Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2147 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-10-30
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Box set, PAL, Special Edition
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 376 minutes

DVD Description

Shameless is a blisteringly funny, offbeat drama which follows the rollercoaster lives of a rather dysfunctional family (or two) from Manchester. The critically acclaimed show revolves around the chaotic world of the Gallaghers and their neighbours, the Maguires--two families living in the crime-infested Chatsworth Housing Estate, where wheel-less cars are the norm and the moving ones are stolen! The Shameless Series 3 DVD is a limited edition three-disc set containing all episodes from the show's third series, plus a feature length "New Year Special".

Synopsis

Shameless Series 3 promises plenty of laughs from Manchester's most dysfunctional family--the Gallaghers--as they go about their hectic lives alongside the equally anarchic Maquire family. Join Frank and his six kids--Fiona, Lip, Ian, Debbie, Carl, and Liam-- for whom there is never a dull moment on Chatsworth housing estate. The third series serves up a heady cocktail of sex, drugs, gratuitous violence, love, and scams, so there's something for absolutely everyone!

Customer Reviews

A must-have for fans, but weaker than the first two series.
After two absolutely brilliant series, two main characters leave the show. The massive popularity pretty much guaranteed a third series, and a fourth is reported to be in the pipeline.

This series opens as if the producers had decided to draw a line in the sand to separate it from the first two. Some of the characters are styled differently, the sets are not quite the same and the roles have altered. At first I found this slightly off-putting, but as the series progresses things seem to return to more familiar arrangements, or maybe you just get used to it.

With the absence of Fiona and Steve the other members of the family now seem a little more mature. Lip's and Ian's love life feature prominently, and there are some welcome episodes focusing on Kev and Veronica. (Maxine Peake takes this series' prize as the best actress in my book.) Of course, Frank and Sheila are not forgotten, both getting up to ever madder things. There are returns of some old favourites, and some new characters to add to the mix.

Some of the content of this series is rather more edgy and close to the knuckle, even for Shameless. There's less of a warm and fuzzy feel to the antics of the family, and some parts aren't quite in that slightly surreal realm the characters normally inhabit, instead being rather real-world serious. That's not to say there aren't some hilarious moments, my favourite being a slapstick moment when Kev goes to drive away from his evening class...

The DVD contains a "mockumentary" with Alice Barry (Lillian). Personally I'd have preferred to have seen a proper behind-the-scenes short, but this is an amusing, surreal and somehow fitting way of giving some tantalising glimpses. At first it's not quite obvious whether the interview is a poor attempt at something serious, or a total mickey-take. It soon becomes apparent. You may even recognise the interviewer.

Overall: good, but not quite as polished as before.

Slight dip in a generally excellent series
As someone who kept missing this series while it was on, the DVDs have been very welcome and there is a lot to be said for watching the episodes in order, seeing some of the wider plots develop. Like some of the other reviewers here, I felt this series wasn't quite as good as the first two, but only because its own high standards had set the bar so high. Many series struggle to keep up in the second, let alone the third.

What I love about Shameless is how finely it walks the line between comedy and tragedy (perhaps down to its creator's bipolar disorder), the warmth you feel for the characters and how, when the big laughs happen, you're almost always laughing with rather than at someone (Frank being the exception).

Frank is perhaps a little overused here. He must be easy to write for, but it can get a little stale. My favourite stories have always focused heavily on his kids and the two strongest ones here are when Debbie wants to grow up like a normal kid and thus goes on strike, leaving the rest of the family to fend for themselves, and when Carl, a raging mass of hormones, both gets a job and gets a girl. With these stories, the series hits the heights for which it's known.

From the odd episode I've caught of the fourth series, there are still some great stories to go. I really hope Shameless doesn't run out of steam. That WOULD be a tragedy.

Business as usual
It's surprising that this show still packs a punch after three series' but it really is the best slice of telly imaginable. It's lost some of its emotional core with the departure of Fiona and Steve but there's always reliable Sheila (who cracks me up)!! Still worth getting but definately the weaker of the 3 series.