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Shameless
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Shameless is a BAFTA award-winning British comedy drama television series set in the fictional Chatsworth Estate, which is based on the real estate in Stretford, Manchester, England. Produced by Company Pictures for Channel 4, the first seven-episode series aired weekly on Tuesday nights at 10pm from 13 January 2004. The comedy drama, centred around UK underclass culture, has been accorded critical acclaim by various sections of the British media, including The Sun newspaper and Newsnight Review on BBC Two.
The programme was created and, at least initially, mainly written by Paul Abbott, who is also the programme's Executive Producer.
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Shameless is a BAFTA award-winning British comedy drama television series set in the fictional Chatsworth Estate, which is based on the real estate in Stretford, Manchester, England. Produced by Company Pictures for Channel 4, the first seven-episode series aired weekly on Tuesday nights at 10pm from 13 January 2004. The comedy drama, centred around UK underclass culture, has been accorded critical acclaim by various sections of the British media, including The Sun newspaper and Newsnight Review on BBC Two.
The programme was created and, at least initially, mainly written by Paul Abbott, who is also the programme's Executive Producer. Much of the series is based on Abbott's own experiences growing up in a similar situation to the Gallagher children in Burnley.
The first series was co-written with Danny Brocklehurst and Carmel Morgan. In subsequent series, Abbott and Brocklehurst shared the main writing duties.
For the fifth series a 66,000 sq. ft (6,100 m2) exterior and interior set was built on an industrial estate in Wythenshawe, Manchester.
The sixth series of the show premiered on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland on the 27th of January 2009 at 10pm.
Plot
The opening credits have always featured a monologue from the central character of the series, Frank Gallagher. The series charts the lives of the dysfunctional Gallagher family, comprising the father, Frank Gallagher and his nine children, widening the scope to other occupants of the estate as the series progresses. Central characters in the Gallagher family include eldest daughter Fiona (1.1 - 2.10), eldest son Lip (Phillip) (1.1 - 5.1), plus younger children Ian, (1.1 - 6.2, 6.5-), Carl, Debbie and Liam who grow up as the series continues.
Other characters featured in earlier series include Fiona's boyfriend Steve, a middle-class car thief (series 1.1 - 2.10); Kev and Veronica (series 1.1 - 4.1), the Gallagher's neighbours; Kash, the owner of the local shop, and his wife Yvonne; agoraphobic Sheila (series 1.1 - 4.1) and her daughter Karen; Lip's girlfriend Mandy Maguire; the policemen Tony and Stan, along with various regular background characters. The cast was expanded for the series 2, with Carol and Marty, Veronica's mother and brother, becoming regular characters after guest roles in the first series. In series 3, Mandy's family, led by her drug-dealing mother Mimi Maguire and Paddy Maguire, became key characters. In series 4 we also meet three of the Maguire parents' sons: Shane Maguire, who is determined to show his parents and the estate that he is a hard man and a good worker, and Mickey Maguire, who is gay and similarly determined to prove himself. We also meet Jamie Maguire, who has been in prison for 10 years for murder.
The Gallagher family reside at 2 Windsor Gardens on the fictional Chatsworth Estate, a council estate in Stretford, Greater Manchester. Originally the show was filmed on location on a council estate in West Gorton and in the Pie Factory Studios in Salford. From series 5 onwards the show has been filmed from a purpose built set on the Roundthorn Industrial Estate in South Manchester on the site of an old Kodak warehouse, and around Wythenshawe, Manchester
Critical acclaim
In April 2005, the programme's first series won the Best Drama Series category at the British Academy Television Awards, the most prestigious awards given in the British television industry. It was also nominated for 'Best British Drama' at the 'National Television Awards 2007', but lost out to 'Doctor Who'. Also 'Shameless' has won an award at the 'Royal Television Awards Society North West Awards 2007' where it beat 'Coronation Street' to the 'Best Continuing Drama Award'.
