Product Details

• Actors: James McAvoy
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: BBC Worldwide
• DVD Release Date: April 24, 2007
• Run Time: 342 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000MGBM1S
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,640 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Shameless: The Complete First Season" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Meet the Gallaghers. Mum went AWOL years ago, Dad stayed at home with the six children only to hit the bottle ... and sometimes the kids... Blisteringly funny, offbeat drama following the rollercoaster lives and loves of an anarchic family from Manchester. The real head of the family is big sister Fiona, who looks after Carl, Debbie and baby Liam. She is occasionally helped, more often hindered, by streetwise 'Lip' and the actively gay, but very private, Ian. Welcome to the hectic world of sexual adventures, triumphs, love, scams and a fair bit of crime on a rough Manchester housing estate, where wheel-less cars are the norm and the moving ones are stolen.
Running Time: 342 min.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best comedy-dramas you may never see., March 28, 2007

By 

Mike G. "Loves UK pop" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shameless: The Complete First Season (DVD)

Brilliant, "comedy-drama". Because of the differences between British humor and American humor an American audiences will find more drama than comedy. Yes, we do "get" irony; however, it tends to make us smile rather than laugh out loud.

This series contains some of the best, most powerful scripts I've ever seen written for broadcast television. Yet, I expect this very R-rated series to be heavily criticized for coarse language, for themes of sex, scenes of drunkenness, and under-age smoking. Nevertheless, this series is one of the most family-positive series you'll ever see.

Imagine the picture perfect family, the very embodiment of "family values". Then one day somebody in the family snaps and is revealed to be involved in criminal activity, or infidelity, or substance abuse or darker more sinister assaults on the body and mind of other family members. In short, this imaginary picture-perfect family is dysfunctional.

Now, envision the opposite, a family with all the trappings of being dysfunctional. The father is unemployed and alcoholic, the children thieve, smoke and swear. One child has to keep his head shaved because he's so prone to nits, and there is no mother in the home because she's taken the family van and run away. Yet, this family is supportive, loving, caring and more honest than the Brady Bunch ever was.

There are no skeletons in the Gallagher family closet. They are very much a what-you-see-is-what-you-get group. Sometimes funny sometimes surreal and unlikely the goings on in this family are often moving and always entraining. While not promoting "family values" this is a very family positive series (but not for the whole family: R-rated I said). There is good reason why this show is called "Shameless".

One warning for American audiences. The story is set in Manchester, so that people in the story have strong northern accents. If your ear is unused to this or if your exposure to British accents ends at Hugh Grant... there are subtitles available on the DVD.

An excellent show, a sort of a fun-house mirror Waltons. Give it a chance

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I laughed, I winced, I got teary eyed., April 26, 2007

By 

FemFoison (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shameless: The Complete First Season (DVD)

I ordered this DVD without having seen or heard anything about the series, and I was more than pleasantly surprised. It was thoughtful, funny, and generous, even while maintaining a gritty realism. Whenever an episode or storyline started to drift into the ridiculous or melodramatic it was quickly intercepted by a brutal but honest (and hopeful) reality. And even when their characters were at their most unlikable, the actors brought to them a warmth and passion that kept you involved. (In my opinion episode six is one of TVs best examples of the diversity of emotion that can be explored in under an hour.)

Basic plot: Single father Frank Gallagher [David Threlfall], whose wife disappeared about three years ago, lives (sometimes) on a council estate in Manchester (England) with his six children (Fiona, Lip, Ian, Carl, Debbie, and Liam), aged 20-3, respectively. Other central characters include the children's neighbors, a young couple named Kevin and Veronica, and Fiona's well-to-do boyfriend Steve [James McAvoy]. Together they deal with relationships, poverty, abandonment, their father's alcoholism, debt collectors, and the local police. It's not an easy life, but the family is determined to enjoy it whenever and however they can. There *is* some violence (fist fights), nudity, drinking, lots of swearing, and even one extremely inappropriate, even illegal, sexual relationship, but it is addressed and responded to reasonably (though definitely not in the PBS-broadcast sort of way). The younger children/characters really seem to peak in the second half of the season, as they become more integral to the plot. Their additional screen time is well-deserved, as they are all exceptionally talented actors.

As for the DVD itself, it is, of course, Season 1. Although Season 4 recently finished airing, this is the first installment to be released on DVD in the US. Disc 1 consists of episodes 1-4 (45 min. each) and Disc 2 contains episodes 5-7 and two bonus features: a brief "Meet the Cast" and an interview with Paul Abbott. Suffice to say this is a bare-bones DVD release for this day and age, but the show's quality warrants the purchase. Also note, subtitles are on by default for anyone who has trouble with the accent.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Can't-Miss BritCom!!, January 21, 2007

By 

ILoveMyTivo "Britcom Lover" (NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shameless: The Complete First Season (DVD)

This show is funny, disturbing, and full of ribald characters - it is definitely not your typical American sitcom. There seems to be no subject that is taboo. I am not sure what prompted its US release, but all I can say is Hallelujah!
Note that this show is not for the faint at heart. If, however, you love irreverent British humor - buy this dvd!!