Book of The Month - August

Like a few others, I felt the third series represented a bit of a dip in the Shameless trajectory with not enough laughs and not enough of the Gallagher kids featured in the stories. I'm delighted to say that the fourth is a triumphant return to form. The action is neatly divided among the main characters with a bit less of Frank, who I thought dominated the third series a little too much (though his fans needn't worry - he's still around in abundance). Some will lament the loss of Kevin and Veronica who, like Fiona and Steve, are now gone, locked in a Romanian jail. Others will dislike the Maguire family, who make the Gallaghers look like The Waltons...or at least The Simpsons. I think they add humour (despite the ever-present threat of violence). The key difference is that, in a programme where, at times, it's possible to sympathise with almost every character, you'd really be hard-pushed to like anything about Mimi and Paddy Maguire! As always, the storylines have moments of incredible sadness among the comedy but this never descends into sentimentality or pathos. One of the delights in the writing is always in the reversal of conventional wisdom (such as the Maguires' horror that their son Jamie wants to get married without having got anyone pregnant). Carl and Debbie are now older and their storylines richer, giving them moments of joy and sorrow as intense as those of the other characters. If you haven't seen it yet, I don't want to give too much away, but Shiela and Marty find happiness in ways you'd not expect and as for what happens to Ian...no, I mustn't reveal any more. Shameless says more about Britain as it really is than just about anything on television. It's easy to focus on the sex, drugs and crime but its message that family, community and love are the most important things in life has won it an audience with viewers of every age.