Shelley Unwin
Encyclopedia
Shelley Victoria Unwin (previously Barlow) is a fictional character who appeared in ITV
's British soap opera Coronation Street
. She is the daughter of Bev Unwin (Susie Blake
) and the late Charlie Unwin. She was played by actress Sally Lindsay
, who portrayed the role from 2001 until 2006.
(Shobna Gulati
) and was involved in high profile storylines such as discovering her husband Peter Barlow
(Chris Gascoyne) is a bigamist and later being beaten up by her then boyfriend Charlie Stubbs (Bill Ward
).
In October 2005, it was announced that Sally Lindsay had quit Coronation Street after six years playing Shelly. Speaking of her departure Lindsay said "I think that Shelley has been through so much as a character during my time here, and I am really looking forward to working on different projects. I have and always will have a massive affection for Coronation Street, and I want to thank all the cast, production team and writers for everything that has happened for me and my character." Producer Tony Wood praised her as a "talented actress" and paid tribute to her portrayal of Shelley's mental abuse at the hands of Charlie, played by Bill Ward. "Sally has been fantastic during her time on Coronation Street – she has done everything that has been asked of her and more," he said.
In January 2010, asked whether she would consider returning Lindsay said "I never say never but there's too much going on in other parts of my career to even contemplate it. "Once you are in the Street, you can't do anything else, you can't dip in and out of it, so it would have to be a massive commitment. I have lots of other things to do. I have had a lovely time since I left." Discussing her decision to leave Shelley behind, Lindsay said: "It feels like a million years ago for me because I've never stopped. My heart was in it right until the end. I left before it wasn't. You can't really fake it with a character like Shelley. Leaving was a joint decision by me and Shelley because we'd been through enough."
In the pub, Shelley proves to be a popular barmaid. After Fred Elliott
(John Savident
) buys the pub, Shelley and colleague Geena Gregory (Jennifer James
) compete for the position of bar manager. Shelley is given the job and Geena resents this. Shelley settles into the job quite well though does tend to be a bit too lenient with the staff. Her best friend is Sunita Parekh, who works at the corner shop.
Shelley falls in love with Peter Barlow after he leaves the navy and returns to the Street over Christmas, 2001. They move in together into the flat over the bookies on Rosamund Street, and Peter buys the bookies. They have a rough patch and break up for a while after Peter's friend Ciaran McCarthy
(Keith Duffy
) visits, making a pass at Shelley. She doesn't tell Peter at first but when he finally finds out, Ciaran makes it sound as if Shelley came on to him. Peter becomes very jealous and Shelley, hurt that Peter didn't believe her, leaves. Once it becomes clear to Peter that Ciaran is lying, Peter cuts off his friendship and he and Shelley reconcile. Ciaran returns to Weatherfield for Peter and Shelley's engagement party and stays on, much to Shelley's chagrin. Peter and Ciaran begin to renew their friendship and Shelley ends up accepting it but never really trusting Ciaran, who later gets engaged to Sunita.
Peter and Shelley move into the pub when Fred moves in with his son Ashley Peacock
(Steven Arnold
) after the death of his wife Maxine (Tracy Shaw
), but what Shelley doesn't know is that Peter is seeing another woman, Lucy Richards (Katy Carmichael
), who gets pregnant. Peter can't find the words to tell Shelley, because every opportunity either gets interrupted or he loses his nerve. Just when he finally wants to tell her, a week before he is going to marry Lucy, Shelley's sister, Sharon, dies. Peter marries Lucy on the day of Sharon's funeral, but Lucy soon finds out that Peter had never broken up with Shelley and kicks him out for good. Peter, although not divorced, marries Shelley in July 2003. Peter's baby, Simon
has just been born. By the end of the summer, though, Lucy spills the beans and tells Shelley about her and Peter's marriage and the baby. Shelley and Peter break up for good and Shelley then nurses a broken heart while trying to run the pub with the help of her mother, Bev.
