Johnny Maxwell

Johnny Maxwell is a fictional character in a series of three children's books by Terry Pratchett. He is a young boy (twelve in the first book, but a teenager in the later ones) living in the (fictional) typical late-20th-century English town of Blackbury (also the setting of Pratchett's Truckers).

Johnny has a difficult home life. Over the course of the three books his parents split up and he and his mother move in with his grandfather. This may be why he starts seeing things no-one else sees, including an alien surrender party, ghosts and a time travelling bag lady. On the other hand, it is possible that he sees them because they are actually there and he lacks the filters that stop most people noticing how amazing the world is (a favourite theme of Pratchett's).

Apart from this tendency Johnny is almost unnaturally normal. His friend Kirsty often gets exasperated by his tendency to simply accept that strange things happen to him, rather than doing something about it. He has a strong sense of fair play, which leads to him fighting for what's right even when he has no idea what's going on.

Pratchett has said that Johnny is based, very loosely, on an idea of what Richmal Crompton's Just William character would be like in a 1990s setting.

Johnny has a sort of a gang consisting of the kids who hang around with each other because they don't fit into any of the school cliques. They are:

The Johnny Maxwell books are:

In 1995 a serial based on Johnny and the Dead was made for Children's ITV. Johnny was played by Andrew Falvery.

In 1996 BBC Radio 4 dramatised Only You Can Save Mankind. Johnny was played by Tim Smith.

A CBBC serial based on Johnny And The Bomb was broadcast in January 2006. Johnny was played by George MacKay.

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