Character Relationship Map: Deep End

Characters

• Susan (played by Jane Asher) — protagonist

  Susan is a bath attendant in her mid-twenties who trains Mike and teaches him that flirtatious role-play can earn larger tips. She is affectionate, cruel, and emotionally conflicted, maintaining an en...

• Mike (played by John Moulder-Brown) — protagonist

  Mike is a fifteen-year-old school-leaver who works at a public bath and becomes intensely infatuated with Susan. He rejects other sexual opportunities, follows Susan, and grows increasingly possessive...

• Gym Teacher (played by Karl Michael Vogler) — supporting

  The Gym Teacher is a married instructor who brings his girls' swimming class to the baths and carries on an affair with Susan. Mike discovers the relationship and later sabotages the Gym Teacher's car...

• Chris (played by Christopher Sandford) — supporting

  Chris is Susan's well-off fiancé. He takes her to an expensive nightclub and an adult movie theatre, where he pressures her and fails to notice her secret intimacy with Mike. His telephone call interr...

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Susan → Gym Teacher (Romantic Former Lover) — Their affair complicates Susan's engagement and intensifies Mike's jealousy.

  Mike discovers that Susan is having an affair with the married gym teacher who brings his swimming class to the pool.

• Susan → Chris (Romantic Fiancee) — Chris is Susan's formal romantic partner and remains a competing presence in her life.

  The plot identifies Chris as Susan's well-off fiancé, and Susan leaves the baths after receiving his telephone call.

• Mike → Susan (Professional Trainer And Trainee) — Susan is Mike's workplace instructor and introduces him to the baths' practices.

  Susan trains Mike when he begins working at the public baths and encourages him to serve female clients.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Mike → Chris (Conflict Romantic Rival) — Mike's desire for Susan directly clashes with Chris's position as her fiancé.

  Mike follows Susan and Chris to the cinema, touches Susan while Chris is beside her, and is overjoyed when Susan kisses him.

• Mike → Gym Teacher (Conflict Jealous Rival) — Mike treats the gym teacher as a rival and sabotages his car.

  Mike plants glass to puncture the gym teacher's car tyres after discovering the teacher's affair with Susan.

Story Analysis

A young bath attendant's obsessive desire for Susan escalates from workplace fascination into jealousy, possession, and fatal violence.

Plot Progression

1. A New Life at the Baths — Mike leaves school and begins working at a public bath. Susan trains him in the workplace's intimate customer routines, while his discomfort gradually turns into fascination.
2. Desire and Discovery — Mike defends Susan and becomes increasingly attracted to her. He then learns about her engagement to Chris and her affair with the gym teacher.
3. Public Intimacy — At the cinema, Mike touches Susan while Chris is present, and Susan secretly kisses him. Mike's brief happiness intensifies his fixation when he cannot join the couple at the nightclub.
4. The Image and the Diamond — Mike steals a cutout resembling Susan and turns it into a substitute for her. His jealousy leads to car sabotage, violence, and a desperate search for Susan's engagement diamond.
5. Water Without Escape — Mike withholds the diamond before returning it, and Susan briefly stays with him. When she tries to leave, his possessiveness causes the fatal pool accident.