Channel 4 should publish a spin-off book from Shameless. The Wisdom of Likkle Liam. It’s not surprising, although a little sad, that growing up in the Gallagher family has provided him with an overly cynical perspective on life, and a bucketful of pithy sayings. Last night, his opener was: “the only person you can ever rely on is yourself.” How true. And there’s a message in Liam’s rhetoric for Paddy too, as he struggles to find his way home while his withdrawal kicks in, looking as rough as a badger’s arse.

The death of Auntie Iris is greeted with some cheer in the Gallagher household. A kindred spirit of Frank she has, apparently, somehow managed to amass enough wealth to own a four-bed detached house in Alderley Edge. For once, they’re minted. Frank looks disparagingly on the greed of his children and suggests they f*** off to Alderley Edge if that’s what they want.

It’s a double bluff, of course. He knows they’ll find nothing but snotty looks and disgust in Manchester’s gold belt, and he’s right. But he’s keeping another ace up his sleeve too. Auntie Iris only ever stayed at the house. She didn’t own it. She was almost as broke as Frank. She did, however, pass on enough for a good paaaaarrrrr’eh (sca’oh).

Paddy’s not coming clean about exactly where he’s been the past few days. Instead he makes up some story about being kidnapped in Spain, where his “mate” was killed. Mimi’s not buying it though, especially as she’s found his expired passport. His pride won’t let him reveal the depths of his problem, and he has another reason for keeping Mimi in the dark: plausible deniability. Because whenever he catches up with his captor, someone is going to die.

Karen is desperate to gain a weddings licence for The Jockey, but her hopes are dashed when the council officer turns out to be an old school friend. Or, more accurately, enemy. But as the council are crying out for a venue to take Chatsworth weddings so they don’t have to fork out a fortune for security at the posher places, she’s a shoo-in.

Kelly resigns from Lillian’s brothel in protest at her management practices and starts up a hotel scam with Shane. It’s going quite well until an enraged punter goes for Shane and knocks him over, opening up a nasty-looking wound in his head.

And if you thought there weren’t many laughs in last week’s episode you’d have been struggling even harder to find any this week, as the Paddy story turns Shameless once more to the dark side and Frank seems to have lost his sense of humour altogether. Even the dream sequences weren’t funny this week. You’d never guess this was a comedy.