The BEST episodes of Shameless season 8

Every episode of Shameless season 8, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Shameless season 8!

The lives and relationships of a group of siblings and their estranged father Frank Gallagher on a rough Manchester estate.

Last Updated: 3/15/2024Network: Channel 4Status: Ended
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Frank In The Frame
star
8.58
73 votes

#1 - Frank In The Frame

Season 8 - Episode 18 - Aired 9/27/2011

There's uproar in The Jockey when Frank pockets Cynthia's scratch card. And when Cynthia is assaulted, Frank becomes the prime suspect. Carl kicks off against the accusers, but Kelly shows Carl CCTV footage of Frank near the crime scene. Frank remembers nothing but scratch marks on his chest tell a different story. While Frank hands himself in, a distressed Carl seeks to prove his dad's innocence and phones Kev Ball, who returns to the Chatsworth like a knight in shining armour. New video footage jogs Frank's memory, but puts him in a stickier situation. Can a deal be made with gangster Growbag Macready? Frank's fate rests in his hands. Meanwhile, Mickey moves into the Jockey after a disagreement with Mimi, and Marty's presence continues to cause trouble between Shane and Kelly.

Directors: Gordon Anderson
Writer: Paul Abbott
Watch Now:Amazon
The Maguire Motto
star
8.31
64 votes

#2 - The Maguire Motto

Season 8 - Episode 21 - Aired 10/18/2011

Mickey channels his' inner drama queen' at the community service with a difference. Ray's skill with numbers does not go unnoticed by Mickey, and a trip to the casino seems on the cards. But Ray's only got one thing on his mind, and it's not the jackpot! The community service cast are unhappy with their leader, Michelle and the play. So when Michelle has a timely accident and the centre is shut, Mickey takes the lead, bringing Christmas to Chatsworth early. Meanwhile, Mimi might wear the trousers in the family, but it's time Billy pulled his weight, so Mimi sets a profitable challenge to test his manhood.

Directors: Lawrence Till
Writer: Ian Kershaw
PC Gallagher
star
8.14
64 votes

#3 - PC Gallagher

Season 8 - Episode 22 - Aired 10/25/2011

Billy and Mimi find the game is up after Micky finds them in a compromising position. Billy is scared as the Maguire brothers want his blood for daring to marry their mother. Kelly's not sure about keeping the baby and Jamie ends up finding out more than he bargained for after he confronts her at work. Kelly realises she has to be honest with him but will he still want her and the baby. Carl sees a crime being committed but walks past, unaware of the consequences. Billy's stag ends up being a night to remember.

Sickness and Health
star
8.02
143 votes

#4 - Sickness and Health

Season 8 - Episode 10 - Aired 2/15/2011

Mickey needs somebody to love, He adopts a cat with FIDS (feline AIDS) and meets Philip who also suffers with AIDS in order to learn more about it. Mickey goes to the shop and returns to find Philip dead.

Directors: Lawrence Till
Writer: Tom Higgins
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Career Criminal
star
7.97
68 votes

#5 - Career Criminal

Season 8 - Episode 20 - Aired 10/11/2011

Marty attempts to find a job and ends up turning to crime to tide him over. Kelly discovers that there's a price on Marty's head. Billy is determined to stand up for his rights as a father. Mimi ends up giving him an ultimatum. Mickey's flat is raided by the local police. Marty is confronted by Shane about a secret he left behind in Spain. Kelly is heartbroken agter she is told the truth and doesn't know who to believe.

Directors: Gordon Anderson
Writer: Tom Higgins
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Missing
star
7.94
155 votes

#6 - Missing

Season 8 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/11/2011

Frank is still missing and imagines that he is in a parallel universe featuring Doctor Who characters. His ex-wife Monica, having heard that Frank has gone, wants custody of Stella and Liam.

Directors: Dominic Leclerc
Writer: Ian Kershaw
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Gangster Gallagher
star
7.89
190 votes

#7 - Gangster Gallagher

Season 8 - Episode 6 - Aired 1/18/2011

It's Carl's 21st birthday, and Frank, Libby and the Maguires are planning a suprise party for him. Carl gets a job working for Jamie. However, his first job does not go to plan when Kelly steals money which was supposed to go to a business client. The business client in question is a ruthless psychopath. Left alone with him, Carl faces the most darkest experience of his life, and his problems have only just begun when Jamie accuses him of trying to steal from the family. Meanwhile, one of Joe's money-making schemes comes back to haunt Chesney, leaving him and Sita in debt. Mickey encourages Chesney to set up a gay hotline. Chesney is reluctant, but Mickey is left wondering what he has started when Chesney becomes addicted to the hotline.

