Karen Brockman

Karen Brockman
Karen in series five
Born	24th Febuary 2002 (age 11)
Status	Schoolgirl
Hair colour	Originally Blonde, matured Brown
Place of Residence	19 Keely Road, London
Parents	Sue and Pete
Siblings	Jake and Ben
Relatives	Frank (grandfather), Angela (auntie), Gran
Portrayed by	Ramona Marquez

Karen Rose Brockman is Pete and Sue's youngest child. She was born in 24th February 2001, so she is now 11. She has a talent for interrogation, often managing to ask an adult the most bizarre off-the-wall question which completely throws them off balance.

Characterization

Karen is a bright, talkative girl. She is naturally inquisitive and tends to spend much of her time asking questions about anything and everything. Karen often annoys her family members with her quick wit and her

Karen in TheTennis Match

"literal" attitude. She spends quite a lot of time in her room, acting out reality TV shows with her stuffed toys such as Britain's Got Talent, Hell's Kitchen, The X Factor & The Apprentice. She also draws slightly disturbing pictures a lot. Karen is extremely intelligent but also extraordinarily idealistic. This is shown when she argues with her mother over how to hit a boy in a 'ladylike' way. She clashes with Ben because of their dual personalities and Karen almost viciously reacts when she thinks she is being pitied or belittled. Karen is also cynical: Her idealism leads her to cling to her beliefs and she becomes angry or confused when she is challenged, but also effortlessly brings down anybody's sense of superiority. This is shown in her relationship with Angela. Some of Karen's innocent questions are actually rather probing and, if answered correctly, would be rather embarrassing for the adults involved. In her younger days, Karen had an interest in everything, including nits. At one point she wanted to keep one as a pet. Karen still doesn't yet subscribe to the 'being polite' social skills that adults must endure - and thus Karen doesn't hide the fact she doesn't really like her Auntie Angela. Displaying this by

Karen in The Hospital

saying , during a game of who can create the biggest lie , " I like Auntie Angela " . She is shown to be very cunning and intelligent seen in The Old-Fashioned Sunday when her parents try and get out listening to her play the recorder and she tricks them in to listening. Her intelligence is shown in The Family Outing when she asks Pete if her and Gran were going to argue and cleverly points out that her and Pete were arguing as they were not argreeing on the same thing. However, her outgoing and optimistic attitude is finally snapped when, after she comes third in a swimming race she usually excels at, she explodes that she lost because she came from a family of losers.

Series History

Series 1

Karen in series one is a loud and talkative five year old who asks a lot of questions. In The City Farm we see Karen on her birthday. She thinks that because it is her birthday, she has control, thus taking power off others, such as Ben in the car, and asking Grandad directly about getting old. Karen has, arguably, her smallest role in Series 1, as her part was greatly expanded in subsequent series.

Karen in series one

Series 2

Karen seems to have grown older and matured slightly, however she still asks lots of questions, and as she has become more intelligent and more knowledgeable, this inevitably leads to yet more questions.The US election has also had a major effect on her: many drawings such as 'Obama flying across the sky with Satan' are shown to a slightly worried Sue. Not only is her mother disturbed about her young daughter's pictures, but is worried when discovering Karen's teacher, Miss Breybrook, takes medication which causes her to see Satan. Karen becomes much more confident in what she does and in the final episode revelations about Miss Breybrook cause her to write a letter to the prime minister, asking for her teacher to be sacked.

Also in the final episodes, one of the most popular Karen moments about her lists of people she doesn't like, where she responds to Pete's question of why she wrote his name, 'Just practising spelling it.'

Series 3

In series three Karen becomes much more aware of the world around her, but still has much to learn. In the second episode, her and Ben think that they have won a large sum of money, to this we see into how Karen thinks, and what she sees as a good spend of money.

Another key part of series three is Karen developing traits of her eldest brother when revelations about Pete's

Karen questioning a saleswomen in series 3

kiss arise. She seems worried about her Mum and Dad asking about what the priest would say and wanting to know why Pete broke his wedding promises. She takes the issue more seriously than Jake, who seems to let his parents sort it out, and far more seriously than Ben, who ignores it completely. In the last episode Karen is hit by a car, luckily at a slow speed so she is not seriously injured. At the hospital she constantly questions the actions of the nurse attending to her, firstly puzzling then annoying the nurse. At the end of the episode Karen asks her Dad if they will sue the man who ran her over, however her parents say no and take her home.

Series 4

Karen has matured the most and her scale on questions being asked has deteriorated on a massive scale. She is now nine years old. In Ben's Parents Evening she takes a small revenge on Jake when he didn't defend her after his friend insulted her. She also appears

Karen and her father Pete

less in the series, most prominently in Free (the latter is that none of the children make huge appearances) and Jake's Secret (Part 2).

She has grown out of using theories to defend her points. Her main theory is in Uncle Bob's Funeral were she was telling Sandra how to stop muggers. She has a knack on dealing with cold callers which was also seen in The Restaurant. She has become so clever with playing mind games with them that Pete and Sue encourage her to use her skill.

Series 5

Karen Brockman, Season Five

Karen has changed and grown up a lot since her last appearance, she is 11. She is in Year 7 at secondary school, but is seen as very unpopular, to the worry of her parents. She is almost un-recognisable, with her hair dyed dark and straightened, making her appear a lot older. Karen seems fine with her lack of friends, and when a girl from her class, Esme, comes round, Karen wants to annoy her.

Karen dislikes her new school, and sends an argumentative letter to the head teacher on the 'school's failings'. She also tries to find a missing hamster, who has been gone for 2 months. Her brother Jake says, "she's quite thick for someone who's too smart to go to our school,". Karen has become isolated in this series, keeping to herself or hiding in her room.

