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List of Shameless (British TV series) characters

Vernon Francis "Frank" Gallagher (born 16 January 1960) is the main protagonist of ''Shameless''. He appeared in 137 episodes.

Frank is characterised by inebriated monologues covering diverse literary, historical, and philosophical topics. These often circle back to his perception of decent, hard-working individuals, including himself, facing unwarranted discrimination. Frank frequently quotes Shakespeare, the Bible, references international current events, and uses poetry and soliloquy to express his feelings or views, as he does at the start of each episode. Thus, in spite of his drunken ramblings, sometimes he does come across as being well-educated owing to the issues he raises during his interactions with others. He also shows countless signs of schizophrenia throughout the series, and it is directly stated that he has schizophrenia in series 2.

Frank is an unemployed alcoholic, and the son of Neville (John Woodvine) and Sarah Elizabeth Gallagher (1935–1972). He was married to Monica (Annabelle Apsion), with whom he has six biological children: Fiona (Anne-Marie Duff), Lip (Jody Latham), Carl (Elliott Tittensor), Debbie (Rebecca Ryan), Liam (Johnny Bennett) and Stella (Nikita Brownlee), and is the de jure father of Ian (Gerard Kearns). He also has two children with Sheila Jackson (Maggie O'Neill), Nigel and Delia, and is the father of Monica's half-sister, whom he fathered with Monica's mother at Monica's birthday party. He has two grandchildren: Lip's daughter, Katie Maguire, and an unnamed child of Fiona's. During one of Frank's drunken rants, it is implied that he got many girls pregnant in school. This is never elaborated upon and it is unclear precisely how many children Frank has actually fathered.

Frank was apparently convicted and sentenced to imprisonment several times in his youth. He claimed to have been incarcerated in Strangeways Prison. It has not been mentioned what exactly his string of past convictions was for.

Frank's alcoholism intensified after his first wife Monica left him for Norma Starkey (Dystin Johnson). He then left the younger children in the care of Fiona, and moved in with agoraphobic Sheila. Often known to make a fool out of himself and shirk all responsibility, Frank nonetheless shows signs of loving his children. He offers good advice, for example, saving Liam from being taken into care when a parent was needed. When he is rendered completely sober by a new drug, Frank appears reflective and even quite intelligent, wondering why Sheila would add to her problems by marrying a mess like him. We also better understand his disposition when Frank's father pays a visit and treats his son in a condescending and abrasive manner. Frank's father shows extreme sympathy towards Sheila and even takes care of the twins. It is also stated that his father did not always treat Frank kindly when Frank was growing up.

In the early series, Frank is portrayed as a drunken bully who even head-butts his son Ian on one occasion. Most of his children initially hate Frank for his drunken bullying ways. Lip and Ian are never scared to show their feelings towards him and physically attack him on a few occasions. However, his middle daughter, Debbie, shows sympathy throughout the series when her father is either in serious trouble or presumed dead, something which happens three times. As the series progresses, the family generally warms up to him, mostly because he isn’t bothering them hugely on a daily basis. However, Debbie finally grows sick of taking care of the family, cleaning up after Frank in particular, and leaves to join the army after series 6. In series 7, Frank and Liam come into serious conflict when Liam is forced by circumstances to take over Debbie’s former burden as the de facto head of the family. At one point, Frank head-butts Liam, and a furious Carl has to be restrained from beating Frank to a pulp. Frank finally softens towards Liam when Liam threatens to commit suicide.

In series 7, Frank falls for a librarian named Libby Croker (Pauline McLynn). Libby believes Frank is a man of the arts and he encourages her to rise up against her library closing, which leads to a violent protest and her imprisonment. When Libby is released from prison, she tries to find him, but her upscale appearance causes various characters to warn Frank that the DSS is after him. Finally, they meet again, and although Libby is initially put off by his poor character and a frosty reception from Liam, she and her disabled mother, Patty (Valerie Lilley), move into the Gallagher home. Frank and Patty soon set up a mutual loathing society, with Frank painting her bedroom a bright yellow just to keep her awake. However, he must also endure her endless put-downs. In Series 8 Frank is kept hostage in a psychiatric hospital by former wife Monica's girlfriend, part of Monica's plan to snatch her family back from Libby and prevent the pair from getting married. On Frank's escape, the pair stay unmarried and he will eventually lose Libby in Episode 13 after cheating on her with Letitia Powell's (Kira Martin) headmistress (Annie Wallace).

