finally tells Steph his true feelings and they begin a relationship. With Max spending more time with Steph, OB begins to feel left out. OB befriends Simon Crosby, who apparently turns out to be a paedophile. Max and Jake Dean attack Simon's home with other residents. Innocent Simon tries to commit suicide, however survives. After Max discovers Simon was innocent, he apologises to OB, who is disgusted, although they later made up. OB decides to leave for London with girlfriend Summer Shaw. Max and Tom bare OB a sad farewell as he leaves. Max decides to propose to Steph, which she accepts. Max and Steph's engagement is short-lived when they split up and she seeks comfort in Niall Rafferty. Niall falls in love with Steph, who then gets back together with Max. With the wedding back on, Max's mother Angela, sister Cindy, niece Holly, stepsister Mandy and also OB return for his wedding, except for his older sister Jude, who cannot attend to the wedding due to being wanted by the police ten years earlier, and Steph father Johnno. After a perfect wedding, distraught Niall speeds off in his car. Max sees him driving unknowingly towards Tom and rushes to him, pushing him out of the way in time. Max is hit by Niall's car. Max is held by OB and Tom as he bleeds. Steph rushes to his side as he dies. Reception For his portrayal of Max, Matt Littler won the 'Outstanding Serial Drama Performance' at the 2008 National Television Awards. Subsequent to his National Television Awards nomination, the character has also won the award for 'Best On-screen Partnership' with Darren Jeffries (OB) at The 2008 British Soap Awards. The same year, Littler, along with Gemma Bissix (Clare), Jamie Lomas (Warren), Chris Fountain (Justin) and Hannah Tointon (Katy), won the award for 'Spectacular Scene of the Year' for Clare kidnapping Katy and driving the car over the edge of the cliff. In 2009, Littler's exit from the show got his nominated for 'Best Exit' and 'Best Single Episode' for Max and Steph's wedding day. The character was selected as one of the "top 100 British soap characters" by industry experts for a poll to be run by What's on TV, with readers able to vote for their favourite character to discover "Who is Soap's greatest Legend?" Virgin Media profiled Max and O.B's double act, stating: "This pair have