“I cannot be weak,” protests Frank Gallagher as Shameless returns tonight.
The new – ninth – series begins with two extended episodes screened at 10pm over consecutive nights.
With many Chatsworth estate residents evicted from their homes in an official crackdown.
A politically-motivated move which aims to eventually clear the entire area.
I returned to the Manchester Shameless HQ late last year to spend another day on set.
“I couldn’t have a better time than I’m having now.”
Jim Broadbent was nominated for another BAFTA TV Award this week, for his role in Any Human Heart.
I met up with him again back in January to talk about his latest TV project – BBC1’s Exile.
Our round table chat included a look back at his career and his next part, alongside Meryl Streep.
“WHO invented this?”
Tom Ronstadt, played by John Simm, is in a pub, unimpressed with the world of karaoke.
“Have you any Smiths, Leonard Cohen?” he asks his screen sister Nancy (Olivia Colman), perusing the songbook in three-part BBC1 thriller Exile.
Who then proceeds to treat the locals to her version of Britney Spears’ Toxic.
There is much to love about Danny Brocklehurst’s drama, with a script as fresh as the day Morrissey first waved gladioli on Top Of The Pops while singing This Charming Man.
“DON’T measure me against him. He’s won an Oscar,” smiles John Simm.
We’re sat in a conference room at BBC TV Centre in west London, where a few days before I’d also interviewed Jim Broadbent.
John and Jim co-star in superb new BBC1 drama Exile, to be screened over three consecutive nights from Sunday May 1.
Relaxed in a grey V-neck jumper, white T-shirt and blue jeans, an unshaven John was in good spirits during the small round table chat back in January.
Where the conversation ranged from Hamlet to Harry and Paul via Exile, Doctor Who and Sam Tyler.
ANOTHER day on the Chatsworth to interview the cast of Shameless.
Including an afternoon in The Jockey, where the regulars still pay no heed to the smoking ban.
A month or so later, having cleared my lungs of herbal cigarette smoke, I also caught up with series creator Paul Abbott.
VERY sad news today about the death of actor Pete Postlethwaite.
He died yesterday in hospital near his Shropshire home at the age of 64.
I interviewed Pete several times and learned last year that he was ill with cancer.
Life of Wylie 