Shameless: A Modern Classic?

[GoggleboxUK]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnSvuPEnLhE&NR=1]YouTube - Shameless | 007th Heaven | Channel 4[/ame]



Wikipedia:

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.



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 some time in November 2009

Pulling in around 3.5 million viewrs per episode, series six of Shameless proved that it is not only gaining popularity but is also retaining viewers. I've followed this series right from the first episode and have to say it's my favourite TV of the present and definitely in my Top 5 of all time.



The show's star David Threlfall makes the show for me with superb performances as the drunken and obnoxious scrounger with a heart of gold Farnk Gallagher but the entire cast are wonderfully chosen for their roles in the show.



Actor James McEvoy starred in the first 2 series and has used the show to launch him into the Hollywood mainstream. Other characters have come and gone but the likes of Paddy Maguire (Sean Gilder), Lillian (Alice Barry) and Yvonne (Kelli Hollis) are now household names and part of the cement that binds the show from series to series.



Youtube is littered with clips of the show and its hard to think of an episode that doesn't have trouser wetting comedy moments, often set right alongside moments of heartbreaking agony and statements about life for the (not)working class in the 21st century.



The show has been called bleak, offensive, bawdy, groundbreaking and genius but it always seems to keep a grip on reality (so far at least) and keeps its feet on the ground.



[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anRJv_yilsk]YouTube - Shameless | Never Forget | Channel 4[/ame]



For me, Shameless is undoubtedly a modern classic but what do you think?



Share your thoughts, interpretations, criticisms and favourite moments here and lets give series 7 an early introduction.

[batman]

I have watched the occasional episode. It's simply not my cup of tea, although some of the acting was good.

[narabdela]

The first series was excellent, but it went rapidly downhill after that. I jumped ship towards the end of the second series.

[wellpip]

name='narabdela']The first series was excellent, but it went rapidly downhill after that. I jumped ship towards the end of the second series.

Me too, it started off well but quickly became repetitive and boring.

[Mr Sloane]

name='wellpip']Me too, it started off well but quickly became repetitive and boring.

Me three

[winsfordtown]

It began to go down hill when James McAvoy and Ann-Marie Duff left followed by Dean Lennox Kelly and Maxine Peake.

[jaycad]

i can't stand it for the same reason i can't stand 'the royle family'- i find crudeness and scruffiness lazy comedy/drama!

[GoggleboxUK]

Steve and Fiona were indeed great characters, as were Kev and Veronica but they were only missed for a short period of time.



The development of the Maguire family characters was, I admit, a little slow to start but they are now extremely well established in the show and all great personalities with continuing subplots that stretch across from one series to the next.



To jump ship after series 2 is understandable, the loss of great original characters often affects an audiences ability to relate to the show but, in this case, I feel it opened doors that are now well and truly stepped through. Those 4 primary characters, along with Policeman Tony, Kash and Lip have been replaced with the likes of Tom & Carrie, Norma and Monica, all of whom have brought involving plotlines and numerous subplots into the show and taken away the repetitive element of the show that had started to creep in due to the size of the Shameless universe.



[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQaKdPuG9xk&NR=1]YouTube - Shameless | The Maguire Conspiracy | Channel 4[/ame]



Shameless is available on Channel 4's TV on Demand, if you haven't seen it already.

[Timmy_Lea]

name='winsfordtown']It began to go down hill when James McAvoy and Ann-Marie Duff left followed by Dean Lennox Kelly and Maxine Peake.

Agree 100%. If it had ended with the departure of these characters then I would say yes its a modern classic, unfortunately it has hung around well past its sell by date & is now a lazy, tired, dull parody of what was once a genuinely great show. I have not been able to warm to the newer characters, they are underwritten cliches.

If it was a horse Shameless would have been taken outside & shot by now!

[James Fox]

I've only seen the first series but enjoyed that. Had no idea it had gone on so long.

[GoggleboxUK]

From last series:

* News

* Media

* TV ratings



TV ratings – Tuesday 27 January

TV ratings: Shameless return draws 3.1m viewers



Shameless: back for a new series. Photograph: Channel 4



The new series of gritty comic drama Shameless debuted strongly on Channel 4 last night, Tuesday 27 January, bringing in 3.1 million viewers from 10pm.



