins episode, Maxxie encourages Michelle to sign up for the school play (Osama!
When word gets around that Sketch was assaulted by their Drama teacher, Bruce—a false story made up by Sketch—Michelle shows kindness and compassion when she attempts to befriend her and invites her to sit with her during lunch.
Michelle learns Sketch's true nature only when she gives her pills that make her sick, causing her to drop out of the school play just moments before the show (and subsequently fulfilling the role).
To make matters worse, Ted has a spoiled daughter named Scarlett—who are alarmingly too close for comfort for Michelle—who decides she'd move in as well.
In an intense moment, Sid expresses his grief to Michelle over his recently deceased father, and the two of them kiss and make love for the first time with each other on the beach.
They decide to keep their relationship private, feeling that they're not ready to tell their friends, and preferring to spend more time with each other.
In "Effy", Tony spends the episode trying to reach Michelle, who is ignoring his many phone calls and text messages.
In the next two episodes leading up to the finale we learn that Michelle and Tony are trying to take their relationship "slow" and to not "make a thing of it".
She's worried about their relationship what with exams interfering, and Jal's time of need ever since the death of friend Chris, keeping them apart.