Shameless is a British comedy-drama television programme created and executive produced by Paul Abbott. Set in Manchester on the fictional Chatsworth council estate , the show revolves around the dysfunctional working-class Gallagher family Frank, Fiona, Lip, Ian , Carl, Debbie, and Liam , depicting and commenting on English working-class life and culture. Produced by Company Pictures , the show aired on Channel 4 from to for eleven series and episodes. The first series of Shameless ran from 13 January to 24 February , and consisted of seven episodes.
It chronicled the life of the Gallagher family and their neighbours. David Threlfall was cast as an alcoholic father, Frank Gallagher , living with his children in their neighborhood. Anne-Marie Duff was cast as his eldest daughter and head of the family, Fiona. The main storyline during the first series was the romance between Fiona and Steve. However, many other plots took centre stage throughout the series, in particular, the affair between Frank Gallagher and Karen Jackson, despite Karen dating Lip and Frank being in a relationship with Karen's mother, Sheila.
The storyline ended with a violent showdown between Lip and Frank, and Karen absconding from Chatsworth. Other storylines included Ian Gallagher's homosexuality and his affair with shopkeeper Kash, Kev and Veronica's fake wedding, Sheila attempting to overcome her agoraphobia, and Frank's strained relationship with most of his kids. The series concluded with a two-part story, featuring the return of the Gallaghers' absent mother Monica , played by Annabelle Apsion , and Frank's growing debts.
The series concludes with Frank faking his own death to evade bailiffs and his growing debts and the announcement that Sheila, who had overcome her agoraphobia, was pregnant by Frank. The second series ran from 4 January to 8 March It consisted of ten regular episodes and a Christmas Special which aired on 23 December The third series began on 10 January and ended on 21 February The series was reduced to eight episodes. The third series did not feature Fiona or Steve, who were both heavily featured in the previous series.
This series saw Carl's character, who had a minor role in the first series, and a slightly larger role in the second, expanded. This series also saw the introduction of Nicky Evans as Shane Maguire , who only appeared in one episode, but would become main character in later series. The series begins with a New Year's Day special where Debbie convinces everyone Liam has cancer to stop him getting expelled from school but things slowly get out of hand.
