Shirley tried to kill Mick when she was a teenager and she almost murdered Phil. She is a back stabbing woman and she callously ruined Phil and Sharon's wedding day. Ok she was hurt but who does she think she is?? She never seem to pay for her mistakes... In order for Shirley to be a matriarch character, she needs to own up to her mistakes.

She abandoned Dean AGAIN but everyone is expected to feel sorry for "poor Shirley"... Why does she always get away with it?

I think its a Wicks thing. I've heard that people are feeling sorry for Dean, too.

No no no, that was all Aunt Babes fault, making her flee. Poor tragic Shirley wanted to be there for her son, but the evil witch babe forced her to flee.

I doubt it. If she does Shirley will either be forced out the square or prison or killed. Linda, Sharon, tosh and Elaine hate her. Shirley also hates slyvie. Things will be awkward again with dean upon her return. Stan will be dead most likely and only her grand kids and Tina seem to be fully on her side. Phil is Sharon's puppet now. Also ben detests her for rejecting him again. Shirley has too many enemies on the square. She only really has Denise as a friend who she could stay with there. As Shirley is DTC's 3rd favourite character she won't.

Shirley is a despicable woman who has done serious harm to all her kids and everyone she is close to. I'll never forgive her for bullying Heather and abusing her friendship with her but she was rewarded for that with being allowed to wallow in self pity when Heather was killed. Shirley is still using that to her advantage to this day

They signposted Babe's urgency to get her out of the way and keep her out of the way though so there has to be some significance to that. What that is we don't yet know. I don't think anyone's disputing that she ran away rather than deal with the situation head on, they're just not ignoring the obvious coercion we saw from Babe which must be part of the storyline for a reason.

Yet another Shirley bashing thread that is identical to the ones that were doing the rounds during the wedding s/l. This forum badly needs a yawn smiley.

As for saying she tried to kill Mick with the implication she was compos mentis at the time. Words fail me. there words - Out. Of. Context.

No idea...next question.

I think that when the truth about Mick is revealed and Sylvie arrives, Shirley will have to face her demons and mistakes and can then move on from them. I think they are putting Shirley at rock bottom and then they will build her back up again once all the truth has come out and so forth. (though keeping her steel tongue, one liners and ballsy nature, maybe we will see some of the sympathetic side - we have seen this alot with Mick, Dean and Babe and I have seen some progression with Shirley, it is only Phil that knocks her back again).

With Mick, she was a child and had an alcoholic, neglectful father, a mother who had just abandoned the family and two young children to look after, I'm not saying that excuses what happened but it isn't as black and white as people like to make out, she did not try to kill him, she said herself she snapped, broke down and couldn't remember what had happened. Her conversation with Phil about how she has punished herself all those years because of the guilt of what happened is punishment enough for that, I think it was part of what shaped her and part of the reason why she is the way she is today.

And Phil, well, I'm not going to get into that debate again.

I don't understand how posters are happy for other characters who have committed murder and other various crimes to go unpunished but with Shirley, it is unacceptable?

With leaving Dean, to be honest, the writers did that so that 1. Dean would be in a state to lead on to the rape and 2. It would accommodate Linda Henry's break. In the scheme of things, Shirley keeping Dean out of it is actually the best thing she could have done and Babe did persuade her to go, she was in shock and Babe does have influence over Shirley so she trusted her. Also Babe said about it becoming a murder inquire and emotionally manipulated Shirley by saying that she couldn't ever be there for Mick or Dean if she went back and went to prison, although she said she would. Evidently Babe wanted Shirley out of the way and I'm sure we will find out why very soon.


Shirley still has Tina, Mick and eventually I think her and Linda will make peace, there have been many a nice scene shared between them. I wouldn't say that Linda is her enemy. There is plenty of material for her with the Dean aftermath, the Mick reveal, the possibility of an Andy casting, potential Carly return and she has friends on the square, ie. Patrick, Dot, Denise...(Jean, should she return). For example: Phil has numerous enemies on the square but that doesn't mean he is leaving.

I have a right to bash Shirley if I want. Maybe learn to accept people's opinions?

I am sick of Shirley getting away with everything.. Shirley annoys me by being the victim all the time.

I agree The critics are just extensions of the let Shirley off every crime she commits brigade

Basically what I think but condensed and written better! I completely agree with all you have said. It's funny how rarely the other characters are called upon to face up to their mistakes...

I would be up for a yawn smiling, though I think I would overuse it! Haha.

It was evident that Babe wanted Shirley out of the way and did manipulate her into leaving. Babe even stopped Mick calling Shirley to tell her that Phil was fine, saying she would call her when clearly she didn't. It's funny how these little details are ignored even though they are pivotal to the s/l.

I think the reason Shirley has continually made the same mistakes is because none of the other producers have attempted to develop her. DTC is now developing Shirley and therefore I think this cycle will be broken as her past is revealed and she is able to finally face her demons.

You're entitled to a opinion like anyone and to create topics of it, so post away, nobody forces anyone to post in the threads if they don't like the topic.

As for Shirley

It won't happen, she will repeat the same mistakes, not take responsibility for them and blame others, a repetive cycle but she been the same for seven years or so, unless major changes happens it most likely stay the same.

