Paul Abbott Pulls Plug on 'Shameless' in the U.K.

LONDON – Paul Abbott, the writer and creator of cult British TV show Shameless, says his show will finish after 11 seasons.

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Shooting now on location in Manchester, Abbott, production banner Company Pictures and broadcaster and backer Channel 4 said the eleventh outing would be the last for the funny and offbeat drama series.

Shameless charts the unpredictable chapters of the lives of feckless anti-hero Frank Gallagher (David Threlfall) and all the colorful characters living on the Chatsworth Estate.

James McAvoy, Anne-Marie Duff and Maxine Peake have all rocked up on screen in the show over the last 10 years.

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Abbott, who is story-lining the full series and is planning "a suitably Shameless finale" for his creation, said its 10th anniversary seemed a fitting moment to draw a halt to it.

"We’ve given back in spades and got away with absolute murder, on behalf of such a fantastically outspoken audience," Abbott said. "But this is also the year my Dad died and he was, in abstract, my core inspiration for starting the whole Shameless party rolling, I wanted to make invisible people vivid.  Closing the two eras in the same year feels very right. Now I’m off to build the next whatever-it-is."

Channel 4 chief creative officer Jay Hunt described the show as "ground-breaking when it launched and gob-smacking ever since."

Shameless returns for its swan song in 2013. By the end of the 11th season, 139 episodes will have aired on U.K. broadcaster Channel 4.