Christine Nelson


Christine "Spike" Nelson is a fictional character from the Degrassi teen drama franchise. Portrayed by Amanda Stepto, Spike appeared throughout Degrassi Junior High '', Degrassi High, and the first nine seasons of Degrassi: The Next Generation. Starting as an unnamed extra before being given a name and storyline, Spike's character largely revolves around her teenage pregnancy and motherhood.
She becomes pregnant in the first season of Degrassi Junior High, and the second season shows the pregnancy's impact on her relationships and education; her relationship with boyfriend Shane McKay is strained, and the PTA has her removed from Degrassi for setting a "bad example". After giving birth to Emma by the third season, Spike is supported with monthly child support payments, which stop when Shane withholds one to attend a concert where he falls off a bridge, landing him in a coma. By Degrassi High, Spike unsuccessfully tries to re-enter the dating scene. In Degrassi: The Next Generation, of which Emma is a central character, Spike appears in a recurring role and plays a primary role in a number of two-part episodes, including one revisiting Shane. She marries former classmate Snake and has a second child, though their marriage is briefly marred by Snake's infidelity in season five. Her role gradually recedes until her last appearance in Degrassi Takes Manhattan in 2010. A novel focused on Spike was published by James Lorimer & Co in December 1988, exploring her storyline and background in further detail.
She was one of the first major pregnant teenagers on television. "It's Late", the episode that began her pregnancy storyline, won an International Emmy, the award of which inspired the name of Spike's daughter. Like her co-stars, Amanda Stepto's public image was directly affected by her portrayal of Spike, as she was often conflated with the character and mistaken as being legitimately pregnant. The character's large spiked hair, which was Stepto's own, became considered a "trademark" of both the character and the actress. Several episodes about her pregnancy were banned from airing on the BBC in the United Kingdom, where Degrassi Junior High experienced its highest viewership. Amanda Stepto earned recognition from critics and scholars for her portrayal of Spike. In 1990, along with her co-stars, she was nominated for the Young Artist Award for Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast for Degrassi Junior High. In 1992, she was nominated for the Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role for Degrassi High''.
Spike was one of the show's most popular characters, and her storyline was key to the franchise's later developments. She appears in a total of 113 episodes throughout the franchise.

Concept and casting

Audition

noticed an audition for Degrassi Junior High when she was attending the Etobicoke School of the Arts, where she minored in drama. Identifying with the punk rock movement, Stepto had large spiked hair. In a 2016 podcast interview, Stepto explained that it was based on the style of Colin Abrahall, the vocalist of the UK82 band GBH. She was not a professional actress at the time and did not have either a resume or professional headshots, and was instead required to send in a photo to Playing With Time, the production company of the series. She recalled that an argument ensued between her and her parents, who felt her large spiked hair was unsuitable for television. Stepto refused to change her hair, telling her parents; "This is my hair! If they don't like me, fuck them!".
She was ultimately accepted and underwent the first series of acting workshops. Stepto was the only student at the school to audition for the show. Recalling this, Stepto later said: "A year later, everyone else was sorry they didn't". Initially, she auditioned for the role of provocatively dressed Stephanie Kaye, which later went to Nicole Stoffman. Show co-creator Linda Schuyler later recalled: "We said to each other afterwards, "Oh my—that girl is not Stephanie Kaye, but we need her in our show!"". The role was explicitly created for Stepto. In 2019, she recalled making approximately $50 daily for her role in Degrassi Junior High, as actors were paid based on how many lines they would have per episode.
According to Stepto, Neil Hope, who played Derek "Wheels" Wheeler, began calling her "Spike" on set, which also inspired the character's name. The cast was forbidden from wearing predominantly black clothing, which, according to Stepto, "ruled out like 99% percent of my wardrobe". Instead, she wore various T-shirts of punk rock and new wave bands that she liked. Like the rest of the characters on the series, Spike's experiences were loosely or directly based on Stepto's own experiences.