In January 2004, Shelley has an ill-fated date with Newton & Ridley drayman Eric Gartside (Peter Kay
). Eric tries his best to woo Shelley and takes her out for an expensive meal, however, when they go back to his house for a drink, she is quickly put off by his mother, Dolly. Shelley tells Eric that he is a lovely man but she doesn’t think things would work out between them. Shelley then starts seeing builder Charlie Stubbs, even though he had been previously going out with her mother, Bev. In spite of his relationship with Shelley, it doesn’t take Charlie long to bed Bev behind her back. Bev makes the awkward decision to come clean to her daughter, but Charlie makes sure that Shelley doesn’t believe a word of it. Devastated that her daughter could believe Charlie over her, Bev leaves the Rovers and Weatherfield.
On her return to Weatherfield, Liz McDonald
(Beverley Callard
) is offered a job and a room at the Rovers by Fred. Shelley and Liz don’t get on from the start, as Shelley had already hired Leanne Battersby
(Jane Danson
) to fill the position left by Bev. Fred states that his choice is final, and Liz stays. It doesn’t take long for Charlie to begin to make a move on Liz. She refuses his advances and tells Shelley, who, true to form, rejects any claim that Charlie could cheat on her. Again, Charlie pressurises Shelley into believing him, and Liz is sacked from the pub and leaves Weatherfield briefly to help former Rovers landlady Bet Lynch
(Julie Goodyear
) in Brighton.
Charlie and Shelley’s relationship continues to be a picture of happiness to the other Street residents, and to Shelley herself. When Liz returns she is reinstated at the Rovers, but it isn’t long before Charlie tries it on yet again. She walks out, this time for good, and takes a job at the Weatherfield Arms. After Liz has left, Shelley becomes more and more concerned about Charlie straying. The height of this comes when a drunken Shelley marches over to No. 8 and confronts Gail Platt
(Helen Worth
), who she thinks is having an affair with Charlie. The two women argue in the Street, and Gail tells Shelley that Charlie was doing some building work for her. Shelley is shame-faced and Charlie tells her that she is stupid. Shelley grovels to Charlie and they stay together.
After Maya Sharma
(Sasha Behar
) burns down Dev Alahan
(Jimmi Harkishin
)’s grocery shop empire, Shelley thinks, that since they are friends, Charlie could do all of the rebuilding work for Dev. Over dinner at Dev and Sunita’s flat, Shelley makes suggestions to Dev that Charlie would do the work for cheap and that he could start as soon as possible, since he has little work on the go. This enrages Charlie who, back at the Rovers, tells Shelley that she has seriously undermined him and made him look like a fool who couldn’t get any work. Again, Shelley grovels.
In December 2004, Shelley makes contact with her mother, Bev. The two women arrange to meet for lunch and Shelley tells Charlie that she is going to a Newton & Ridley Christmas party. Sly Charlie phones the brewery, who tell him that there is no such party, and his suspicions start to increase. He confronts Shelley who tries to deny her whereabouts at first, but when Charlie accuses her of seeing another man, she admits that she’d been to see Bev, and that they plan to meet up again. Charlie then makes Shelley phone Bev and tell her that she doesn’t want to see her any more. Charlie continues to put Shelley down, and after every phone call he accuses her of talking to her mother.
A few weeks later, Bev turns up at No. 1 and asks Deirdre Barlow (Anne Kirkbride
) to pop next door to the Rovers and fetch Shelley because the two women need to talk. Shelley lies that everything is fine with Charlie and tries her best to make Bev think the same. As she is leaving, Bev tells Deirdre to keep an eye out on Shelley as she thinks that Charlie was treating her badly.
For New Year 2004, Charlie buys Shelley a new dress; however, it transpires that the dress is two sizes too small for her. Charlie pretends to be upset that he has got the wrong size, but then hints that instead of getting a replacement, Shelley should try and lose some weight. Shelley is upset by this, and tells him to get the dress in a larger size. Instead, Charlie gives the dress to his workmate Jason Grimshaw
(Ryan Thomas
) who hastily gave it to his barmaid girlfriend Violet Wilson
(Jenny Platt
). Shelley is humiliated when Violet turns up at work in the dress, and causes a scene in front of a pub full of regulars. In the end, Charlie manages to get his own way (as usual) when Shelley suggests that it would be a good idea to lose a bit of weight.
