Shameless

C4 are now advertising the new series of Shameless - I caught an ad just before Space Cadets.

It begins with the Gallaghers in a warehouse then the C4 trailer endcap appears with "Coming Soon - Shameless"

The Gallaghers then sneak on to the end cap and begin to take it apart, robbing the "Coming Soon - Shameless" part and the C4 logo and walking off with them.

Brilliant - anyone who's got caps please post!

This was in Broadcast last week, very good trailer.

I love Shameless. I'm delighted it's coming back!

Hope we get a longer series this time. Will Ian get together with that new shop lad? Will the show survive without Fiona? Will Sheila get possibly more brilliant? So many questions, so little time!

Off topic: Very interesting seeing the guy who played Steve in Shameless in the Narnia film, it was.

Just seen it in full. As the warehouse scene ends a black C4 endcap appears. They then turn on the light and it turns white before they dismantle it.

Also - no Lip - is he gone this year as well then?

Unfortunately it's rumoured to be the last series - though if the cast are all leaving perhaps that's best.


P.S. Love the new E4 Music ad too - "In 1885 we invented music television. We just didn't bother to tell anyone"

Supposed spoilers:

Carl discovers sex and gains an ASBO
Home-maker and problem solver Debbie struggles with her new-found responsibilities
Liam denounces religion at his RC Primary School
Lip becomes a dad and finds that life isn’t "just one big shag"
Ian’s heart gets badly broken
Sheila’s valium-fuelled big white wedding dream becomes so massive that even Frank can’t ignore the wedding of the century!
Tourettes’ suffering Marty is loved up with Sue, the kooky new cuckoo in the cosy Gallagher nest. For her sake, he tries to hold down a variety of jobs including a train station announcer
Veronica and Kev have a spot of bother when his real wife turns up
Kash cashes in as the new councillor on the estate
Karen finds out more than she bargained for behind, under and on the bar at The Jockey

I know Jill Halfpenny is joining the cast - is that as Sue, or is Sue the girl who was married to Carl (Fiona's substitute for Steve) and began dating Marty in the last series?

and that would be Patrick Allen, who REALLY is the voiceover - invision!

Shameless returns on Tuesday 3rd January at 10pm with a "feature length" special - though it's only 15 minutes longer than a regular episode.

Episode 2 follows on E4 at 11.15pm. The series runs for eight episodes.


SPOILERS:

22:00 SHAMELESS 1/8 01:20
The colourful Gallagher family and friends are back to their outrageous best to kick off series three with a feature-length New Year special. When five-year-old Liam denounces religion at his RC Primary School and risks a home-visit by his teacher and therefore the social services, sister Debbie (Rebecca Ryan) has to think fast. But shaving his head and pretending that he is dying of cancer is not one of Debbie's better ideas. In fact, by the time the rest of the Gallagher clan realise what's going on and try to set the record straight, the news has leaked out into the wider community and Debbie's lie lands the family in true Gallagher-style catastrophe. First up, Jez announces that The Jockey is launching a community-wide charity appeal, culminating in 'Liam Day'. Worse still, a grief-stricken Frank (David Threlfall) and Sheila (Maggie O'Neill) - who are kept in the dark about the scam - decide that what the Gallagher kids need more than anything is two parents living at home. Having all the family back together under one roof goes down like a lead balloon with the kids, who now have to bend over backwards not to spill the beans. They have also never seen Frank so genuinely upset and he now has an excuse to really drown his sorrows. Events reach a head when Monica finally decides she has to be a mother to her terminally ill son and turns up with her butch girlfriend to take little Liam away. Enough's enough. The truth comes out, Frank is devastated and all this the night before the estate's inaugural Liam Day. The realisation that they cannot face the local community and admit it was all a lie hits home and a plan B is concocted. Liam Day arrives and all seems to be going to plan, that is until Frank suddenly collapses on the bouncy castle. Could things get any worse for Debbie?
Writer: Danny Brocklehurst; Dir: Catherine Morshead; Prod: John Griffin; Exec Producers: Paul Abbott, George Faber, Charlie Pattinson, Matt Jones; Prod Co: Company Pictures

23:15 SHAMELESS 01:05 Lip (Jody Latham) has a new job as a porter at a hotel, where he meets Jack (Bryan Dick). They develop a scam nicking towels and soon become firm friends. Jack is exciting, dangerous and Lip is taken in, plus he's got a very good-looking sister, Zoë (Christine Bottomley) who soon catches Lip's roving eye. When Jack meets Ian (Gerard Kearns) he turns on the charm and seduces him for real. Suddenly it seems there's more to Jack than first meets the eye. Ian really falls for him, but it turns out Jack's motives are decidedly dodgy. Ian feels guilty for cheating on Kash, but when Kash's shop keys go missing and he is suddenly hospitalised after interrupting a break-in, Ian starts to put two and two together and realises what Jack is up to. But Lip won't listen, that is until he finds some evidence that clearly puts his new best friend in the frame. It seems there's another voracious sexual appetite on the estate when Kev's sister, Kelly-Marie (Sally Carman), turns up and starts lodging at Frank (David Threlfall) and Sheila's (Maggie O'Neill) house. While Sheila delights at the sound of Kelly's loud sexual antics and uses it to fuel her and Frank's lovemaking, Frank is suspicious of the string of boyfriends paying her visits. When it transpires that Kelly-Marie is charging all these men for the privilege, Frank and Sheila have to take drastic action.

A Shameless plug now - quite literally - with C4 airing a repeat of last years Christmas special tonight at 11.05pm. Certainly worth a second viewing.

Last year it took a couple of episodes to get going, but I thought last nights opening episode was a cracker!

Fiona wasn't missed at all - the advantage of having a large ensemble cast - and it now looks like the focus of the show will change to the kids looking after themselves.

The titles are the same as ever, with everyone promoted and Carol and Marty added at the end. I think they've changed the actor who plays Liam too now that he speaks! Marty's girlfriend Sue now seems to be Veronica's new best friend in the absense of Fiona!

Loads of "who's that" moments too - we had the woman from Teachers teaching, a Vicar who I recognised, but couldn't name - and the new copper has also been in something.

A strong second episode too - and more returning characters outside the main cast. It shows how good the show is that even actors who appear in just a couple of episodes a series return year in, year out.


There were rumours this could be the last series, but from interview I've seen (mainly with Jody Latham, who plays Lip) there are strong hints of a fourth series providing they keep the core of the cast.


And Sheila is as fantastic as ever!

It's absolutely fantastic - best thing on tv.

Is the second episode of this series of Shameless the last one to feature Chris Bisson?

I think I read somewhere before that he's only appearing in two episodes (perhaps three) of the new series, certainly the storyline in the episode suggested it could have been Kash's last episode.

If it is, I hope Yvonne stays as she's an excellent character.