He is highly intelligent, takes 10 GCSEs, and eventually accepts an offer from Nottingham University in the last episode of Series 4. In the first episode of series five he returns to the estate during his university break to see Mandy and Katie. His secret girlfriend from university, Alex, decides to make a trip to the Chatsworth Estate. This costs Lip his relationship with Mandy after getting into a bar fight as well as realizing Lip is embarrassed of his daughter and ends up kicking him out of the Gallagher home.