Charlie further isolates Shelley until she ends up hiding away from every one in her bedroom for several months. She pushes away all her friends, including Ciaran who ends up leaving Weatherfield. Shelley thinks having some plastic surgery on her face would help her feel better about herself so Charlie pays for it. She then thinks that they should get married and Charlie goes along with it, not thinking she'd actually go through with it. In the meantime, he finds her a psychologist called Zack (Ralph Ineson
) because she is also retreating from him. Charlie doesn't realise that Zack would start to give Shelley the confidence she needs to start standing up to him. He tries to fire Zack since he is paying the bills. This seems to be the last straw Shelley needs. She does manage to get to the church and so does Charlie after a night with another woman. Then Shelley dumps Charlie at the altar and takes herself home through the streets of Weatherfield, head held high. She throws Charlie out of the pub and starts rebuilding her life and her friendships.
After Bev agrees to marry Fred, Shelley starts to feel more left out and overshadowed in the pub when Bev started acting the landlady even before the wedding. Shelley decides she needs a fresh start and gets a job at a country pub in the Peak District. Before she leaves, she has a one night stand with Charlie. She returns a month or so later to help Bev with the wedding, only to reveal that she has become pregnant after the night with Charlie. Bev wants Shelley to terminate the pregnancy but Shelley is determined to keep it, a new baby and a fresh start. She insists that Charlie not find out about it. Bev slips and tells Deirdre who is horrified because Charlie is now going out with her daughter Tracy
(Kate Ford
). Deirdre insists she is going to tell Tracy before Shelley – but Shelly gets there first – leading to a confrontation in the back room of the pub. Tracy, of course, confronts Charlie and tells him to insist Shelley has a termination. Shelley nearly gets away without seeing Charlie but he confronts her. She insists she will keep the baby and never ask him for a penny. He doesn't believe her, but she leaves nonetheless, telling him the baby would never know who its father is.
.
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's British soap opera Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
. She is the daughter of Bev Unwin (Susie Blake
Susie Blake
Susie Blake is a British actress.-Personal life:Blake trained at the Arts Educational School and LAMDA in London. She is the granddaughter of the actress Annette Mills and a great - niece of the actor Sir John Mills...
) and the late Charlie Unwin. She was played by actress Sally Lindsay
Sally Lindsay
Sally Lindsay is an English actress best known for playing the role of Shelley Unwin in the long-running ITV1 Soap opera Coronation Street...
, who portrayed the role from 2001 until 2006.
Character creation and development
In January 2001 it was announced that a new barmaid and friend of Duggie Ferguson (John Bowe) was to join and that she would be played by actress Sally Lindsay. She made her first appearance on the soap on 9 May 2001 as a new feisty barmaid. During Shelley's six years on the show she was friends with Sunita AlahanSunita Alahan
Sunita Alahan is a fictional character from the British ITV1 soap opera Coronation Street, played by Shobna Gulati. She made her first on-screen appearance on 23 March 2001 and remained in the show until 2005, when the character was axed from the serial by producer Tony Wood...
(Shobna Gulati
Shobna Gulati
Shobna Gulati is an English actress, writer, and dancer of Indian origin, best known for playing Anita in Victoria Wood's Dinnerladies, and Sunita Alahan in the long-running soap opera Coronation Street from 2001 to 2006, a role to which she returned at the end of 2009...
) and was involved in high profile storylines such as discovering her husband Peter Barlow
Peter Barlow (Coronation Street)
Peter Francis Barlow is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera Coronation Street. The character first appeared onscreen during the episode aired on 15 April 1965...
(Chris Gascoyne) is a bigamist and later being beaten up by her then boyfriend Charlie Stubbs (Bill Ward
Bill Ward (actor)
Bill Ward is an English actor who played Charlie Stubbs in Coronation Street.-Biography:He completed a degree in History at Bristol University. He is a former advertising executive. After Coronation Street, he had a role in the ITV series Cold Blood with Pauline Quirke...
).
