I think that it is a combination of the two. Sharon is a mother and also knows how Phil feels about his children - seeing how distraught he was about losing both Ben and Louise even if she has rarely seen him actively parent. However, I do think that the fact that she didn't know Heather gave her the distance to be more impartial - had it been Michelle or Ian that Ben had killed and then Phil covered up for I doubt she would have been as understanding, certainly not at first.

i think the cops would start asking questions. i wonder if she did would jay be caught up in all of this because phil buiiled him into keeping his mouth shut

Shirley knows how much phil loves his kids he would do anything for them. Doing what he done to shirley herself proved this time and time again, like you say if phil had done this to a loved one of sharon she would be less undersanding. As she will be when /if she ever found out about dennis

She could always seek out DS Marsden to help her out LOL

It will never come out well not with LN in charge anyway :/

While I agree that Sharon would have been less understanding if it had been someone she was close to, the difference is that she wouldn't remain bitter and hell bent on vengeance months after Ben was put in prison like Shirley has been. Sooner or later she would pick herself up and move on with her life.

She will over dennis. Sharon would find use of her looks to move on /get one over on phil. Shirley cant do that. I think part of why she iis the way she is is because of who she is. I can understand it because i am similiar- thats why i relate to her so much.

I'd agree with this. Sharon is the past master and taking whatever crud throws at her and moving on without becoming bitter. I mean, look at her with Dennis' death - she is obviously not over it (the addiction and the reasons she has given for needing to take the tablets - just to feel normal - prove that) but she is not actually bitter about it - blaming Jonny, Phil, anyone that was circumstantially involved - and she knows that Phil was involved in the turf war, just not that he sent Dennis there that night.

The problem is that Shirley has never really had anything in her life except her children that she chose to walk away from and then her big chance with Phil and his kids. She has never had a career, raised a family, any sense of self worth from achieving something in life. It is not so much bitterness for the loss of Heather as the loss of her second chance at life and what she believed her future to be - King Philph's Consort. In that sense, whilst understandable, it is inherently selfish and also immature in not accepting any responsibility onto herself.

Imo its cos of who she is and i think theres something we dont know about how she was brought up. They really need to bring in tina,

They just havent explored dennis' death and johnny is dead. Ben isnt dead,

She was bitter over the zoe/dennis situation right up untill the fake baby was involved

It doesn't really matter if Jonny is dead or not, she could still be bitter and living in the past but she has tried to move on. She may not know the full circumstances, ie the extent of Phil's involvement, but she knows most of it and that Dennis is dead due to the turf war that was going on between Jonny and Phil so she has as much reason as Shirley to still be wallowing and blaming other people if she tried.

I think short periods of bitterness are understandable and indeed almost necessary as a catharsis for emotions. I have no issue with Shirley having been bitter about Heather's death, her family's betrayal of her as well as Heather and what it meant for her future last year but it is the fact that she seems to still be her life's purpose, making no attempt to overcome it and live her life and blaming everyone but herself for her situation which I find frustrating.

I do agree that it would be good to know about her earlier years. Was it Jimbo's illness that caused her to become so emotionally hard, to the extent that she cut herself off from him and Kevin and then her other kids or was she always like that?

I think she has tried to move on but theres something that brings it back.,i dont know where this ian stuff has come from the writing for that is pretty bad

Sharon has had more to put up with then Shirley ever did.

Her husband was murdered

She was a victim of domestic violence

Nearly died in a fire her husband set

Her father was murdered twice

Her Fiancé died in a fire

She was the carer for her mother as she died (as a carer myself I know how hard that is)

She grew up with parents more interested in their games than her

She thought she was infertile for years and indeed let it mess up her relationships

Unlike Kat when her affair came out she had everyone turn on her and shun her. To the point she felt she couldn't attend Debbie Bates funeral as it would not be fair on Nigel for people to bicker with her

Her biological mother couldn't be a mother to her and at times was outright cruel.

Has a chronic illness in addiction

And we do know how Sharon would react, remember Dougie Briggs? Who shot Michelle? Sharon told Michelle she should report him and Grant. Michelle choose not too for Sharon's sake. And Sharon didn't give Grant an alibi told Grant he would need to sort that and questioned Michelle more than once about telling the police. She made sure Grant saw Michelle get the best treatment, private room etc. And he didn't even shoot her and was trying to save them!

With the exception of the affair none of this was her fault. Shirley brought everything on herself. She walked out on her kids and let a man who was not the father of 2 of them raise them. She was the one who hardly batted an eye when she heard her own son died, didn't turn up to his funeral yet cried buckets over Phil. Who dumped her best mate when Phil as around and bullied her. Who pissed over her friends memory being angry at Ben and Jay recently Ian. But not only keeping quiet over Phil but giving him an alibi and putting a price on her silence. And stealing money from a single mother.

Sharon has every reason to be bitter and yet manages much better than Shirley ever has. Say what you want about her being a mother but at least her son knows her. Sharon has had it far harder than Shirley and pretty much none of it was her fault. If Shirley wants someone to blame she needs to look in the mirror.

that is a very good point about the shooting of Michelle and I'd forgotten the details until you triggered my memory there. We do know how she would react to her husband, partner, being involved in a potentially lethal attack on her best friend and it wasn't to protect him. Her moral compass or love for the friend, whichever you choose to think was greater won out as she is basically a good person. Same with Ian, for all his cruddy behaviour in business and with women, he is also basically a good person that knows right from wrong. He knows that it is wrong to leave a dying man without trying to save him, so he got help for Phil after his heart attack. He knows that it is wrong to abandon your child when they need you, no matter that they have hurt you so he tried to get Stephen professional help when he was clearly mentally unwell. Okay, it didn't work out in the end but he did try. And, he knows that killing a woman and then covering it up is wrong and it was the knowledge that his brother had done such a heinous thing and then Phil leaning on him to keep quiet than caused him to mentally unravel last year. Mandy leaving may have been the trigger, but Heather's killing was the cause, as evidenced by the fact that the first time he spoke on his return was at the mention of her name.

Also, re Sharon not being bitter because Jonny is dead, that can actually make it worse. Once someone has died, you have no way of ever talking to them, confronting them, getting whatever you want to say out of your system. If you are not careful, it can just fester. Especially in this case, Sharon could be bitter that he died fairly quickly of natural causes after only a few months in prison. Many families feel cheated if their relatives killer commits suicide for instance as they wanted them to suffer for years in Prison. Sharon could be very bitter that Jonny didn't die in there painfully, an old man, after 20 or 30 years of custodial punishment.

I dont get it. Is been a year, surely phil knows shirley by now that shes never really going to say anything, shes always threatened him over police stuff before and never actually grassed him up!

Its actually not in character hed be so worried, if it was anyone else hed just laugh them off

Isn't that storyline over? Is Shirley threatening Phil in future?

Yeah week 34. It hasnt been mentioned at all since she came back and hes been nasty to her quite a few times.

So Phil is worried because Shirley is threatening him over the cover up? Well Shirley can report Phil to the police but she will get in massive trouble with the police as well. Shirley is a doormat anyway as she will never report him lol

Well why is phil so worried if he saw her that way

Phil has been anything but nasty to Shirl, its the other way round to me!

He has espicially with sharon, kissing her infront of shirl etc knowing shed be jealous and when he paid for her rent its why she started to hate him again.

Hes made her more bitter

I did not see him try and make her jealous, arnt couples meant to kiss each other? and Shirl would do the same!

He was smug to her about sharon when they got together.

How long did Ben get in the end... 4 years?.. was there a court case?

Phil gives as good as he gets!