| Shameless | |
|---|---|
 Screenshot from the Shameless opening title sequence |
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| Format | Comedy-drama |
| Created by | Paul Abbott |
| Directed by | David Threlfall |
| Starring | David Threlfall Gerard Kearns Elliott Tittensor Rebecca Ryan Johnny Bennett Dystin Johnson Sean Gilder |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 66 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Paul Abbott |
| Running time | 48 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Channel 4 Channel 4 HD |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Original run | 13 January 2004 – present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
Shameless is a BAFTA award-winning British comedy drama television series set in the fictional Chatsworth council Estate, 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 on UK underclass and working class culture, has been accorded critical acclaim by various sections of the British media, including The Sun newspaper and Newsnight Review on BBC Two. Shameless is one of the most successful recent British tv programmes, a comedy with touching storylines and an ensemble cast make the most of a script fuelled by sex, drugs and alcohol.
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 Burnley in a similar situation to that of the Gallagher children.
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.[1]
The seventh series is due to start in 2010[2]
Contents |
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 Frank and his six 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 Gallaghers' neighbours; Kash, the owner of the local shop, and his wife Yvonne; agoraphobic Sheila (series 1.1 - 4.3) 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 parents 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. In episode 16 of series 6, the show killed off one of its main characters Mandy Maguire. The death was the climax in a storyline which appeared to show the repercussions of heroin addiction come back to haunt her drug dealing parents.
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 and Sale, 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 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)
Production
From 2004-2007, the show's exterior shots were filmed on location at a real estate in Greater Manchester. But from 2008 onwards, a 22,000 m2 (237,000 sq. ft) exterior and interior set was built on an industrial estate in Wythenshawe, Manchester. All current shots are filmed at an industrial estate in Wythenshawe, Manchester. Previously, exterior shots of settings such as 'The Jockey' were of a real pub called 'The Wellington Inn' which can be located in West Gorton.
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. The show’s interiors are filmed on staged sets and occasionally on location. The music is composed by 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.[citation needed]
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 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 ran for sixteen episodes, airing to May 12, 2009 [3]. From the 3 January 2009 a trailer was made available to watch on the official Shameless myspace page for series 6.[4]
A seventh series has been confirmed, with Pauline McLynn and Valerie Lilley joining the cast.[5] It will consist of 16 episodes, with filming commencing in June 2009.[6][7]
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 began developing an American version of Shameless after striking a deal with John Wells, the writer and producer behind ER and The West Wing. The development deal follows years of negotiations over a U.S. version by Shameless's 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.[8]
By October 2009, the development had moved to Showtime. John Wells Productions will film a pilot episode for the cable network in December 2009. It will star William H. Macy in the Frank Gallagher role.[9]
DVD releases
| Shameless: Series One | ||||
| Set Details | Special Features | |||
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 Australia |
 United States |
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| 27 December 2004 | 22 September 2005 | 24 April 2007 | ||
| Shameless: Series Two Plus Christmas Special | ||||
| Set Details | Special Features | |||
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United Kingdom,  Ireland |
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| 31 October 2005 | ||||
| Shameless: Series Two | ||||
| Set Details | Special Features | |||
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| Release Dates | ||||
| United Kingdom, Ireland |
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| 16 January 2006 | ||||
| Shameless: Series Three Plus New Year Special | ||||
| Set Details | Special Features | |||
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| Release Dates | ||||
| United Kingdom. Ireland |
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| 30 October 2006 | ||||
| Shameless: Series One, Two and Three Boxset | ||||
| Set Details | Special Features | |||
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| Release Dates | ||||
| United Kingdom, Ireland |
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| 30 October 2006 | ||||
| Shameless: Series Four | ||||
| Set Details | Special Features | |||
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| Release Dates | ||||
| United Kingdom, Ireland |
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| 29 October 2007 | ||||
| Shameless: Series One, Two, Three and Four Boxset | ||||
| Set Details | Special Features | |||
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| Release Dates | ||||
| United Kingdom, Ireland |
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| 29 October 2007 | ||||
| Shameless: Series Five | ||||
| Set Details | Special Features | |||
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| Release Dates | ||||
| United Kingdom, Ireland |
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| 21 April 2008 | ||||
| Shameless: Series One, Two, Three, Four and Five Boxset | ||||
| Set Details | Special Features | |||
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| Release Dates | ||||
| United Kingdom, Ireland |
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| 21 April 2008 | ||||
| Shameless: Series Six | ||||
| Set Details | Special Features | |||
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| Release Dates | ||||
| United Kingdom, Ireland |
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| 18 May 2009 | ||||
| Shameless: Series One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six Boxset | ||||
| Set Details | Special Features | |||
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| Release Dates | ||||
| United Kingdom, Ireland |
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| 18 May 2009 | ||||
| Shameless: Series Seven | ||||
| Set Details | Special Features | |||
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| Release Dates | ||||
| United Kingdom, Ireland |
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See also
Further reading
- Munt, Sally R. (2007). "Shameless in Queer Street". Queer Attachments: The Cultural Politics of Shame. London: Ashgate Publishing. pp. 133–159. ISBN 0754649210.
- Walters, James (2006). "Saving Face: Inflections of Character Role-play in Shameless". Journal of British Cinema and Television (Edinburgh University Press) 3 (1): 95–106. doi:.
References
- ^ "Shameless Series 5 new set". northwestvision.co.uk. http://www.northwestvision.co.uk/page/shameless-makes-its-mark.
- ^ http://www.myspace.com/shamelessc4
- ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/tubetalk/plp/
- ^ "Shameless star's stage hit"
- ^ "[1]"
- ^ Methven, Nicola, "Shameless ends in murder most horrid" Mirror.co.uk, 5 May 2009
- ^ "Breaking news — Shameless: Series 7" Channel4.com, 27 May 2009
- ^ Holmwood, Leigh, "HBO cues up US version of Shameless" Guardian.co.uk, 5 January 2009
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (14 October 2009). "Showtime greenlights 'Shameless' pilot". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i76276580006fdf756a5647251574ed25. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
External links
- Shameless at Channel4.com
- Shameless at the Internet Movie Database
- Shameless at TV.com
| Preceded by Buried |
British Academy Television Awards Best Drama Series 2005 |
Succeeded by Doctor Who |
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