BASED around the dysfunctional Gallagher family living on a rundown, troubled Manchester estate, Shameless is a work of genius.

Despite only being 20, eldest child Fiona (Anne-Marie Duff), finds herself playing mother, father, agony aunt and principal breadwinner to her wayward siblings.

These jobs are thrust on her by a scatty mother who deserts her kids after deciding she's a lesbian and her self-pitying shambles of a father Frank (David Threlfall) who hasn't so much hit the bottle as embraced it as a new religion.

There are too many wonderfully colourful characters in Shameless to credit all of them but the Gallagher's neighbours Veronica and Kev are probably the most notable. They have one of the most hilarious on-screen relationships to ever grace our screens.

When watching any episode, you clearly understand why the series was given this title. There are graphic sex scenes, copious amounts of violence and a script which would make Bernard Manning stand up and applaud.

If that was all Shameless was about however, it would not have deserved the critical acclaim which has been lavished on it.

There are gut-wrenching moments as this ultimately loving family struggle against all odds to come to terms with possessing little money, suffering violence and hurt, and having little hope for the future.

HC