Promo shot from Season 1. Also the last time the Gallaghers look quite this glossy.

Welcome to Re-make Mondays, a weekly feature that takes a look at a remake/reboot currently being touted to hungry cinema/TV audiences. I’ll feature the remake, and also what footage or content I can from the original, and then leave the helpless victim for you all to tear apart or cuddle up to in the comments. So, let’s get started.

Shameless is a long running comedy-drama set on the Powell Estate in Manchester, which follows several families that eke out a living there. Basically, take every horrifying stereotype there is about life on an English council estate and stretch that over ten series: more than enough spousal abuse, cans of lager, hoodies, chavs, child abuse, pram faces, drug habits, off-licences, illegitimate children and swearing in impenetrable accents for everyone!

That said, the show has been on UK television for quite a lot longer than most series, and though the show has undergone several cast changes, moving away from a central focus on the sprawling, dysfunctional Gallagher family, it’s remained a popular Tuesday night prime time delight.

Here’s the full opening episode of Shameless, which aired in the UK in early 2004. (You’ll notice a young James MacAvoy, last seen playing Professor X in X-Men First Class, as Fiona’s boyfriend, Steve.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2hy_jQZ7w8

Fast forward to 2009. As America staggered from one recession into another, shedding jobs like a dog’s corpse sheds fleas, the viewing public were looking for a new type of entertainment to console them – something far away from glittering Manhattan socialites, or scowling police procedurals. Enter cable channel Showtime, and their re-make of UK hit, Shameless.

The focus remains the sprawling Gallagher family, headed by itinerant drunk, Frank (ably portrayed by screen veteran, William H. Macy), while the action has moved from Manchester to the grimy side streets of South Chicago. No doubt a sprawling metropolis like Chicago must be an assault on the senses at the best of times, but dangling off the end of double-dip recession? Mean streets doesn’t quite cover it, and the US version of Shameless pulls no punches in plunging viewers deep into both a family, and a city, in crisis.

Here’s the trailer for the first season of the US version of Shameless:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex95FSZOT04

My Verdict: Really, really top class viewing. Not many shows can handle such a large central cast well, and keep the plot galloping ahead, but the US version of Shameless manages this admirably, not to mention a well-executed handing off of comedy to drama and back again. Not a lot of shows get that right. They’ve attracted some stellar veteran talent (William H. Macy and Joan Cusack) as well as some fantastic younger actors. Emily Rossum as Fiona, and Jeremy Allen White, as Lip, are real standouts. All in all, it’s a superbly crafted assault on the senses.

It’s difficult to draw too many other comparisons between the two series, because Shameless UK has been going for almost a decade, while Shameless US has just started out. It’s a promising sign that the US version was renewed for a second season barely a few episodes into it’s first. The second season will hit US screens in January 2012.