Shameless: Frank Gallagher. Photograph: Channel 4
When TV runs out of ideas, it just uses someone else's. Such noble cultural trade has seen a steady flow of ideas across the Atlantic, with UK shows re-imagined for the American market. The latest of these is Shameless, Paul Abbott's riotous glimpse into the Manchester underclass through the lives of the Gallagher family - Chatsworth estate's ribald aristocracy. And the talk is of Woody Harrelson playing pissed-up patriarch Frank Gallagher. Things are already getting interesting.
Many will cry foul at the prospect but I think Shameless US might just work. The received wisdom is that the American market can't handle our truth or our British grittiness, and historically there is certainly something in that. But America is gradually getting a taste for the dark side of drama. They eagerly gobbled up six seasons of HBO's Oz, a prison drama that made our depictions of hellish Borstals look like fairy tales. And in any case, Americans have always had a fascination with British TV.
The themes of Shameless are universal. Social exclusion exists in any country you care to mention and the American criminal class is a mirror image of our own. Why shouldn't America's dispossessed have a show that tells their story, dealing with sexuality, drugs, crime and community with brutal honesty? The success of Roseanne showed that there's an appetite for an honest, unsentimental depiction of blue-collar America. It's worth remembering that most Americans aren't living the American dream - they're living the flashback scenes from My Name Is Earl. The Gallagher's Asbo chic will strike a chord in the housing projects and trailer parks of America.
But the really interesting question is who plays who. We've got Woody playing Frank but who should fill the other key Shameless roles? Personally, I think it would be criminal not to have Mickey Rourke and Roseanne Barr as Paddy and Mimi Maguire, and Kevin Federline and Lindsay Lohan would make a very tasty Kev and Veronica. And, following the current trend of British Asian actors appearing in American dramas, Naveen Andrews should be a shoo-in for the role of Kash.
So, who have you got in the Shameless cast when it goes stateside? Don't forget - the trashier, the better, and the vital necessity of knowing how to throw a party. Scatter!
