A “Shameless” 21st for Gay Pride in Manchester By UK gay news

■ Still from the short film First Time On Canal Street. photo courtesy Manchester Pride

MANCHESTER, July 5, 2011  –  A short film featuring some of the cast of the hit TV show Shameless has been commissioned by Manchester Pride to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the festival, which takes place this August Bank Holiday Weekend.

The film, entitled First Time On Canal Street, and shot unusually, but effectively, in monochrome, follows a young man venturing out on to the famous street to celebrate his 21st birthday.  There, he interacts with some of the area’s famous faces, is seen in iconic bars and gets involved with LGBT groups showing the diversity of what the Village has to offer.

The film opens with Ciaran Griffiths (Mickey Maguire) from Shameless, out with his girlfriend and being ‘eyed up’ from the birthday boy.  In turn, Mickey finds it flattering and offers advice on where to go on the famous street.

Then cutting to Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now, the film hopes to drive ticket purchases for this 21st anniversary of Manchester Pride in turn raising vital funds for LGBT and HIV charities and organisations.

“21 is very much seen as a coming of age and we wanted to bring this alive in a visual way to show that Canal Street and indeed Manchester Pride has really got a lot to offer above and beyond what people would normally associate with it,” said Jackie Crozier, festival director of Manchester Pride, who was behind the concept of the short film comments.

“With the added Shameless involvement and rugby star Ben Cohen, this film captures the fun and diversity of the area, which we will further bring to life at the 21st Manchester Pride later this summer,” she added.

The involvement of Ben Cohen is fleeting.  A group of rugby players are messing around with a rugby ball in Canal Street.  Cohen catches a wayward pass, and then is asked: “Can I have my ball back?”.  He obliges.

Other Shameless cast members to feature in the film include: Rebecca Atkinson (Karen Maguire), Aaron McCusker (Jamie Maguire), Nicky Evans (Shane Maguire), Sally Carman (Kelly-Anne Maguire), Quasim Akhtar (Chesney Karib), Elliott Tittensor (Carl Gallagher), Alice Barry (Lillian Tyler), Karen Bryson (Avril Powell) and Emmanuel Oghidaro (Jackson Powell).

First Time On Canal Street can be seen HERE (via YouTube)

The team behind the video included Lee Warburton, Dave Stark and Mike Stewart.

■ Manchester Pride gets underway on Friday August 19 with a host of ‘fringe’ events leading up to the ‘Big Weekend’ (August 26 – 29).  The Pride Parade is on Saturday August 27 (starts at 1pm).