Development

Linda Schuyler said in 2015 that it was her idea to tackle teenage pregnancy during Degrassi Junior High. Schuyler told Kevin Smith in a radio interview that year that she had a teenage pregnancy in her family, and spoke of the common practice at the time in which pregnant teens were sent to maternity homes, something Schuyler found problematic. The storyline which would be later given to Spike was developed from research on teenage pregnancy by writer Loretta Castellarin, who later co-authored the Spike's companion novel.
Stephanie Kaye was considered for the storyline, however due to the nature of the character, it was decided against by the writers; Stepto explained: "You can't just say the promiscuous girls get pregnant.". Spike was chosen because she was seen as a "nice, quiet character that everybody liked", and would not be expected to be in such a situation. With Spike, the writers sought to demonstrate that "just because someone's 14 and gets pregnant doesn't mean that she's a slut."
In an episode of Degrassi Talks, Stepto noted that she initially thought the plotline was unrealistic in the context of the wealth of information on sexually transmitted diseases and contraception. Toronto Star's Catherine Dunphy noted that during the initial readthrough of "It's Late", the episode that began her pregnancy storyline, Stepto's castmates "snickered". Promoting the series, Stepto recalled receiving very little sex education during her time in Grade 8, the same grade her character became pregnant, stating that it consisted of one single gym class of "diagrams and filling in the blanks", and spoke of what she perceived as a more widespread apathy toward the subject by educators. Spike's decision to keep her baby was influenced by an increasing trend in pregnant teenagers keeping theirs. Conversely, Stepto would say in contemporary interviews that she would have had an abortion had she been in her character's situation, which she said would greatly surprise interviewers.
Stepto compared playing Spike to being her biological mother. In 1992, she named the first-season episode "Parent's Night" as her most important episode. In the episode, which immediately follows "It's Late", Spike, who is contemplating giving her baby up for adoption, seeks the advice of Wheels, who is adopted himself. Speaking on the filming of the scene, Stepto said that she felt as if she was in "the body of my biological mother talking to me". In 1988, Stepto stated to Montreal Gazette the impact that playing the role would have on her: "Spike made me realize I shouldn't hate my own mother for what she did especially when I realized I was really playing her." Other aspects from Stepto that were translated to the character included her support for animal rights, and the scrutiny that she experienced in public due to her spiked hairstyle.

Departure

Stepto last appeared as Spike in the 2010 television movie Degrassi Takes Manhattan. After season 7 of The Next Generation, Stepto was not billed in the opening credits, and the character's role was diminished significantly. An official reason for Spike's departure was not announced. At the 2022 Toronto Comicon, when asked by co-star Pat Mastroianni her thoughts on adult Spike, Stepto opined that she realized her character was ultimately meant to have a supporting role, but that she felt the lack of screen time for Spike compared to the rest of the family, was "kinda weird", especially as there continued to be scenes in the Nelson-Simpson house where she is not present.

Characterization

Spike is characterized as a normally-behaved teenage girl with a "gentle" personality whose fashion incorporates elements of punk rock, including large spiked hair, as well as other types of clothing such as plaid skirts, oversized sweaters and ruffled blouses. She is typically polite, but confrontational and resentful when concerning her pregnancy and motherhood. She has been described as a "petite punk rocker", "seemingly cool but naive" and a "sullen girl". As opposed to her more stoic friend Liz O'Rourke, she appears to be against violence, at one point dissuading Liz from vandalizing a diner. Her personal life is explored occasionally throughout Junior High. She is shown to live alone with her mother in an apartment complex. It is mentioned in "It's Late" that her mother gave birth to Spike when she was seventeen, and a comment made by her mother in the second-season episode Dinner And A Show implies that the father may have abandoned her.
Amanda Stepto expressed some critical observations about her character's personality during and after the series' run. During Degrassi Junior High's run, Stepto observed that her character seemed very unhappy; when interviewed in 1990, Stepto stated that Spike was "always sad or depressed" and "sort of boring", but acknowledged her character's struggles contributing to her behavior. In 2005, she would remark that she and her character shared some similarities, including her support for animal rights, but sans the pregnancy. Interviewed by CBC's Switchback, Stepto was asked whether she was like her character in real life. She responded: "My character's much more depressing than I am, because of, you know, what she has to cope with.". However, she further stated: "It's really interesting because you learn a lot about what other people go through if they were under that same stress". Speaking to the Canadian Press in December 1988, she spoke of plotlines that she wanted for Spike, including one where she runs away to "get away from it all". She also expressed a want for "an episode where I'm laughing. I'm always asking, 'Can't I smile?'". Despite these reservations, Stepto commented that her character as portrayed in the novelization, which she described as "much more cocky", more closely resembled her real-life personality.
Speaking of her character in Next Generation in 2005, Stepto felt her character had become "boring" and "a bit dull" in the newer series, as opposed to her style in the previous series. She noted that her character "makes these yuppie dinners all the time", but felt that she was still "fashionable". Stepto also stated that she still had input into her wardrobe, particularly wearing clothing from Canadian designers.