Directors: Metin Hüseyin
Watch Now:Apple TV
Back Home
star
7.83
178 votes

#8 - Back Home

Season 8 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/13/2011

After returning to the Jockey, Karen attends the psychiatric hospital as an out-patient and finds that Frank has been there all along. Can he break free and save his relationship with Libby? Meanwhile, Sita is devastated when she fails her exams, and discovers her tutor will pass her if she sleeps with him. Determined to pass her exam, Sita turns to Carl for help. Elsewhere, Aiden, Patty's great nephew, arrives on Chatsworth following his mother's imprisonment, and he proves more than a match for various Chatsworth residents.

Directors: Metin Hüseyin
Writer: Ed McCardie
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Kidnap and Ransom
star
7.76
172 votes

#9 - Kidnap and Ransom

Season 8 - Episode 7 - Aired 1/25/2011

Shane and Kelly's new business of giving people their sexual fantasy threatens the Maguire family business when their client, Sandra, is reported missing by her husband. As the police swarm Chatsworth searching for her "Kidnappers", Shane calls upon the residents to help him, but Jamie is determined to make Shane see that he is not fit to run the business, even if it means sending his brother to prison. Meanwhile, Sita is annoyed to discover Chesney's new Muslim driving school scheme is a ruse for wild parties at the shop, and fearful that Chesney is losing everything the Karibs have worked for, Sita calls the terrorist line, but her actions result in a robbery at the shop, leaving the Karibs penniless. And, Patty, Mimi and Lillian go to battle over a bingo win, whilst Jackson becomes an unlikely drinking buddy for Frank.

Directors: Paul Walker
Watch Now:Apple TV
Comebacks
star
7.73
74 votes

#10 - Comebacks

Season 8 - Episode 17 - Aired 9/20/2011

A new gang has rolled into Chatsworth with an unlikely mission - to save the souls of the community. Jesus O'Toole leads the group and seems to know too much about certain residents. Aidan is certainly open to the possibilities that religion might bring, but love soon turns to hate when local businesses are picketed. An explosion on the Maguire's turf sees the family prepare for revenge. Kelly is attacked by a familiar face - Marty Fisher, who is on the run. And, Patty returns, missing Libby, she turns to the only person who might know of her whereabouts - Frank.

Directors: Paul Unwin
Writer: Tom Higgins
Watch Now:Amazon
Beginnings and Ends
star
7.70
190 votes

#11 - Beginnings and Ends

Season 8 - Episode 13 - Aired 3/8/2011

Following his sexual encounter with Letitia's headmistress, Miss Heller, Frank has had his final chance with Libby, who seems taken with the mysterious Martin. Shane's theft of Tilly Pucker's wheelchair further strains relations between the Maguire brothers, coming to a head in a showdown with Tilly's minders.

Directors: Paul Walker
Writer: Kevin Erlis
Watch Now:Amazon
The Not-So Deceased
star
7.69
99 votes

#12 - The Not-So Deceased

Season 8 - Episode 14 - Aired 8/30/2011

It's a black day on Chatsworth when Paddy Maguire is returned in a coffin. While the residents grieve, Jamie gathers the Maguires to lift the lid on this 'special delivery'. Leticia dares Aiden to break in and take a photo of Paddy, but they're in for quite a surprise. Meanwhile, Karen sets up a kids' entertainment business, but the joke's on her when Mickey, Avril and Lillian join the team. Competition is fierce, but when a catfight with a sexy rival is popular with the dads, Karen discovers a new way to make some extra cash behind Jamie's back. Little does she know the danger she will face. Frank's war with Patty is re-ignited after Libby's departure, and he makes a shocking discovery that leaves Patty at his mercy. And Mimi gets a new strap-on!.

The Night Before
star
7.68
196 votes

#13 - The Night Before

Season 8 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/10/2011

Libby and Frank are supposed to be getting married, but this is put on hold when Frank disappears on his stag night. Mimi tries to find out the identity of the father of her new baby Cilla.

Directors: Dominic Leclerc
Writer: Tom Higgins
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
My Name Is Avril
star
7.60
72 votes

#14 - My Name Is Avril

Season 8 - Episode 15 - Aired 9/6/2011

Avril is busy keeping secrets from her family; with no job and no money, but always a gift to hand, something doesn't quite add up. Mimi has designs on fit jogger Neil, but he's unsure of her advances - because he only wants sex. Mimi is keen to spice up her sex life, but Karen raises concerns about Neil's calorific role-play. When 12-year-old Bean tries to shoplift, Chesney phones her dad, Gorky, who is Chesney's delivery driver, but Chesney soon becomes concerned for Bean's welfare and decides to try and rescue her. And the law finally catches up with Avril when a bailiff arrives; she breaks down and confesses leaving Jackson gobsmacked. Will he and Letitia promise to support her and help pay back all the money she owes?

