Shameless by name, Shameless by nature (Shameless)

Member Name: englishrose

Product:	Shameless
Date:	07/04/09 (60 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny. Dramatic. Exciting. Well-written.

Disadvantages: Not for the faint-hearted

Shameless is ... well, Shameless! The current series in on Channel 4 at the moment and I am fresh from watching the latest episode.

It's on Channel 4 at 10.00 pm every Tuesday night, and it is also repeated lots of times throughout the week on Channel 4 +1, Channel 4 on Wednesday nights, and E4/More 4. If you still manage to miss it, there is always the replayer on the channel 4 website.

Set on the Chatsworth housing estate in the roughest end of Manchester, Shameless is a comedy drama, and it does mix both in equal measure: One minute you are laughing at something, then suddenly something pops up to shock you.

Every episode starts with a warning, whether it be sex, drugs, swearing, violence, you name it, basically. The show was created by the writer Paul Abbot, who was also the main man behind factory drama Clocking Off. He claims that there is nothing outrageous about Shameless and it simply reflects his own upbringing. Abbot says that a lot of the incidents in the show are actually true stories.

The main two families in this show are the Gallaghers and the Maguires.

The Gallaghers are headed up by Frank Gallagher, a drunken rogue who seems to have hidden intellectual depths - well, he would do, if he could get his words out. His role in life is to do as little as possible, while constantly pontificating about anything that comes into his head.

His flighty wife Monica has left him and returned numerous times, and her lesbian lover ,Norma, is living in a campervan outside his house. Still, at least she helps him with his numerous children sometimes - I cannot remember how many there are in total, as there is a wide age range and some of them have actually left home (and the show). I think there are around eight, but don't quote me!

Then, some of them are only little kids, like Liam (yes, Liam Gallagher) who is still at primary school, and Franks' twins who were born to another mother and have now disappeared.

His eldest daugher used to look after everyone, but she left, so now it's down to Debbie, the next girl down. She is funny, feisty and wise - Well, she has to be! The Gallaghers are linked by marriage to the Maguires, when Frank's son Lip had a daughter with Mandy, the Maguires daughter.

The Maguires are the local gangsters - They run all the local drug and protection rackets with an iron fist, and one of their sons is also landlord at the local boozer, the Jockey. The Jockey is the kind of pub where you wipe your feet on the way out.

Well, the Maguires ruled the roost until this series, when it's all gone a bit wrong for them so far: Currently, dad Paddy is in the grip of a heroin addiction and son Mikey is out on his ear as his wife has thrown him out of the pub.

Shameless has been on our screens for quite a few years now, and one thing I really like about it is that the series' are quite long - i really hate it when you are just getting into a show then it ends, but that doesn't happen with Shameless. Each series is several episodes longer than other shows, so you really get a chance to get your teeth into it.

The script is really sharp and funny, and often features the characters' daydream or fantasy sequences, randomly inserted, which really make me laugh.

If you don't like bad language, this is not the show for you. I don't mind it in the right context, and I think Shameless is the right context.

I feel disloyal saying this, but Shameless did used to be funnier than it is now. (Phew, there, I've said it!) It used to be heavier on the comedy side, and less on the drama side, and now I find that this has reversed. I guess it had to develop, in order to keep going, but there are some scenes now that I find hard to watch bearing in mind it's supposed to be comedy - I'm thinking in particular of the scenes of violence.

Re-adjusting my senses to think of it as just 'drama', I still recomend it as a great hours' viewing for anyone not easily offended. The characters have all got the full three dimensions, and must thank their lucky stars for the day they got their parts in Shameless: it 's so unusual and the storylines can be so 'out there' that it must be an actors dream job. Anne McDuff and James McAvoy were two of the original stars, and have gone on to become major film stars , and have also married each other :)

Even the minor characters always, at some point, get a chance to develop their character, and will always eventually get a storyline of their own, which is a great thing about Shameless and helps to keep it interesting.

Previous series are also widely available on DVD

Summary: The television highlight of my week!