WHEN ground-breaking teen drama Skins first hit our screens, an instant fan favourite was Maxxie - an openly and proudly gay dancer whose breath-taking talent often stole the show.
However, away from the cameras, actor Mitch Hewer was met with a wave of vile homophobic abuse, with one man in a nightclub even threatening to stab him and brandishing a knife.
The traumatic incident made him feel unable to go out in his hometown of Bristol, but it was far from his only problem after leaving the show.
Mitch, now 32, who also starred in Britannia High and Casualty, battled crippling obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that left him unable to be touched and scrubbing his skin until it bled.