Shameless attracted an 18% audience share from 10pm to 11.05pm, according to unofficial overnights. Another 182,000 viewers tuned in to Channel 4 +1 an hour later.



The BBC News at 10pm delivered 4.8 million viewers and a 24% share, while News at Ten on ITV1 attracted 1.9 million and a 10% share.



Channel Five had a CSI repeat in the 10pm hour, which attracted 1.6 million viewers and a 9% share. A new episode of CSI broadcast immediately before that on Five had 3.2 million viewers and a 14% share in the 9pm hour.



The Culture Show ran on BBC2 in the half hour from 10pm, reaching 500,000 viewers, a 3% share.



Last season Shameless attracted an average audience of 2.2 million on Channel 4, a 13% share, and an average of 155,000 on Channel 4+1. The first episode was the most watched in the series, , with 2.7 million and a 13% share on the main channel, and another 203,000 on the digital catch-up service.



Elsewhere last night, Crimewatch clinched the 9pm timeslot for BBC1, with an average audience of 4.5 million viewers and a 20% share across the hour.



In third place at 9pm was Gok Wan: Too Fat Too Young on Channel 4, with 2.9 million viewers and 13% share. Another 231,000 watched an hour later on Channel 4+1.



Total Emergency on ITV1 delivered 2.7 million viewers and a 12% share in the same time slot, while Million Dollar Trade brought 1.1 million and 5% for BBC2.



At 8pm Holby City pulled in 5.9 million viewers and a 26% share for BBC1, while sister channel BBC2 came second in the timeslot.



On BBC2, Oz and James Drink Britain reached 3 million viewers and a 13% share at 8pm, while MasterChef served up 3.3 million and 14% from 8.30pm.



Also at 8pm the third and final episode of Trinny and Susannah Meet Their Match brought in 2.3 million viewers and a 10% share for ITV1, while Supersize v Superskinny on Channel 4 reached 2.2 million and 9%. Another 117,000 viewers watched Supersize v Superskinny on Channel 4 +1 at 9pm.



Five performed well in the 8pm hour with its factual series Secrets of Egypt: Alexander's Tomb, which attracted 1.4 million viewers and a 6% share.



ITV1's Emmerdale won the battle of the soaps, beating EastEnders on BBC1. An average of 7 million viewers watched Emmerdale from 7pm to 8pm, a 32% share.



On BBC1, The One Show pulled in 4.8 million viewers and a 23% share in the half hour from 7pm, followed by EastEnders at 7.30pm with 6.1 million and 27%.



Emmerdale's audience dipped slightly during EastEnders, but the ITV1 soap remained ahead, with an average 6.7 million viewers and 30% share from 7.30pm to 8pm.



Channel 4 News reached 1 million viewers and a 5% share at 7pm, while BBC2's The Best of Top Gear pulled in 1.2 million and 6% from 7pm. Another 36,000 watched Channel News on Channel 4 +1 at 8pm.



BBC3 debuted new factual series Naked at 9pm, reaching an audience of 189,000.



From this year:



The return of Shameless attracted more than 3 million viewers to Channel 4 last night and was the broadcaster's top-rating show of the day – outstripping a resurgent Celebrity Big Brother, according to unoffical overnight figures for Tuesday, 26 January.



Shameless, now in its seventh series, managed an average audience of 3.2 million and a 17.4% share of viewing between 10pm and 11.05pm. The show, the first in a 16-part series, peaked at 3.6 million viewers. A further 262,000 watched an hour later on digital catchup service Channel 4 +1.



Meanwhile the debut of Amanda Holden's Fantasy Lives on ITV1, a three-part series featuring the actress taking on different professional identities, managed 2.5 million viewers and a 10% share of audience between 9pm and 10pm.



The second episode of Survivors on BBC1 took the 9pm slot with 3.6 million tuning in and a 14.6% share at the same time. BBC2's How Earth Made Us followed with 3.1 million and a 12.5% share of viewing. Over on Channel 4 Celebrity Big Brother continued to pull in respectable viewing numbers with almost 3 million and a 12% share of audience.



Only Channel Five's Crime Scene Investigation failed to beat Amanda Holden's first outing, although it was a close run battle, with the third episode of series 10 managing 2.4 million and a 9.7% share.



