Television
Time to be Frank
Published 03 January 2008
A reprise of this anarchic soap won't help Channel 4 beat the New Year blues
Shameless Channel 4
What does Channel 4's decision to screen the first episode in the latest series of Shameless on New Year's Day (10.10pm) tell us of its attitude to 2008? Rather a lot, I think. It smacks of desperation. Whatever happened to the big new ideas we were promised by its head of programming, Julian Bellamy, last summer? To his grand plan to find the "successors" to shows such as Shameless? Granted, the series is a huge hit, some 3.5 million people having tuned in simultaneously in the past; and it is a critical success, too, loved by liberal TV writers for its Shakespearean (or do they mean Dickensian?) wit and verve, not to mention its dainty way with the underclass. But Paul Abbott's comedy drama is hardly a panacea for Channel 4's woes, least of all now, as it sprints towards the unavoidably soapy territory occupied by any long-running show. If this bit of scheduling is a statement of intent then, donning my turban and my gypsy earrings, I predict - no crystal ball required - another tricky year ahead.
The fifth series of Shameless is in 16 parts rather than eight, and it was filmed on a newly constructed set rather than, as in the past, on location. When these exciting innovations were announced, Abbott, executive producer of the series, promised that viewers would not see a fall in quality as a result: that we would not feel, as we do whenever we have the bad luck to catch Holby City, that the action could have been squeezed into five minutes, thus saving everyone a great deal of time. Has he been as good as his word? I'm not sure. It's early days, but the signs aren't good. When characters start talking to figures that no one else can see - in the first show, Frank Gallagher (David Threlfall) was haunted by a vision of himself aged 12, in flares and flowery shirt, because he was convinced he had only days to live - you know the writers are running out of ideas. What next? Is Monica going to take a shower and, as the hot water splashes on her head, suddenly realise that the entire Chatsworth estate was just a bad dream, and that she actually lives with an accountant in Harrogate?
Monica, you will recall, had a lesbian affair with a truck driver, but she is now back with her husband, Frank, his "second" wife, Sheila the agoraphobic, having left for a cruise on discovery of his bigamy. I love Annabelle Apsion, who plays Monica, but this toing and froing is another sign that the series has come full circle. The feeling I have whenever Mon strolls into view, G-string riding high above her waistband, ponytail tied so tight her eyebrows have practically moved to the back of her head, is: Here we go again (and I bet that Sheila will soon be back, too, loony as ever).
This is a soap opera. Yes, it's a soap whose patriarch talks the way Shelley might have done if he'd been in possession of a six-pack of Tennent's Extra and a Manchester accent. Yes, it's a soap in which romance is a couple of Es and bad carpet burn, but it's a soap all the same. The things that made Shameless seem so fresh and true when it started - the frantically biological sex; the idea that, for some, criminality is the norm - are starting to feel wearying. If Frank got a job, I would be surprised. But seeing him piss up yet another wall, or, as happened this time, on a live generator (a vital part of his anatomy was left looking like a black pudding), is as predictable as anything that happens behind the bar at the Rover's Return. Oh, well, at least Lillian (Alice Barry), the hilarious bastard daughter of Bo' Selecta! and Ena Sharples, is still around. At present, Lillian is running a brothel. I don't think she is going to help Channel 4 deal with the 11 per cent drop in audience share that it suffered last year, but watching her hand-stitch her girls' satin undies was joyous all the same. If I were a Corrie casting director, I'd get on to her right now. That woman was born to work in Underworld.
Pick of the week
Damages
10.20pm, 6 January, BBC1
Juicy legal drama starring Glenn Close as a ruthless NY lawyer.
What Britain Earns
9pm, 9 January, BBC2
Peter Snow tackles the great taboo of what's in our pay packets.
Moving Wallpaper and Echo Beach
9pm and 9.30pm, 10 January, ITV1
Weird pairing of a new soap - Echo Beach - and the comedy-drama set behind its (fictional) scenes.
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