The character was created as one of four new students to be introduced into the series in 2006. At the time of creation the then producer of the series, Bryan Kirkwood described the character to actor Gerard McCarthy as "A cross between Pete Doherty, Pete Burns and Pete Bennett from Big Brother — a bit of a Boy George character." The character was initially intended for a 12 episode stint, but after producer saw how popular he was with viewers they decided to make him a permanent character.