Yahoo News Shameless: Where are they now?
The US version of Shameless charged well into its ninth series finale this month, bringing with it more dramedy beats and familial dysfunction.
Despite the show centring on the South Side of Chicago, Brit TV lovers know the true home of the Gallagher family will always be the Chatsworth council estate in Manchester.
The original Shameless hit Channel 4 back in 2004 like a squirt of lemon juice to the eye and went on to reinvent the drama-comedy genre over the course of eleven glorious seasons.
Sadly the show ended back in 2013, meaning it's been five long years since it bid farewell. Which got us thinking – just what happened to the original core cast when the cameras stopped rolling?
We all know that they first and foremost knew how to throw a party, but did they stick it out on the anti-Garden of Eden or move onto greener pastures?
1. Anne-Marie Duff (Fiona Gallagher)
Anne-Marie Duff played Fiona – the eldest sibling of the Gallagher family and the key maternal figure. She only stayed on until season two, except for the final episode, but her acting career has been anything but short-lived.
Over the years she's starred alongside the likes of Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth in Before I Go to Sleep, led the pack in Suffragette with Carey Mulligan and performed alongside Saoirse Ronan in On Chesil Beach.
2. James McAvoy (Steve McBride)
Do we even need to tell you what James McAvoy's up to now? As you know, the actor portrayed Steve McBride, who won over Fiona and whose tenure on the show ended with the pair fleeing to Amsterdam to start afresh. Like his character, James has moved onto greener pastures and is now a big name in Hollywood, with roles in blockbuster hits such as Atonement, the X-Men movies and Split.
He's also got a number of projects in the pipeline, including the Split follow-up Glass, and It: Chapter 2.
3. Jody Latham (Lip Gallagher)
You remember Lip – he was "a bit of a gobshite, which is why no one calls him Philip". He was also the fairly obvious semi-autobiographical stand-in for show creator Paul Abbott.
He had a baby with Mandy in the show and was one of the most intelligent of the clan, which is why he ended up with a placement at university. After Mandy's death, he became the sole carer for their daughter and unsurprisingly decided to keep her far away from the estate.
Following Shameless, Lip's actor Jody Latham joined co-star Rebecca Ryan in Waterloo Road before moving onto Hollyoaks, Holby City and Doctors.
4. Rebecca Atkinson (Karen Maguire)
We all remember Karen's fresh face in the very first episode of the show. Back then she struck up a forbidden relationship with Lip, before moving onto an even more forbidden one with Frank. Eventually, the character took over The Jockey with her new husband, Jamie Maguire.
Karen was portrayed by actress Rebecca Atkinson throughout all eleven seasons of the show, making her the only woman to feature from start to finish. Funnily enough, she found love when the cameras stopped rolling with Ben Batt, who portrayed Joe Pritchard in the show, and the pair went on to have their first baby together in 2016.
In terms of her career, Rebecca's since starred in a wide variety of TV shows including Staff Room, Moving On, River City and, more recently, Doctors.
5. Rebecca Ryan (Debbie Gallagher)
Ah Debbie – sent by God. Total angel. You've to check your change but she'll go miles out of her way to do you a favour.
Debbie was the second eldest Gallagher daughter and the mother hen of the family, meaning she grew up a lot faster than most kids her age. Rebecca Ryan filled the role before her character left in season six to join the army.
These days she's barely recognisable and, like many of her Shameless co-stars, went on to star in the BBC drama Doctors. More recently she played Gem Dean in Casualty.
6. Gerard Kearns (Ian Gallagher)
Gerard Kearns starred as Ian Gallagher from season one all the way through to season seven. Although his character made a swift exit after accidentally killing Joe Pritchard, the real reason was so that Gerard could go on to even bigger things.
He landed roles in the BAFTA-winning The Mark of Cain, the dramedy Honeymooner and the crime drama Trespass Against Us, also starring Michael Fassbender.
That's not to say he's given up on TV, as he's cropped up in a number of mini-series including The Town, The Smoke, Our World War and The Last Kingdom.
7. Elliott Tittensor (Carl Gallagher)
Like Rebecca, actor Elliott Tittensor is barely recognisable from his days as the wild child of the Gallagher family. After leaving the show in season nine, before a quick return in the finale, Elliott played John Meadows in the TV mini-series Chasing Shadows.
He's kept a low profile since 2015 when he was sued for hitting someone while driving without insurance.
8. Maxine Peake (Veronica Fisher)
Veronica Fisher and her husband Kev Ball were about as close to #CoupleGoals as you could get on the Chatsworth estate. Portrayed by Maxine Peake, the character adopted the neighbouring Gallaghers as her second family, where she sought comfort when she and Kev struggled to conceive.
Maxine left the show in 2007 and has gone on to star in a plethora of TV shows and movies – The Devil's Whore, Silk, Criminal Justice, The Theory of Everything, Three Girls and Black Mirror are just a few of the projects she's been involved in. And she shows no signs of slowing, securing a lead role in the currently airing C4 dramedy The Bisexual.
9. Dean Lennox Kelly (Kev Ball)
Dean Lennox Kelly was the partner of Veronica and pal to their neighbours the Gallaghers. Since starring in the show, Dean portrayed Ian Hargrave in drama series Frankie and, more recently, Meredith Rutter in the drama-history Jamestown. You might also remember him as William Shakespeare in Doctor Who.
10. David Threlfall (Frank Gallagher)
David Threlfall played the booze-soaked glue that somehow stuck the family together. With his greasy hair, khaki jacket and cig hanging from his mouth, Frank was the poster boy of the Chatsworth estate and one of the few characters to make it from the first episode to the last.
In real life, Threlfall couldn't be more different from his bone-idle character and has kept himself busy with a variety of roles, such as Martin Blower in Hot Fuzz, Abel Croker in Ripper Street, Priam in Troy: Fall of a City and Peters (alongside Jude Law, no less) in Black Sea.
And he's enjoyed a number of theatre credits too, including Don Quixote at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Frank would have enjoyed that.
11. Samantha Siddall (Mandy Maguire)
Samantha Siddall played Mandy, the only daughter of the Maguires – the local crime family and the Gallagher's neighbours. Being somewhat less of a gangster than her relatives, Mandy got close to Lip, who she went on to have a baby with. Siddall portrayed the character until her untimely on-screen death in season six.
Since then, she's gone on to star in a number of UK shows including Casualty, Holby City and Doctors (seeing a running theme?) before moving on to teach acting at the Mid Cheshire College.
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