Shameless: Very Important Punk

I happened upon this show one afternoon while nursing a hangover and have been hooked ever since. I was also lucky that BBCA was playing the entire series 1 as a marathon that day. This show blows away any of the lame crap that they call TV over here and is another testament to the vastly underrated talent of the UK. The only way a show this ballsy would be shown over here would be on a pay channel like HBO or Showtime. I am fast becoming a huge fan of British TV (Eastenders, The Office, Coupling, Father Ted, The Green Wing, ABFAB) and hopefully the DVD will be available to us yanks soon. Let's just hope some stupid network (NBC) doesn't get ahold of it in an attempt to "Americanize" it like they tried with Coupling and The Office.

I love television. Watched it since the late '50's and enjoyed everything, even if I hated myself for enjoying it. However, there are shows that stand out and Shameless is one of them. I think that Alan Clark produced some of the best drama on British TV, even including Ken Loach and Dennis Potter. On comedy, the UK has birthed or succoured a comprehensive list of talented writers that Greece was not ancient enough to pre-empt. Shameless is brilliant. It is Ken Loach and Ian Pattison (Rab C Nesbit) in concert, it is Dennis Potter and the Pythons. David Threlfell plays Frank Gallagher, a wastrel philosopher whose genes will inherit the earth. His family are an absorbing, entertaining, sensitive magnet for our attention and affection. They are challenging and rude, but I'd live there, it is urban Manchester and welcoming. Forget the comedy for a minute and I'm most reminded of Alan Clark's 'Road'. Threlfell and Maxine Peake ( the best in ' dinnerladies ') are like Dudegeon and Horrocks. They provide adult acting and the rest of the cast are not far behind. If you do nothing else on a Saturday night, buy this DVD. It will brighten up your life.

Co-written by the writer behind 'Clocking Off', This is one the most stand-out, must-see series British television has produced. The exploits of the Gallagher family are no-holds-barred and guaranteed to either offend the viewer, or cause them to slide off their chair and roll around the floor, laughing their behinds off.

Or both.

If you're offended by social depravity, bad hygiene, lawlessness, homosexuality, heterosexuality - any kind of sexuality, or Mancunians then be warned. If not then watch this comedy/drama and prepare to laugh like a drain.

I've seen every episode, accepted the downturn in quality (you have to, it's inevitable standards will fall after 9 years… ) but still enjoyed most of it. The finale was OK, nothing more than that. They whitewashed Franks character; growth would have been OK if they hadn't tried to do it within the space of a third of an episode…

… and as much as people felt like the supporting characters were unnecessary, they still deserved a proper send-off. The series might have started off about the Gallaghers, but it wasn't always like that, and the last episode shouldn't have pretended any different… It all felt a bit rushed. You have a whole series to say goodbye, and yet you leave the majority of your wrapping up 'til the last episode? Just saying, i've seen the winding down of televisual institutions done better, before. If i hadn't been prepared for the last episode before it aired, i might not have guessed it had reached the end.

Once in a while, there comes along a TV drama series that makes you glad the medium was invented. A series that makes you glad to be alive; a series that breaks your heart that you have to wait a whole week to see the next episode. Shameless is such a series.

The Gallagher family consists of dad Frank and his six children (their mum apparently abandoned them years ago). Frank spends most of his time out drinking, only returning to the family's council house on a run-down Manchester estate when he's dragged home comatose by the police in the early hours of the morning. The result is that the six kids more or less bring themselves up, with the eldest - 20-year-old Fiona - acting as the token mum.

From all this, it should make for depressing viewing. But the beauty of Paul Abbott's semi-autobiographical drama is that it's not even remotely depressing. The six Gallagher kids, their friends and neighbours form an extended family where everyone loves and supports everyone else; and the result is bawdy, rude, but above all uplifting, heartwarming and fun. The performances are uniformly excellent and to single anyone out would be unfair. The first episode does a wonderful job of introducing the large cast of characters - not just in a cursory way either, but in sufficient depth to make you care about this assortment of misfits enough to want to tune in next week to see what befalls them next.

This is what TV should be. Watch it.