In October 2005, it was announced that Sally Lindsay had quit Coronation Street after six years playing Shelly. Speaking of her departure Lindsay said "I think that Shelley has been through so much as a character during my time here, and I am really looking forward to working on different projects. I have and always will have a massive affection for Coronation Street, and I want to thank all the cast, production team and writers for everything that has happened for me and my character." Producer Tony Wood praised her as a "talented actress" and paid tribute to her portrayal of Shelley's mental abuse at the hands of Charlie, played by Bill Ward. "Sally has been fantastic during her time on Coronation Street – she has done everything that has been asked of her and more," he said.
In January 2010, asked whether she would consider returning Lindsay said "I never say never but there's too much going on in other parts of my career to even contemplate it. "Once you are in the Street, you can't do anything else, you can't dip in and out of it, so it would have to be a massive commitment. I have lots of other things to do. I have had a lovely time since I left." Discussing her decision to leave Shelley behind, Lindsay said: "It feels like a million years ago for me because I've never stopped. My heart was in it right until the end. I left before it wasn't. You can't really fake it with a character like Shelley. Leaving was a joint decision by me and Shelley because we'd been through enough."
Storylines
Shelley comes to the rescue when staff are short behind the bar at the Rovers. She had worked behind the club bar when Duggie Ferguson was playing for Weatherfield Rugby League Club. They are very good friends but it never develops into any more than that. Shelley is later devastated when Duggie dies on a building site in February 2002.In the pub, Shelley proves to be a popular barmaid. After Fred Elliott
Fred Elliott
Frederick Handel "Fred" Elliott is a fictional character from the British soap opera Coronation Street, played by John Savident from 1994 until 2006.-Development:...
(John Savident
John Savident
John Savident is a British actor, best known for playing the part of Fred Elliott in the soap opera Coronation Street from 1994 to 2006. And also was a frequent guest on Soccer AM alongside fellow actor Jack 'The Rigger' Spooner....
) buys the pub, Shelley and colleague Geena Gregory (Jennifer James
Jennifer James
Jennifer James, is an English actress born on 3 December 1977 in Billinge Higher End, Wigan, Greater Manchester.-Early life:...
) compete for the position of bar manager. Shelley is given the job and Geena resents this. Shelley settles into the job quite well though does tend to be a bit too lenient with the staff. Her best friend is Sunita Parekh, who works at the corner shop.
Shelley falls in love with Peter Barlow after he leaves the navy and returns to the Street over Christmas, 2001. They move in together into the flat over the bookies on Rosamund Street, and Peter buys the bookies. They have a rough patch and break up for a while after Peter's friend Ciaran McCarthy
Ciaran McCarthy
Ciaran McCarthy is a fictional character from the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street portrayed by Keith Duffy. He made his first on-screen appearance on 7 August 2002, before departing in 2005. He returned in 2010 until Duffy temporary departed in January 2011 to go on Boyzone Tour,...
(Keith Duffy
Keith Duffy
Keith Peter Thomas Francis John Duffy is an Irish singer-songwriter, actor, drummer, dancer and television presenter. He began his career as part of Boyzone in the 1990s. In the 2000s, he achieved critical acclaim for his acting roles, particularly in soap operas such as Coronation Street and Fair...
) visits, making a pass at Shelley. She doesn't tell Peter at first but when he finally finds out, Ciaran makes it sound as if Shelley came on to him. Peter becomes very jealous and Shelley, hurt that Peter didn't believe her, leaves. Once it becomes clear to Peter that Ciaran is lying, Peter cuts off his friendship and he and Shelley reconcile. Ciaran returns to Weatherfield for Peter and Shelley's engagement party and stays on, much to Shelley's chagrin. Peter and Ciaran begin to renew their friendship and Shelley ends up accepting it but never really trusting Ciaran, who later gets engaged to Sunita.
Peter and Shelley move into the pub when Fred moves in with his son Ashley Peacock
Ashley Peacock
Ashley Sibelius Peacock is a fictional character from the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actor Steven Arnold, the character first appeared onscreen during the episode airing on 1 February 1995.On 23 April 2010, it was announced that the character had been axed along...
(Steven Arnold
Steven Arnold
Steven Arnold is an English actor best known for his role as Ashley Peacock in the long running hit show Coronation Street.- Early life :...
