Shameless UK

Starting in 2003 or 2004 the show was, everything you want from a British TV show and also being realistic to council life, council estate life being on the, drug taking, blended families, extended families, childhood neglect, abuse, prostitution, step parent, affairs ,crime, mental illness and many other topics that come along the way and new characters when you live in this kind of life in the UK.

The only reason people say the American version of this is better is because America is a lot larger country for them to be saying there’s a lot more of them England is tiny compared to America, but the thing is that the Americans are missing about this show is the nitty-gritty of life on the bread line, in the beginning it started with the Gallagher but slowly the Gallagher started to leave the show and they only seem to be remaining one with Frank and Carl throughout the series, left in season four and Fiona didn’t even make it past series 2, but the way David trefel, plays a alcoholic is amazing, some actors are really amazing at doing this, and make it really believable that they are the person they are on the TV show. as we got into season is it focused more around them with Patrick being the family patriarch dad from Northern Ireland?, and Mimi, the family matriarch from Liverpool he’s more soft-spoken, but they’re both both loudmouth drug dealing crime family, they have many sons and one daughter, they had a cameo in the first few series, but they really came to their own in season four and five when they took over from the Gallaghers, I would say holding the latest season would be Kelly McGuire, the local prostitute, who is married to Shane Maguire, one of Mimi and Patrick’s sons, she works in the local brothel for Lillian, and she’s a very likable character, all although she is considered scum for being a prostitute in m most places in this series she holds up as a really good friend, wife and also as a mother figure to Stella and Liam in later series.

When Patrick leaves and he goes back to Ireland Mimi, then gets with Billy who is the father to her youngest Cilla who she has much later in life, realising that she’s even pregnant, she’s severely constipated and not very well and that pub is getting taken over by a new crime family. She’s upstairs giving birth., but she gets with a man he’s watching at the time she didn’t realise was 14, she made him disappear because she was disgusted, as he kidnapped baby Cilla, desperate and worried while she’s out shopping she doesn’t know who is taking her baby and then she sees the CCTV footage and it’s Billy. He has come back to try and find his daughter and make a relationship with Mimi., at first she is skeptic and doesn’t really want to, her daughter having a relationship with her father, they later to get together as a couple during this time, he is now a few years older well he is now 16, and this is another thing in TV shows they will sometimes make it like your real life because in real life Tina Malone is with her much younger man and they wrote it into the TV series, and then you have some really pivotal characters who make the show kind of like pat butcher is EastEnders being an agony aunt , you have Lillian the local Madam of the brothel she is nicknamed by Frank Bos selected by her appearance,, and she comes out with some really funny out of pocket remarks, such as I’m just coming to the shop to do the condom run for my girls, really funny sexual stuff, when husband in the earlier series gets shot by Carl Gallagher by accident, she got all my Brenda and he was a heart attack waiting to happen he was overweight he had heart attack written all over him, he was shot though , but he was holding a bag of chips at the time, and at the time when he dies, Frank tells Lilian not to register the death so they can collect his benefits and then they do this funny photo shop picture of the two of them together imposing Frank and Brendan looks together and making it look relievable. I just think it’s a really funny TV show and it’s always my TV program because it’s relaxing and for my autism and I have to have this weird routine for my worst series is series 5, my best series is series one and two and four series six is good series 9 and eight on so great , but like I said when the Gallagher slightly leave and there’s not many of them left and McGuire really hope their own especially Mickey McGuire he is a homophobic homosexual who is very loyal to his family, he writes fiction, really into his movies, and film at college and does plays as well, he also becomes like a dad to Cilla because he’s always looking after while Mimi is doing everything else, anyway if you haven’t seen it, it’s a must watch for anyone especially someone who’s from the UK and in the category of life of someone in shameless.

I've done nothing but watch shameless for the past week and i can confidently say the most embarrassing thing in the world is that I have major fucking gender envy for MICKEY MILCOVICH????? OF ALL PEOPLE????

hello and welcome to Me Giving Opinions About Things Nobody Cares About. This week is Shameless: UK vs US

Bearing in mind I’m only up to season 4 of US so character developments and changes might still happen idk, why am i writing this?

GOOD DIFFERENCES:

Ian and Mickey: Oh my god, hands down the best fucking change. I have no words for how insufferable Mickey is in the UK version, plus there was never this overarching romance or anything it was just a comedy side bit. 10/10.

Monica: UK Monica was awful, to the point where it became almost unwatchable because there was no redemption but there was always the “frank and monica” aspect, so I appreciate that US Monica is more fleshed out and humanized. 

Debbie: Not very deep, just that teenage UK Debbie was incredibly annoying and US Debbie is not as annoying. 

Fiona, Kev and V: again, not deep, simply that all those characters left early on in the UK version but they seem to be a staple in US, esp. Fiona. 

BAD DIFFERENCES:

Lip: Any insufferability that was taken away from Mickey was given to Lip. I definitely don’t remember UK Lip being this much of a dick.

Karen and Mandy: idk this may be because I’m still early in the series but both of them definitely have less of a personality and are atm just used as secondary Lip storylines. both UK Mandy and Karen are fully fleshed out characters, kinda sad to see them just be used as pawns. 

Yvonne: Bit of a weird one, Kash’s wife in UK was called Yvonne and carried on with the shop even after Kash left, she was great and was in the majority of the series if I remember correctly. US changes her name to Linda and she was in, like, 2 episodes, guess they didn’t want to use her as a character. idk i just really liked Yvonne.

I guess this one just doesn’t translate, but the idea of UK Shameless was the community within “the chatsworth estate”, and I guess the US doesn’t really have “council estates” as such? I do appreciate them using Chicago instead of New York or something though, it feels more in tune with the Manchester feeling of it all. 

Lillian: She doesn’t exist in the US version :(

The Maguires/Milkoviches: I mean, what the fuck. The idea of the Maguire family is GREAT and they just...don’t use it? One of the most memorable moments of Shameless UK is after Lip gets Mandy pregnant he has to see the family, and it’s dark and looming cause they’re this big crime family and ugh it’s so good. The Paddy and Mimi (mum and dad) relationship was really good too, but what do they do? They kill off the mum instantly, then turn the dad into a racist, daughter-raping scumbag, like, no redemption possible with him. As much as I like the focus being on Mickey they still 100% missed a trick by not making the Milkovich family an actual Thing™

BAD THINGS THAT STAYED THE SAME:

Jimmy/Steve: Hated him the UK version, hated him in the US version. If James Mcavoy can’t convince me to like his character then nobody can.

also, if US Tony does the same thing he does in the UK version then I’m gonna kick off, that whole storyline was creepy and unnecessary and I don’t want to relive it lmao