Traits

Karen is a bright chatty girl who asks lots of questions.

Traits from Peter Brockman

At first look Karen doesn't seem anything like her father. The traits they share are both Pete and Karen worry a lot. However Pete tends to worry about more things about family and Karen worries about things which are unlikely to ever happen. They both show a lot of interest to things and people around them such as Pete continually looking up Tyson in series 2 and Karen being interested in everything. They both seem to share a quick wit, which Jake and Sue also share, to a lesser extent.

Traits from Sue Brockman

Traits that come from Sue include: both her and Sue can keep jokes to themselves, which they also share with Jake .

Traits shared with Jake and Ben

Traits Karen shares with are Ben are that they both ask questions. In the series four climax she demonstrates the same level of knowledge as Ben. Aswell as the fact that she can talk a lot and has to be heard.

Relationships

Family

Peter Brockman

Pete is Karen's father. It is shown that out of his three children he has the best relationship with Karen and Karen seems to prefer Pete to Sue. This is shown when Pete was last on Karen's list on who she wants to punish, while Sue, Jake and Ben were all higher. She also seems to ask Pete more reasonable questions and prefers Pete to read her a bedtime story; asks if he is going to her school concert and calls him cool. In Series 4, Karen asks Pete for advice about her social life, and is never seen asking Sue for any. However in Series 4 Karen does criticise Pete taking her to school. Pete also encourges Karen's behaviour with her literal attitude seen in The Restaurant were he told Sue not to stop Karen killing of Brick's therapist questions. Also in Jake's Secret (Part 1).

Sue Brockman

Sue is Karens mother. She is highly aware that Karen prefers Pete to her. Karen asks Sue the most annoying and insulting questions which normally result in Sue being embrassed. Karen does not seem to care much for her mother, shown when she embarassed Sue twice on a family day out in London. In Series 4 Karen is annoyed at Sue for working full-time, stating that Sue has 'abandoned' her. This drives her to get herself kicked out of after-school club, just to get back at Sue. She also states that she told her time and time again to stop annoying her but she wouldn't, so she left. Sue underestimated her so she left.

Jake Brockman

Jake is Karen's eldest brother that they do not interact with each other very often. However, when they are seen talking it is shown they have a quite good relationship, such as when they talk about bullying. Karen was the first to know Jake was being bullied, but she agreed to his request not to tell anybody. It is obvious that Jake likes Karen more than Ben, as he will listen to her talk, whereas he just tells Ben to shut up. However, in Series 4 Jake is annoyed about having to look after her during Ben's parents evening and doesn't help her after one of his friends insults her. Karen then responds by revealing to his friends that Jake likes Michael Buble, humiliating him.

Ben Brockman

Ben is Karen's other brother. Up to Series 4 they were often seen together, separate from Jake. In earlier series they do not have a good relationship, with Karen often insulting Ben by saying he has hair like a girl. By the time of Series 3, however, the relationship appears to have improved, with them having a healthy discussion on what they would do with 500,000 pounds. They are seen discussing who they would live with if Pete and Sue divorced.

Angela Morrison

Karen dislikes Angela, her aunt. This can be seen when, at five years old, she is playing a game of 'Who can create the biggest lie' and said 'I like Aunty Angela'.

Frank Morrison

Frank is Karen's grandad. They are shown to have a good relationship, but as Karen gets older she doesn't want to talk to him. Karen continually asks him difficult questions about being old. Frank inadvertantly said that Karen playing recorder sounded terrible. He is also on Karen's list on who she wants to punish, although the exact reason is never specified (it could have been the aforementioned recorder incident). Karen and Frank do not really talk in The Christmas Special.

Sandra Brockman

Sandra is Karen's Gran on her fathers side. Sandra thinks Karen is very bright and thinks Karen should go to a good school. Karen knows that her Gran and her father might have an argument and asks if they were going to argue.

Tanya

Tanya is one of Karen's so called friend in series 4 but their "friendship" causes unsettlement in the Brookman family.

Alexa

Alexa is one of Karen's closest friends. This is mainly because Jane always drops Alexa off. They sometimes play a game called "Stupid Mummies" and Alexa joins in when Karen is annoying Sue. Alexa once invited Karen for a sleepover and they watched a horror film which meant Karen wouldn't sleep for 6 months.

Barbara

Barbara is Karen's next door neighbor. Karen seemed quite fond of her and called her a princess and a lovely lady and very pretty.

Maisy Warburton

Maisy is one of Karen's classmates. Maisy is an unseen character but is metioned quite a lot. She is first metioned when Karen was telling Jake that she thought she was a bully by pushing her over and they they played a game called "Spy Dudes". Maisy's parents are noted to be divorced and lives with her mother. She is mentioned to have given Karen a glow in a dark pen for £10000 She came to Karens house for a sleepover and encountered a naked Pete.

In Series 4, it is mentioned that Maisy and Karen are no longer friends, and that Maisy has joined up with other classmates Megan, Molly and Tania, leaving Karen on her own. She also makes her first, very brief, appearance in Series 4, when Sue and Karen see her and the other girls at a shopping centre, although it is unclear which girl was Maisy.

Trivia

• In series three, it is revealed she made a controversial badge claiming she was the top of her class, which indicates she is the most opinionated of the three children, whilst Jake is the most pessimistic, and Ben is the most carefree and volatile.
• She loves asking questions that really no one knows the answers to.
• She loves drawing pictures of her family.
• She has a cuddly toy cat and calls it puss cat.