Shane Maguire

Shane Maguire^[1] is a fictional character from the Channel 4 drama Shameless, portrayed by Nicky Evans.

Character overview

Shane is part of the Chatsworth estate Maguire crime family, the brother of Micky, Donny, Joey, and Jamie, as well as the late Fergal and Mandy, and son of Paddy and Mimi. Shane has a half sister named Cilla, daughter of Mimi and Billy Tutton, who was born at the end of series 7.

Shane is known for his short and unpredictable temper and limited intelligence, although he was once shown to possess great instincts for shopper's habits during series 5 when he briefly worked in Yvonne Kharib's Cash and Carry off-licence shop. Judging by certain scenes from series 3-4, the other Maguire boys, except for Jamie, seemed to be taking direction from Shane, in the absence of Paddy and Mimi, which might imply that Shane is the second oldest of the Maguire children. In series 6 Shane suffers a head injury whilst running a hotel scam with his lover, Kelly. After coming out of a coma, Shane is left partially paralysed and bed-ridden. Conflict arises between Kelly and Shane's overpowering mother, Mimi, over who will oversee his convalescence. However, with physiotherapy and speech therapy, his condition begins to improve.

After a running a series of wedding scams together, Shane asks Kelly-Marie to marry him, but she was hestitant to do so. After they fall out during a party at The Jockey, he tries to make amends. But discovers that weeks earlier, Kelly had sex with his father, Patrick. A heart-broken Shane later asks his father why he betrayed him. Patrick reveals that he felt shamed by his sons for abandoning him during that night, and in a moment of self-pity, paid Kelly for sex to "hurt" his son, but he now deeply regrets it. Shane demands that his father proves how sorry he is, and produces a syringe and a bag of heroin. As Paddy is about to inject himself, Shane stops him just in time. Satisfied with his father's remorse, he quietly leaves Paddy, who breaks down in tears. He is now married to Kelly-Marie Ball. They had their impromptu civil ceremony at The Jockey.

While giving a deposit to a sperm bank, Shane learned that he was sterile. Shane was upset at the thought of never having children. His father and brothers tried to help by offering to be sperm donors for Kelly, but she refused. Liam suggested Kelly and Shane raise Shane's niece Katie, but this plan was dashed when her father Lip decided to take her. Shane was left to look on Liam as a son.^[2]

When Carl and Chesney were framed for murder by a local drug-dealer called Jimmy, the Maguires initially decide to remain aloof from the situation, as it was "not their fight". But Jimmy's increasing cockiness revealed in Shane a sense of justice, when he began to openly speak against Jimmy's aggressive antics before taking overt action. When Jimmy tried to set the Gallagher home on fire, Shane stepped in, as he knew Jimmy was afraid to cross the Maguires. The last straw for Shane was when Jimmy promised to harm the family, including Liam. When Paddy elected to remain uninvolved, Shane and Jamie decided to take the law into their own hands despite their father's wishes, and rounded up members of Jimmy's gang, and brutally interrogated them as to Jimmy's whereabouts. Paddy later showed his face, and endorsed his son's proactiveness. Shane and Kelly have also developed a parental bond with Liam to the point where Liam even calls them mum and dad (albeit in jest) as they put him to bed.

In series 8 Shane attempts to take over the Maguire's business while Mimi is in hospital after suffering a heart attack. Jamie however feels that Shane is not up to the responsibility, and when he sees that Shane has been conned out of a drug deal, Jamie takes control by making Shane believe a gangster tried to have him killed. Jamie then encourages to shoot the gangster dead, not knowing that it was in fact Jamie who arranged for Shane to be left for dead until afterwards. A feud builds between the two throughout the first half of series 8.

References