2/3. Shameless. Paul Jackson continues his exploration of the social and cultural context of cult TV programmes that have caught the mood of the nation with a look at Paul Abbott 's Shameless, an off-beat comedy drama centred on the adventures of an apparently highly dysfunctional family in a council estate in Manchester. No episode involving the Gallagher family would be complete without its share of sex, drugs, violence and pyromania, but the heart of the show is "family". Joined by writer and creator Paul Abbott , stars David Threlfall , Maggie O'Neill and Gerard Kearns , as well as the producers, commissioners and directors who made it all happen, Paul Jackson asks whether this is just a programme with an amoral heart or a 21st-century version of The Waltons. producer Sara Jane Hall The last of the current series of Shame/ess can be seen on Channel 4 on Tuesday at 10pm