Earlier on ITV1, at 8pm, the final episode of police series Send in the Dogs attracted 2.9 million and a 12% share of viewing up to 9pm. BBC1's Holby City comfortably took the one hour slot from 8pm with 5.9m and a 24.3% share.



BBC2's The Hairy Bikers: Mums Know Best was the biggest rating show for the channel last night with 3.3 million and a 13.5% audience share.



Earlier, at 7pm, BBC2's debut of the three-part The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart managed just 1.8 million viewers, a 7.9% share.



Later in the evening BBC1's documentary Too Old to Be a Mum? attracted 2.1 million and a 13.8% share of viewing from 10.35pm to 11.15pm.



BBC1's Eastenders was the most-watched show of the evening, attracting 9.9 million viewers and a 41.8% share in the 30 minutes from 7.30pm. Later on BBC3 at 8pm EastEnders: Greatest Cliffhangers managed 870,000 viewers. Emmerdale was ITV1's best rated programme, with 7.6 million and a 33.6% share from 7pm to 7.30pm.

[carl21]

I really liked the first two series but I've found it's become slightly repetitive in the last couple of years. I will still be watching the new series hoping it can match the earlier episodes.

[gazzarovers]

Possibly an unpopular view...but I see Shameless as a bunch of caricatures, taking everything what's wrong with our society and portraying it as entertainment. We laugh at - or along with, depending on your point of view - Frank Gallagher...yet when one of his ilk is in the press for sponging, robbing orgenerally being a miscreant - we tut and grumble, and say it's shocking....and it's not particularly well acted or shot, in my humble opinion...

[wadsy]

name='jaycad']i can't stand it for the same reason i can't stand 'the royle family'- i find crudeness and scruffiness lazy comedy/drama!

I agree totally, I found it very hard to watch & coarse rather than humerous.

[penfold]

Condescending rubbish, I thought....let's all laugh at the poor.

[Captain Oates]

name='penfold']Condescending rubbish, I thought....let's all laugh at the poor.

The Northern poor at that - having spent 50 years to live down the stigma saddled upon us by Gracie Fields and George Formby, the image of Lancashire now has to contend with The Royle Family and this. Still, it's presumably made by Northerners so they must be right - it is pretty grim up here...

[GoggleboxUK]

name='Captain Oates']The Northern poor at that - having spent 50 years to live down the stigma saddled upon us by Gracie Fields and George Formby, the image of Lancashire now has to contend with The Royle Family and this. Still, it's presumably made by Northerners so they must be right - it is pretty grim up here...

The Royle Familyand Shameless are both set in Wythenshawe, Manchester. Gracie Fields was from Rochdale which is also in Greater Manchester. George FFormby was indeed from Lancashire but I'd hardly say those of us living in Lancashire are "living down" his image of a good natured funnyman.



Still, southerners have always seen a North/ South divide. I remember being in London and overhearing a southerner stating "If it was up to me I'd have a wall built just north of Watford." Someone with a northern accent shouted "You'd need to employ a team of Northerners to build it though!"

[Ray]

I saw it once, probably not enough to form an opinion. I just don't find watching repellant, foul mouthed individuals at all entertaining. Another reason why I usually avoid The Jeremy Kyle Show, unless I am feeling particulalrly masochistic.

[stevie boy]

I have never seen it,but a good friend of mine loves it.

[CaptainWaggett]

name='penfold']Condescending rubbish, I thought....let's all laugh at the poor.

I've never watched it so can't really comment except to say that I very much doubt if Paul Abbott intended it that way since he has said in interviews that his background is very much more unpleasant than that in the tv series. For example

Abbott is currently trying to put his father's house into trust, so that when his father - now in his 80s - dies, his stepmother, Norma, who is in her 60s, "won't be chucked out on the street." Abbott had to teach Norma how to write her name, so she could sign her own giros. "She used to think that giros were arbitrary. So when she didn't receive one, she'd go, 'Oh, they've let me down again!' And then I'd see my brother driving by on a motorbike. They were nicking her giros!" Her name remains the only two words Norma can write - "And it takes her 10 minutes. I'm the only literate person in my family. I don't mean literate like this," he clarifies, pointing to his desk. "I mean literally literate."

(That's actually one of the less depressing anecdotes)