) after the death of his wife Maxine (Tracy Shaw
Tracy Shaw
Tracy Shaw is a British actress and singer.She is best known for her role as hairdresser Maxine Peacock in British soap opera Coronation Street during the 1990s and early 2000s.-Career:...
), but what Shelley doesn't know is that Peter is seeing another woman, Lucy Richards (Katy Carmichael
Katy Carmichael
Katy Carmichael is an English actress and a professional entertainer. She has been on stage many times in Liverpool, but is most notably recognised for her role of Lucy Barlow/Richards in the ITV soap Coronation Street, Twist Morgan in the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced and Melissa Ryan in Waterloo...
), who gets pregnant. Peter can't find the words to tell Shelley, because every opportunity either gets interrupted or he loses his nerve. Just when he finally wants to tell her, a week before he is going to marry Lucy, Shelley's sister, Sharon, dies. Peter marries Lucy on the day of Sharon's funeral, but Lucy soon finds out that Peter had never broken up with Shelley and kicks him out for good. Peter, although not divorced, marries Shelley in July 2003. Peter's baby, Simon
Simon Barlow
Simon Barlow is a fictional character from the British soap opera Coronation Street, and has been played by Alex Bain since 2008. The character was played by twins Jake and Oscar Hartley on his birth in 2003.-Character development:...
has just been born. By the end of the summer, though, Lucy spills the beans and tells Shelley about her and Peter's marriage and the baby. Shelley and Peter break up for good and Shelley then nurses a broken heart while trying to run the pub with the help of her mother, Bev.
In January 2004, Shelley has an ill-fated date with Newton & Ridley drayman Eric Gartside (Peter Kay
Peter Kay
Peter John Kay is an English comedian, writer, actor, director and producer. His work includes That Peter Kay Thing , Phoenix Nights , Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere , Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and other independent productions which have included two sell out tours.-Early career:Peter Kay...
). Eric tries his best to woo Shelley and takes her out for an expensive meal, however, when they go back to his house for a drink, she is quickly put off by his mother, Dolly. Shelley tells Eric that he is a lovely man but she doesn’t think things would work out between them. Shelley then starts seeing builder Charlie Stubbs, even though he had been previously going out with her mother, Bev. In spite of his relationship with Shelley, it doesn’t take Charlie long to bed Bev behind her back. Bev makes the awkward decision to come clean to her daughter, but Charlie makes sure that Shelley doesn’t believe a word of it. Devastated that her daughter could believe Charlie over her, Bev leaves the Rovers and Weatherfield.
On her return to Weatherfield, Liz McDonald
Liz McDonald
Elizabeth "Liz" Jayne McDonald is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actress Beverley Callard, the character first appeared onscreen during the episode airing on 27 October 1989 and remained on the series until Callard opted to leave in 1998...
(Beverley Callard
Beverley Callard
Beverley Jane McEwan is an English actress, best known for her role as Liz McDonald in ITV's Coronation Street, and Flo Henshaw in BBC Three's Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.-Early life:Beverley Jane Moxon was born in Leeds on 28 March 1957 to Clive and Mavis Moxon...
) is offered a job and a room at the Rovers by Fred. Shelley and Liz don’t get on from the start, as Shelley had already hired Leanne Battersby
Leanne Battersby
Leanne Anika Barlow is a fictional character on the soap opera Coronation Street. Portrayed by actress Jane Danson, the character first appeared onscreen during the episode airing on 4 July 1997....
(Jane Danson
Jane Danson
Jane Danson is an English actress, most famous for playing the role of Leanne Battersby in Coronation Street.-Acting:...
) to fill the position left by Bev. Fred states that his choice is final, and Liz stays. It doesn’t take long for Charlie to begin to make a move on Liz. She refuses his advances and tells Shelley, who, true to form, rejects any claim that Charlie could cheat on her. Again, Charlie pressurises Shelley into believing him, and Liz is sacked from the pub and leaves Weatherfield briefly to help former Rovers landlady Bet Lynch
Bet Lynch
Elizabeth Theresa "Bet" Lynch is a fictional character from the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. The character is no longer part of current storylines. Portrayed by actress Julie Goodyear the character first appears onscreen during the episode airing on 23 May 1966. The character...
