Shameless, Channel 4, review - Telegraph There comes a time in a man's life when he sits back, takes stock of things and ponders that old philosophical chestnut: how the f*** did I end up here? So began, in its usual foul-mouthed style, the final ever episode of Shameless (Channel 4). Created by writer Paul Abbott and set on the fictional Chatsworth Estate near Manchester, the raucous comedy-drama has been an important part of the television landscape for the last decade. It has won Baftas, produced a US remake with William H Macy and helped to launch the careers of Anne-Marie Duff, James McAvoy and Maxine Peake. However, it has not been consistently successful. Countless cast changes clearly caused problems for the writers and putting the unsympathetic Maguires centre stage seemed a strange decision (although the family improved greatly over the years). Last night it ended on a high, with departed stars returning for a rather touching swansong. Pub philosopher patriarch Frank Gallagher (the ever-extraordinary David Threlfall, who also directed this episode) was in prison, years of benefit fraud having finally caught up with him. He eventually got out to find frequently estranged wife Monica (Annabelle Apsion) waiting - heavily with child yet also suffering post-natal depression. How so? Well, she'd fallen pregnant with twins and had a "holistic abortion from Cherokee Linda" ("She comes from bloody Southend-on-Sea!" scoffed Frank) which was only 50 per cent successful. When she staged a shoebox funeral for the twin she lost, familiar faces returned to be by her side: sons Lip (Jody Latham) and PC Carl (Elliott Tittensor), former neighbour Kev (Dean Lennox Kelly) and best of all, daughter Fiona (the marvellous Duff). Recalling her time as the put-upon head of family, Fiona decided to take her two youngest siblings back to live with her. It was an obvious if tough decision, and it was interesting to see whether any feelings of paternalism would finally stir in feckless Frank. A hectic hour saw Monica's waters break on the floor of local pub The Jockey, fist fights, slapped faces, stolen drugs, pepper spray, a headbutt, a man-hunt, an explosion, a three-legged dog and accusations of, ahem, an Operation Yewtree nature. The script still crackled with the sort of literate, intelligent humour that once set Shameless apart. War and Peace was critiqued by Frank's cellmate thus: "S'alright. Too much peace and not enough war. Threlfall was terrific, performing one last spectacular three-minute rant-to-camera in front of some familiar Manchester landmarks. It was still stylised, cartoonish and ridiculous but a reminder of Shameless's glory days. As for the final scene? There was really only one way Shameless could end: with a "Paaaaarty" around a burning car, then a cry of "Scatter!" when the police arrived. It implied that life on the Chatsworth Estate - in all its messy, immoral but ultimately loving glory - will go on much the same. We just won't be watching anymore.