Directors: Michael Keillor
Writer: Ian Kershaw
Watch Now:Amazon
Frank Gallagher: Sent By God
star
7.59
73 votes

#15 - Frank Gallagher: Sent By God

Season 8 - Episode 16 - Aired 9/13/2011

While cleaning the windows, Jackson spots Letitia kissing Dee Davies in her bedroom. Jackson goes berserk, attacking Dee in front of a social worker who's waiting to assess him and Avril as foster parents. Frank isn't much use in the parent department, staggering to the Jockey and leaving Carl to nurse pox-ridden Stella. Drunken Frank then leaves the pub and accidentally gets on a mini-bus, waking up in a synagogue. He's discovered by Isaac, who promises not to report him because Frank's been sent from God. Frank thanks Isaac for his advice and hospitality by stealing his candelabra and legging it. Karen's fed up with how she's treated in her own pub and plots to get her power back with a card game. Meanwhile, an ambulance is called for the smallest Gallagher. Will she pull through unharmed?

Directors: Sarah Punshon
Moving Back
star
7.54
70 votes

#16 - Moving Back

Season 8 - Episode 19 - Aired 10/4/2011

Aidan's bad behaviour has landed him in court, but it's Patty who'll decide the outcome. Feeling unwelcome at the Gallaghers, Aiden leaves Chatsworth to find his mother, recently released from prison. Mimi is unexpectedly reunited with Billy Tutton, Cilla's father, and his return to Chatsworth causes tension between Mimi and her children. Frank takes in a Polish man as a lodger. Marty and Mickey become flatmates, and both men reveal their secrets to each other.

Directors: Paul Unwin
Writer: Kevin Erlis
Watch Now:Amazon
Where's Frank?
star
7.46
96 votes

#17 - Where's Frank?

Season 8 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/12/2011

Shane finds security work at the local school and helps a boy being bullied by his twin. Frank is still incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital, unknown to Libby, who tries to move on with her life.

Directors: Lawrence Till
Writer: Kevin Erlise
Watch Now:Apple TV
Takeover
star
7.36
141 votes

#18 - Takeover

Season 8 - Episode 11 - Aired 2/22/2011

Libby gets her mother a nurse to look after her when she's at work, all doesn't go to plan when Libby's mother mis-treated. Lillian reveals that she has signed over the house to her newly adopted daughter, Bonnie. Bonnie tells Lillian about her life growing up and then commits suicide.

Directors: Lawrence Till
Writer: Ian Kershaw
Watch Now:Apple TV
Sibling Rivalry
star
7.35
144 votes

#19 - Sibling Rivalry

Season 8 - Episode 12 - Aired 3/1/2011

Mimi's transsexual sister turns up, but isn't all she appears to be. The Maguires are still at each others throats, and Chesney is in danger as he and Jackson join the British Alliance Party, and manage to rub them up the wrong way.

Directors: Paul Walker
Watch Now:Apple TV
Together In Heaven
star
7.28
142 votes

#20 - Together In Heaven

Season 8 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/1/2011

Mickey and Shane think of a way to make some extra money. Their final idea was to make a child pornography site which contained no nude images and took the credit card details of those who subscribed. Their view on the matter was that they were doing a good thing by using the website as a deterant, however the police didn't see it that way.

Directors: Paul Walker
Writer: Phil Charles
Watch Now:Apple TV
Wedding of Disaster
star
7.17
179 votes

#21 - Wedding of Disaster

Season 8 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/14/2011

After weeks of suffering at the hands of his own mental incarceration Frank is almost fully intact of his marbles and is plots his escape. Libby meanwhile has had the dramatic news that Frank's divorce is about to be nullified and they could lose the family home in 24 hours. The solution is for Frank and Libby to get married and the clock is ticking...

Directors: Lawrence Till
Writer: Ed McCardie
Watch Now:Apple TV
Maguire Meltdown
star
6.92
145 votes

#22 - Maguire Meltdown

Season 8 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/8/2011

After sleepless nights with Cilla, Mimi is starting to feel bad and believes that she is going mad, as one of her relatives did, and that the house is haunted. Finally she believes that Kelly and Shane are trying to kill her and locks them out of the house though she recovers after seeing a vision of Mandy, who tells her what to do. Kelly is suspicious of the power new girl Bonnie exerts over Lillian in the brothel, and Avril and Jackson's continuing efforts to spice up their sex life leads daughter Letitia to believe that her father is having an affair.

Directors: Andy McDonnell
Watch Now:Apple TV