BURNLEY-born television writer Paul Abbott is calling time on the long-running show Shameless, which was inspired by his childhood in the town.

Abbott, this week announced closing time at the Jockey and the end of the line for feckless layabout Frank Gallagher, a character inspired by his own father Alan.

He said the final series, its eleventh, will be broadcast on Channel 4 in early 2013.

Abbott said he is story-lining the full series and is planning a suitably Shameless finale for the drama.

He said: "Its tenth anniversary seems a fitting time to shut the book on Shameless.

“We've had an absolute ball making this stuff up for a living.

“We've given back in spades and got away with absolute murder, on behalf of such a fantastically outspoken audience.

“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." Abbott, 52, is the seventh of eight children and claims he was brought up largely by an older sister after both his parents left home.

He has often alluded his upbringing in Burnley as the source of the show.

The show launched the career of Scottish Hollywood actor James McAvoy and Anne-Marie Duff.

Burnley actress Alice Barry has been recurring character as Lillian Tyler in the show and another East Lancashire actor, Jody Latham, played original character Lip.

He is expected to reprise the role for the final episodes.

Shameless began filming in 2003 in Manchester.

At the end of the final series,139 episodes will have been screened on Channel 4.

Abbott’s rise in the entertainment industry included being appointed script editor of Coronation Street at just 24 and later producing and writing episodes of crime drama Cracker.