Shameless creator Paul Abbott has called time on the character of Frank Gallagher after 11 series of the BAFTA award-winning Channel 4 drama.
The writer announced that dysfunctional alcoholic Gallagher and his family will make one last outing on Manchester's Chatsworth council estate with a new series to be broadcast early next year.
The last hoorah is due to hit television screens in 2013 and will mark 10 years since the drama was first filmed in Manchester in 2003.
Abbott revealed his reasons for putting an end to the beloved show, which first aired in January of 2004, were very personal and largely due to the recent passing of his father.
He said: 'Its 10th anniversary seems a fitting time to shut the book on Shameless.'
'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.'
Shameless, starring David Threlfall as Frank Gallagher, helped launch the careers of some of today's finest acting talents such as James McAvoy, Anne-Marie Duff and Maxine Peake.
The show, which also stars Rebecca Atkinson, Elliot Tittensor and Tina Malone, led to the spawning of a US version of the show.
A hit in America, the television series stars Hollywood A-list actor William H. Macy and actresses Emily Rossum and Amy Smart.
Channel 4 chief creative officer Jay Hunt said: 'Shameless, ground-breaking when it launched and gob-smacking ever since, has over the years built a loyal following.
'We are in Paul Abbott's debt for bringing his defiantly dysfunctional band of characters to Channel 4 and I'm delighted to say we have other drama projects with Paul in the pipeline.'
Fans will no doubt be devastated at the news as the programme was an instant hit, and continued to be, throughout its 139 episodes.
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