Review of Shameless: Series 3

Introduction

It`s once more time to reacquaint ourselves with the Gallagher family and the inhabitants of the Chatsworth Estate…

New Year Special - Little Liam is threatened with expulsion from his Catholic School when he ruins the school Nativity Play by announcing that God does not exist. When Frank is too drunk to turn up for a home visit from the school, Debbie is desperate and pretends Liam has cancer. Then things start to get a little out of hand…

Episode 1 - Kev`s sister turns up out of the blue and ends up staying with Frank, which ends up driving Sheila wild with desire. Lip finds a new best mate and a girlfriend in his sister. Things everywhere are not quite what they seem though, especially as there`s a spate of robberies…

Episode 2 - Lip finds he`s a father after an aborted robbery breaks his ex-girlfriend`s waters, but he has a problem; his baby`s grandfather is an Irish psycho. Meanwhile Kev gets a sure-fire tip from the grateful dad of a posh bird who throws up over his shoes…

Episode 3 - The benefit squad descend on the Chatsworth Estate with the Gallagher clan helping everyone out with their false claims, leading Carl to be fitted with a tag. Meanwhile Sheila gets depressed about not being married and also helps out copper Tony with his premature ejaculation problems…

Episode 4 - Kev`s mum ends her life and the impending funeral brings his psycho wife Roxy back into his life, throwing Veronica into turmoil. Meanwhile Veronica`s mum Carol has a new man in his life, someone who is just a little too open to new ideas…

Episode 5 - Carl starts a cannabis factory in the loft for the Maguires, leading to big trouble when he`s arrested and someone grasses up Mandy. The Maguires think it`s Carl and are out to get him. Carl meanwhile is balancing escaping the attentions of the Maguires and finally getting his end away…

Episode 6 - Debbie goes on strike, leading to complete chaos in the Gallagher household. In other news, Sue racks up a lot of catalogue debt and Carol puts her oar in again.

Episode 7 - It`s only days away from the wedding of the year and Sheila decides to get a conservatory put in. Unknown to her though, the builders need to dig her garden to put in foundations which sends her over the edge. It`s not Brookside, is it?

Video

As expected from a recent TV series.

Audio

Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack, which is more than adequate. This series is very dialogue-driven and all dialogue is audible. Subtitles as standard as well, although some dialogue is missed as per the norm.

Features

Being Alice Barry (Lillian Unplugged) - 25 minute extra on Shameless` Avid Merrion lookalike with an unhealthy interest in co-star Jack Deam.

Conclusion

I came into this series having missed all of the previous series, so I`m missing virtually a year`s TV (so to speak…). Some major cast changes have happened with Fiona and Steve (real-life married couple Anne-Marie Duff and James McAvoy) having disappeared off to Amsterdam. This puts more emphasis on the remaining Gallagher kids, but there`s still a hole of sorts. This is filled with tourette sufferer Marty and his and Veronica`s acerbic mother Carol.

David Threlfall excels once more as Frank Gallagher, a man whose sole purpose appears to be to drink and talk bollocks. As usual Frank`s mouth runs away from him every episode without fail and any attempt to do the right thing is inevitably because he can see an ulterior motive rather than just `the right thing`. All the young kids have good character arcs this series without Fiona and Steve to hog the limelight. Debs is really shown as the head of the family, left to struggle to do right by her family even though she`s nowhere near the eldest. Lip sees the biggest transformation though as a young chancer who realises that his faltering relationship with the mother of his child is suddenly the most important thing in the world. Veronica and Kev are also put through the ringer this series with a series of blows that threaten to knock them for six.

As usual the comedy is sublime, whilst some of the scenes are pretty graphic (whether sex or violence). As I mentioned previously though, you`re so dragged into the Gallagher world that it doesn`t really shock you as much as it should. A lot of the scenes here would seem to be more suitable for a hard hitting drama rather than a comedy series. It just all works beautifully though.