SERIES PREMIERE: This British import from ITV, which was televised there last fall, pulls off the same tricky balancing act as Showtime’s U.S. adaptation of Shameless: It creates characters so believable that you actually begin to worry about them and even root for them. (I know, that’s the goal of every scripted show, but I rarely forget that I’m only watching actors in a TV program.) The first three episodes of Butterfly are available today, and they introduce a family that’s no longer as tightly knit as it once was. The parents are separated, and their two kids include a teen girl and an 11-year-old boy, Max, who has begun identifying as a girl – and every family member has a different reaction and approach to Max’s gender dysphoria. The subject is handled beautifully, with all the questions and conflicts explored realistically and sensitively. And before the first episode is halfway through, you’ll be drawn inexorably into the world of this well-meaning British family. Anna Friel, who co-starred in ABC’s lovely Pushing Daisies series, plays the mom – and Callum Booth-Ford stars in the central, and superbly portrayed, role of Max.