(Julie Goodyear
Julie Goodyear
Julie Goodyear, MBE is an English television actress and media personality, best known for playing the long-running role of pub landlady Bet Lynch on British soap opera Coronation Street.-Biography:...
) in Brighton.
Charlie and Shelley’s relationship continues to be a picture of happiness to the other Street residents, and to Shelley herself. When Liz returns she is reinstated at the Rovers, but it isn’t long before Charlie tries it on yet again. She walks out, this time for good, and takes a job at the Weatherfield Arms. After Liz has left, Shelley becomes more and more concerned about Charlie straying. The height of this comes when a drunken Shelley marches over to No. 8 and confronts Gail Platt
Gail Platt
Gail McIntyre is a long-standing fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actress Helen Worth, the character first appeared on screen on 12 July 1974...
(Helen Worth
Helen Worth
Helen Worth is an English actress, best known for her portrayal of the Coronation Street character Gail McIntyre- Early life :...
), who she thinks is having an affair with Charlie. The two women argue in the Street, and Gail tells Shelley that Charlie was doing some building work for her. Shelley is shame-faced and Charlie tells her that she is stupid. Shelley grovels to Charlie and they stay together.
After Maya Sharma
Maya Sharma
Maya Sharma is a fictional character on the soap opera Coronation Street. She was played by Sasha Behar. She appears between 2003 and 2004.-Controversy:...
(Sasha Behar
Sasha Behar
Sasha Behar is a British actress, known for portraying Maya Sharma in ITV1 soap opera Coronation Street.-Background:...
) burns down Dev Alahan
Dev Alahan
Devendra 'Dev' Alahan is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actor Jimmi Harkishin, the character first appeared onscreen during the episode airing on 10 November 1999.-Character development:...
(Jimmi Harkishin
Jimmi Harkishin
James "Jimmi" Harkishin is an actor best known for his role as shop owner Dev Alahan in Coronation Street. He also featured in the film East is East and also Bhaji on the Beach....
)’s grocery shop empire, Shelley thinks, that since they are friends, Charlie could do all of the rebuilding work for Dev. Over dinner at Dev and Sunita’s flat, Shelley makes suggestions to Dev that Charlie would do the work for cheap and that he could start as soon as possible, since he has little work on the go. This enrages Charlie who, back at the Rovers, tells Shelley that she has seriously undermined him and made him look like a fool who couldn’t get any work. Again, Shelley grovels.
In December 2004, Shelley makes contact with her mother, Bev. The two women arrange to meet for lunch and Shelley tells Charlie that she is going to a Newton & Ridley Christmas party. Sly Charlie phones the brewery, who tell him that there is no such party, and his suspicions start to increase. He confronts Shelley who tries to deny her whereabouts at first, but when Charlie accuses her of seeing another man, she admits that she’d been to see Bev, and that they plan to meet up again. Charlie then makes Shelley phone Bev and tell her that she doesn’t want to see her any more. Charlie continues to put Shelley down, and after every phone call he accuses her of talking to her mother.
A few weeks later, Bev turns up at No. 1 and asks Deirdre Barlow (Anne Kirkbride
Anne Kirkbride
Anne Kirkbride is an English actress, best known for her long-running role as Deirdre Barlow in Coronation Street which she has played for thirty-nine years.-Coronation Street:...
) to pop next door to the Rovers and fetch Shelley because the two women need to talk. Shelley lies that everything is fine with Charlie and tries her best to make Bev think the same. As she is leaving, Bev tells Deirdre to keep an eye out on Shelley as she thinks that Charlie was treating her badly.
For New Year 2004, Charlie buys Shelley a new dress; however, it transpires that the dress is two sizes too small for her. Charlie pretends to be upset that he has got the wrong size, but then hints that instead of getting a replacement, Shelley should try and lose some weight. Shelley is upset by this, and tells him to get the dress in a larger size. Instead, Charlie gives the dress to his workmate Jason Grimshaw
Jason Grimshaw
Jason Grimshaw, is a fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actor Ryan Thomas, the character first appeared during the episode airing on 25 December 2000, when he comes looking for mother Eileen at the Battersbys' home.Jason is very much the...