Shirley does feel remorse for abandoning Dean but Aunt Babe is to blame for this because she has manipulated Shirley. To the OP, the reason why Shirley "gets away with it" is because she is one of DTC's favourite characters.

Is it me or are the Shirley fans so protective of her? I'm always skeptical of Shirley but I can see why she does "terrible things".

Phils enemies have really died down and when he had loads he had his family around who were not his enemies. Tosh, Elaine, Sharon and ben will try to isolate Shirley most likely. Mick I feel he would choose linda as they have kids and she is his only love. Tina could be turned against Shirley via tosh and Sharon will try to keep phil away from Shirley. Denise is really her only rescue line as babe doesn't live on the square

I don't think it is being protective as such, I think it's just because the threads are always about the same things and pivotal points of stories are conveniently missed which is quite frustrating.(For example, Babe manipulating Shirley into leaving has been conveniently forgotten so that posters can say she just abandoned Dean for the hell of it). I have never denied Shirley has done some pretty undesirable things but I can see the reasoning behind it, even if it is a warped reasoning. A bit like Alfie and the fire etc

Joe, I can't see them alienating Shirley completely from her family or she would end up as a glorified extra again, like the beg of 2013. I can't see why they would invest in explaining Shirley's backstory and beginning to develop her if they were just going to ostracize her from the square.

EDIT: Harlowe, I don't feel I have been passive aggressive to anyone. I have explained my opinion on it all but if anyone feels that way, do let me know.

Yes, I rarely post in the Shirley-esq threads now because of it, you get a passive aggressive respond if your not a big fan of hers, it's off putting to say the least, don't really envy the OP when threads like this are created, sorry ALowsley!

I don't think her fans have an issue accepting criticism of the character, it's just the sheer repetitive nature of the threads. What more is there to say in this thread that hasn't been said in the countless threads that were doing the rounds when the wedding storyline was going on? She hasn't even been on screen since then.

It's not just Shirley fans. The same applies for Sharon fans too. I am a huge fan of Sharon but Sharon fans are very protective of her too. It's just that it's always these two characters who have "fan wars" if someone dares to criticise either of them. I agree, these threads are always the same isn't it. I totally understand why the OP is angry with Shirley but there is always millions of same threads about Shirley. Shirley does a lot of bad things but from my perspective, I can see the reasoning why she does it. She is not a bad person, she has a good heart deep down. I hope we will see the redemption for Shirl soon.

The criticism of her abandoning Dean 'again' is silly anyway. Dean's nearly 30 he's not a child anymore. He can stand on his own two feet. Shirley wasn't going off to sun herself in the Bahamas, she's hiding from the police because Babe told her they were after her.

Although in some people's eyes Shirley's supposed to be psychic. Even though Babe and Dean are the only ones she's come into contact with since the shooting, she's supposed to know that the police aren't really after her.

No... She's a queen!👑

I guess I've had the opposite experience, but you have a point, but like any fandom, they defend there character if they see fit, Shirley no difference in that respect.

I haven't seen many threads in the last two weeks since the wedding, but my point still stands the OP should be able to create a thread without it being called bashing or getting jumped on, the OP wants to have a discussion about it they should be able to do it freely, if members don't want too because they don't like it then they don't have too, repetive threads happen it's the nature of the forum.

Yeah, I see your point. And you are right. It does seem to be that way. The threads are always about the same things and they always end up the same way with regards to both Sharon and Shirley. I feel like I am constantly replying with the same things. Quite right, it does get extremely repetitive and tiresome, I might add.
I agree, I think her heart is in the right place a lot of the time but she can't seem to get it right or she goes about things the wrong way and the situations she finds herself in, don't help matters. But you can see where she is coming from imo. I believe that as we delve more into her story, we will see some redemption. Now Phil is away with Sharon, that will be good for Shirley in terms of development.


Agreed.

Agreed. And Shirley herself recognized that she shouldn't leave Dean and said numerous times she didn't want too, Babe played a big part in that. I think it is pivotal to the story that Babe wanted Shirley away for the time being, but I can't figure out her game.

Shirley should have consulted her crystal ball...

Yes but then this belies the point Shirley herself recognised, that leaving Dean at this pivotal time was a bad decision. She didn't want to go remember but was manipulated by Babe.

Shirley is a natural born shirker. Babe's insistence that she should immediately go and abandon Dean AGAIN suited her perfectly

]Shirley is an adult so therefore responsible for any decisions she makes. Nobody is disputing that. They're just recognising that Babe helped her reach that decision. They wouldn't have emphasised it so much if we weren't supposed to notice. Babe outright lied to Shirley.

Dean isn't dependent on Shirley. He's nearly thirty years old and until recently he wanted nothing to do with her. He wasn't going through a crisis when she left, he'd just broken up with his girlfriend and demanded to leave the square with Shirley, something that wasn't in either of their interests. She said she was worried about him because he was so upset but she doesn't know the extent of how messed up he is (which btw has more to do with his time in prison than anything she's done). Being dumped by your gf and your mum leaving the neighbourhood aren't grounds for raping someone. Just as Shirley is responsible for her actions, Dean is responsible for his.