Gays of our Lives (January 26, 2009)

GETTING TO KNOW … SHAMELESS

The love life of gay teenager Ian Gallagher (Gerard Kearns) on the U.K. series Shameless has never been easy. Whether it’s having to steal a bed just so he can have sex with his hot new boyfriend (somehow landing in prison because of it), trying to keep his ongoing affair with a married man a secret, or that fling with a homophobic drug dealer who has a strange sexual quirk (big surprise), something always comes along to make finding love (or just getting laid) a trying ordeal for poor Ian.

Gerard Kearns as Ian Gallagher

Shameless, which airs on Channel 4, the same network that brings us Hollyoaks, is a dark and perverse comedy/drama about the twisted lives of the extremely dysfunctional Gallagher family, as well as their friends and their enemies. Created by Paul Abbott, who is also the executive producer, the series is set in the Chatsworth Estate in Manchester, England. Scatological gags, shocking bursts of violence, criminal acts, casual drug use and twisted love affairs are all just a day’s work on this award winning series.

Shameless has a long history of depicting the lives and loves of gays and lesbians and messing them up with the same dark and delicious twists everyone else’s relationships endure. The series has had a successful, award winning, five-season run and is about to begin its sixth season on Jan. 27^th. Channel 4 has already announced that the show will return for a seventh season as well.

When the series first began, Ian was fifteen and closeted to his family, save his brother with whom he shared a bedroom. But given the homophobic and ugly world in which he lives, keeping his sexuality a secret was a matter of survival, especially from his violent father, Frank (David Threlfall), who actually isn’t his biological father. Over time though, the people in Ian’s life, including Frank, learned of Ian's sexuality and even accepted it to varying degrees.

In the show’s early years, Ian had an ongoing affair with a married man named Kash (Chris Bisson). Eventually that relationship came to an unfortunate end – as do most of the relationships on Shameless – and Ian moved on to other equally problematic affairs.

Ciaran Griffiths as Mickey Maguire

In this first clip, Ian meets Mickey Maguire (Ciaran Griffiths), a local drug dealer. The two sort of hit it off and Ian embarks on yet another ill-fated love affair. Be warned that this clip has foul language as well as sexual situations.

I liked the character of Mickey, though I’m not sure I was supposed to find him as appealing as I did. Yes, he’s a foul-mouthed, violent, homophobic pig (and a little too close to his dog), but there’s a certain charm about him that makes him likeable. His attempts to ‘court’ Ian as only someone like Mickey would know how were oddly sweet, and Ian and Mickey do have sort of a strange chemistry. And as seen in the previous clip, Mickey tries and fails to come out to his family, which becomes an ongoing gag in the series.

While Ian and Mickey’s romantic relationship, if it could ever be called that, pretty much ends here, they do go on to be friends, though it’s obvious that Mickey would like nothing more than to get back together with Ian.

Ian and Mickey bask in the afterglow

This third clip depicts another romantic relationship in Ian’s life, one very different from those with Mickey, Kash or any other man, and it has a rather profound effect on him. As with the previous clip, this one has foul language and depicts sexual situations.