It's the end of an era tonight as we bid farewell to Frank Gallagher (David Threlfall) and the Chatsworth Estate he's roamed in assorted states of alcohol and drug-induced delirium for 11 seasons. It's been a shadow of its former glories of late but at its peak, Shameless was a truthful, bawdy and poignant portrait of working-class Britain struggling to survive through hard times. It also launched the careers of a raft of top acting talent and some its former stars, including Anne-Marie Duff, Dean Lennox Kelly, Elliott Tittensor and Jody Latham have returned to bow Shameless out with one helluva party!

Paul Abbott's rambunctious drama has been in steady decline for years now, so it's time it signed off. Ironically this cracking final episode highlights just where things went wrong: the moment the focus shifted from that clan of lovable rogues, the Gallaghers, to the more straightforwardly criminal Maguires.

But as Frank is released from jail - in for benefit fraud, naturally - and is confronted by an unwanted surprise from Monica, the stage is set for many of the old regulars to return as the Gallaghers feel the push and pull of fractious family relations.

Anne-Marie Duff, Dean Lennox Kelly, Elliott Tittensor, Jody Latham and Kelli Hollis all turn up, but really it's David Threlfall's show to steal. He's never been more nauseating, compelling and heartbreaking as the reprehensible Frank, struggling to face further family responsibility. Will the feckless waster ever appreciate anything more than a party?

It's appropriate that David Threlfall, the one constant of this unfeasibly durable show, steps behind the camera for its final-ever episode. And fun, too, to see Anne-Marie Duff's Fiona joining the likes of Lip (Jody Latham), Kev (Dean Lennox Kelly) and Carl (Elliott Tittensor) in one last doomed attempt to tame the wild beast that is Threlfall's Frank Gallagher.

The plot, for what it's worth, sees most of the Gallagher brood reuniting for funeral so farcical that Fiona determines to take the remaining kids back down south with her. Can Frank, just out of prison and with itchy feet, rediscover a modicum of interest in fatherhood? A couple of half-hearted jokes about Jesus and abortion show that the series hasn't entirely sacrificed its aggressive taboo-busting for cartoonish irrelevance. But this is a shabby, subdued finale to a show that once fizzed with vigour, invention and purpose.

The lower-class heroes of the Chatsworth estate have been providing high-quality entertainment for more than nine years now, but it's finally time to wave farewell to the Gallaghers, the Maguires and the rest as Shameless airs its final episode.

Former cast members Anne-Marie Duff, Dean Lennox Kelly, Elliott Tittensor, Jody Latham and Kelli Hollis all make a reappearance for the Shameless curtain call, as iconic alcoholic Frank Gallagher ends his prison stint for benefit fraud and receives an unwanted surprise from Monica (Annabelle Apison).

After nine years, Shameless begins its drunken lurch off our screens with the premiere of its 11th and final series this week. The focal point of the first episode is Jamie Maguire (Aaron McCusker), who begins to question himself after making a shocking discovery about his family.

Elsewhere, everyone's favourite pissed-up reprobate Frank Gallagher (David Threlfall) continues his transformation into an honest working man... while mingling with some of the area's finest prostitutes. Also, keep an eye out this series for the return of departed Chatsworth favourites such as Monica (Annabelle Apsion) Lip (Jody Latham), Carl (Elliott Tittensor) and Fiona (Anne-Marie Duff), all of whom will be showing their faces before the Shameless final curtain.

It's all sex and violence on the estate tonight. On a lads night out Carl (Elliott Tittensor) falls for a beautiful girl but struggles when he discovers she's not all she seems. Meanwhile, Mickey (Ciaran Griffiths) suffers an attack which leaves him not only physically scarred, but mentally too; and the Maguires' troubled niece Ruby (Kari Corbett) arrives in town - with more attitude than even the Chatsworth residents can handle.

Seven years after the Chatsworth Estate became a byword for the skanky English underclass, Shameless notches up its 100th episode, written by Paul Abbott.

It's a 90-minute saga that sees Frank Gallagher (David Threlfall) banged up and demonised by his neighbours for a terrible crime he didn't commit.

Or at least he's pretty sure that he didn't: his memory of what actually happened on the night in question is, as ever, a bit on the hazy side.

With Abbott at the controls, Shameless's uniquely picturesque dialogue ­practically qualifies as a regional dialect in its own right - shot through with lashings of swearing, of course, as well as colourful metaphors, in jokes, shorthand and slang that you only half understand, plus some hilariously unlikely insults: "You ginger- haired hanging basket," being one of the few that's actually fit to print.

With his dad in the frame, it's left to Carl Gallagher (Elliott Tittensor) to man up and try to seize control of the situation. But he's going to need some help. His old neighbour Kev (Dean Lennox Kelly) fits in like he's never been away.

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