In series 8, Frank is ready to marry Libby and he goes missing on his stag night. Libby starts putting up posters because of his disappearance. Carl and Chesney Karib (Qasim Akhtar) find a video on the internet of Frank having sex in public. Libby walks in and sees the video. In the feature-length 100th episode Frank is accused of beating an old lady who is well known on the estate for her scratch-card winnings. Frank suffers a blackout and throughout the episode has flashbacks of that evening. Not knowing if he actually carried out the attack, he hands himself into the police. Carl is convinced Frank is innocent. He digs into the events of that night and finds that a local gangster's brother had actually carried out the attack. Frank, along with Kev, devises a plan to work with the police and cuts a deal with the gangster that sees Frank set free.

From Series 9, Frank is the only original member of the Gallagher family left after Carl leaves to join the police. He takes care of a terrapin called Terry, that he stole from a petting zoo.

By Series 11, he and his daughter Stella who is now six years old, live at the Gallagher House along with Aidan who both are left to contend with Frank's outrageous behaviour. He is still neglectful of his sole child, who shows great maturity for her age, and is shown to be thoughtful and caring to him, still calling him "Dad". While out, Frank finds his son Lip (Jody Latham), and invites him along with his granddaughter, Katie (Bethany Thompson). He reaches an understanding with his son, who then treats him much better. After Frank has begun a three-way relationship with prostitutes Sherilee (Sarah Totty) and Derilee (Sue Vincent), Derilee's husband Baxter arrives at the Gallagher household and holds Frank, Stella and Derilee hostage at gunpoint. While negotiating with Baxter for their freedom, Monica returns to Chatsworth to take Stella's place in the hostage situation. However, Stella ends up running back inside, with Monica also being held captive. While Derilee and Baxter solve their differences, Frank and Monica have sex, resulting in Monica falling pregnant with twins. Frank was arrested and visited by her and tells her to have an abortion, however one of the twins survives, and she gives birth to Ben Gallagher in The Jockey. Frank shows a lack of interest in the child and leaves care to Stella. Meanwhile, Monica feigns bereavement over the baby she "miscarried". Frank's oldest daughter, Fiona McBride (Anne-Marie Duff), returns to Chatsworth with Carl and Lip. Frank learns he has a grandson from Fiona who attempts to make Frank and Monica see that their disastrous parenting is only going to damage Stella and Ben. Fiona decides to take Stella and Ben back to Amsterdam with her, leaving them in the care of her old friend, Kev Ball (Dean Lennox Kelly), however he loses them. Frank has an argument with Monica and decides to leave Chatsworth since he believes he is better off without his family. However, Stella follows Frank to the bus stop with Ben in her arms, as Frank rages at an upset Stella that she was a mistake and that she ruined his life, leading to her sadly walk away alone. A guilty Frank later finds Stella and Ben at a local park; he apologizes for his harsh behaviour and confirms that he does love her, much to her joy. He lets Stella play while he finally takes an active role in caring for Ben. Frank soon takes them back to the Gallagher household, walking into Fiona and Monica fighting over the upbringing of the two children. He refuses to let Fiona take his youngest children. Even though Lip and Carl try to convince Fiona otherwise, Fiona refuses to believe they will change and offers Frank money to leave as he intended. However, he refuses to take it. She sees that he couldn't live without his family and is pleased to see this side of him. In the end, Fiona sees Stella and Ben will be fine in Frank and Monica's care, and they remain in Chatsworth. Frank also makes amends with his oldest children who have new respect for him.

The final scene is a reference to the start of every episode, a monologue by Frank ending with him yelling 'scatter' to the backdrop of a burning car. Provided by Wikipedia