The programme has been sold overseas, where it airs on channels such as SBS (Australia), Showcase Television (Canada), Nederland 3 (The Netherlands), YLE FST5 (Finland), SIC Radical (Portugal), RTÉ Two (Ireland), Sundance Channel and BBC America (United States) (only aired the first series ), yes+ (Israel), (Argentina and Uruguay) on iSat, and Jimmy (Italy)
Style
Shameless is noted for having a style very different from other British comedies. A "moving camera" shooting technique (employing few masks or filters) is employed, reminiscent of the BBC2 drama This Life. The show’s interiors are filmed on staged sets and occasionally on location. The soundtrack is part naturalistic, but occasionally uses music and voiceovers. The music is by composer Murray Gold.
Each episode begins and ends with a narrative voice-over by one of the characters highlighting the themes of the episode. The opening and closing voiceovers are often humorous in nature, as the point of the episode has already been shown. The commentator of each episode is normally the one on whom the plot focuses. This was much more prominent in the first two series, where a plot revolving around one character would normally prevent any other prominent sub-plots involving other characters; in series three, co-abiding plots revolving around different characters are more common. However, unlike many shows, these plots are not entirely separate and the plots always support each other to the episode's conclusion.
The show is characterised by Paul Abbott’s extensive use of Manchester dialect and slang - and considerable profanity - and is a humorous but warmly realistic portrait of under-class life on council estates where petty crime and violence loom large and authority figures are the antagonists. (Whilst the two policemen, Stan and Tony, are likeable individuals, the police force as a whole is portrayed as antagonistic). An underlying tenet of the show is the strong underlying bonds of blood and loyalty which bind the Gallaghers and by extension families, in the face of any vicissitudes. Parental figures are largely absent or feckless, the cohabiting siblings often left to fend for themselves or forced into a reversal of the parent/child relationship (as made evident by Frank Gallagher's admission "kids who are convinced I'm actually theirs" in the revamped opening credits for season 5), ever wary of the authorities becoming aware of their living situation and separating them; indeed, many episodes’ plots involve evading the authorities. There is some idealisation of this living manner, making poverty and criminality become the norm while somewhat antagonising other classes. (In Series 1, Steve’s middle-class status was often the subject of adverse comment.)
Episodes
Series one of Shameless included seven episodes, and aired between January 13 and February 24, 2004. Such was the popularity of the first series that the third was commissioned at the same time as the second. A Christmas special aired December 23, 2004. The second series began January 4, 2005, and finished March 8, after ten episodes. A New Year Special aired January 3, 2006. The third series began the following week on January 10 and concluded on February 21, after airing 7 episodes. With effect from the second episode onwards, each episode was premiered on the partner channel to Channel 4, E4, each Tuesday evening following the Channel 4 episode. Shameless returned for a fourth series on January 9, 2007 and aired until February 27, with a total of eight episodes. The fifth series began on January 1, 2008, and ran for sixteen episodes, airing through to April 15, 2008.
In March 2008 Rebecca Ryan, who plays Debbie Gallagher in the show, announced filming on a sixth series would begin in April. Shameless returned for series 6 on 27 January 2009 and will run for sixteen episodes, airing through to May 12, 2009 . From the 3 January 2009 a trailer was made available to watch on the official Shameless myspace page for series 6.
A seventh series of 8 episodes has been confirmed for 2010. This is considerably fewer than the previous series' due to a lack of funding by Channel 4 much to the dismay of the production company, however it has not been confirmed whether it will stand at just 8 episodes for the time being.
Cast
The role of Frank was originally given to Sean Gallagher, but then it was thought he was too young to play the character. It cost makers Company Pictures £100,000 to re-shoot the scenes already filmed with David Threlfall as a replacement. In 2007, it was revealed that Matt Lucas and Bill Nighy asked for cameo parts in Shameless, but creator, Paul Abbott said the show would lose its realistic charms if they brought in celebrities to play parts.
American adaptation
HBO is to develop an American version of Shameless after striking a deal with John Wells, the writer and producer behind ER and The West Wing. Wells, who also executive produced Academy Award-nominated Far From Heaven, is currently writing a Stateside version of the Bafta-winning drama series. The development deal follows years of negotiations over a U.S. version by Shamelesss creator Paul Abbott, with NBC previously linked to the project. The UK version has aired on BBC America and the Sundance Channel in the U.S.. Wells, whose production company, John Wells Productions, is based at the Warner Bros. studio in California, is also producing new NBC police drama similar to Robbery Homicide Division.
DVD releases
See also
Further reading
External links
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