(Ryan Thomas
Ryan Thomas
Ryan James Thomas and is an English actor who is currently starring as the character, Jason Grimshaw on ITV's Coronation Street.-Career:...
) who hastily gave it to his barmaid girlfriend Violet Wilson
Violet Wilson
Violet Wilson is a fictional character from the British soap opera Coronation Street. She was portrayed by Jenny Platt making her first onscreen appearance on 8 October 2004 and remained until 29 February 2008. Platt returned for one episode on 24 April 2011.-2004–11:Violet first appeared on the...
(Jenny Platt
Jenny Platt
Jenny Platt is an English actress best known for her role as Violet Wilson in the long running television soap Coronation Street. Her first appearance was on 8 October 2004....
). Shelley is humiliated when Violet turns up at work in the dress, and causes a scene in front of a pub full of regulars. In the end, Charlie manages to get his own way (as usual) when Shelley suggests that it would be a good idea to lose a bit of weight.
Charlie further isolates Shelley until she ends up hiding away from every one in her bedroom for several months. She pushes away all her friends, including Ciaran who ends up leaving Weatherfield. Shelley thinks having some plastic surgery on her face would help her feel better about herself so Charlie pays for it. She then thinks that they should get married and Charlie goes along with it, not thinking she'd actually go through with it. In the meantime, he finds her a psychologist called Zack (Ralph Ineson
Ralph Ineson
Ralph Ineson is an English actor best known for playing the character of Chris Finch on the BBC television programme The Office. He has a rich Yorkshire accent and is an avid supporter of Leeds United A.F.C. Ralph Ineson was educated at Woodleigh School, North Yorkshire...
) because she is also retreating from him. Charlie doesn't realise that Zack would start to give Shelley the confidence she needs to start standing up to him. He tries to fire Zack since he is paying the bills. This seems to be the last straw Shelley needs. She does manage to get to the church and so does Charlie after a night with another woman. Then Shelley dumps Charlie at the altar and takes herself home through the streets of Weatherfield, head held high. She throws Charlie out of the pub and starts rebuilding her life and her friendships.
After Bev agrees to marry Fred, Shelley starts to feel more left out and overshadowed in the pub when Bev started acting the landlady even before the wedding. Shelley decides she needs a fresh start and gets a job at a country pub in the Peak District. Before she leaves, she has a one night stand with Charlie. She returns a month or so later to help Bev with the wedding, only to reveal that she has become pregnant after the night with Charlie. Bev wants Shelley to terminate the pregnancy but Shelley is determined to keep it, a new baby and a fresh start. She insists that Charlie not find out about it. Bev slips and tells Deirdre who is horrified because Charlie is now going out with her daughter Tracy
Tracy Barlow
Tracy Lynette Barlow is a fictional character in the British television soap opera Coronation Street. She is currently portrayed, since 2002, by Kate Ford, the latest in a series of actresses who have played Tracy at various ages...
(Kate Ford
Kate Ford
Kate Connerty is a British actress best known for playing the role of Tracy Barlow in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street from 2002 to 2007. Kate returned to Coronation Street on Christmas Eve 2010....
). Deirdre insists she is going to tell Tracy before Shelley – but Shelly gets there first – leading to a confrontation in the back room of the pub. Tracy, of course, confronts Charlie and tells him to insist Shelley has a termination. Shelley nearly gets away without seeing Charlie but he confronts her. She insists she will keep the baby and never ask him for a penny. He doesn't believe her, but she leaves nonetheless, telling him the baby would never know who its father is.
Reception
For her portrayal of Shelley, Lindsay was nominated in the category of "Best Actress" at the 2005 British Soap AwardsBritish Soap Awards
The British Soap Awards is an annual awards ceremony to honour the best of British soap operas.The first event took place in 1999 and takes place in May each year. Although it is an ITV production, the events were held at the BBC Television Centre, in London until 2010. The 2011 awards relocated to...
.