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EE - Shirley Carter |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 90
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EE - Shirley Carter
DTC once described her as a 'new icon for the show', do we think that SOC will remain having the show fixed around her or do we think we'll begin to see Shirley falling back into the background again?
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#2 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Black Country lad in Yorkshire
Posts: 118,101
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Vile Creature
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#3 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: With MyAndy!
Posts: 15,202
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The best scenes I have seen from Shirley lately was the other day with Tina and Slyvia.
I think we need to see more of her softer side and less of the desperate chasing after Phil side. I think the writers made a mistake making Shirley Micks mum, long term I think Shirley, Mick and Tina would still have that better dynamic as siblings |
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 22,735
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I want to see her return to her former glory living in the gutter with only a bottle of vodka for company. We can but hope.
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#5 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 31,001
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The show hasn't been fixed around Shirley. The Mitchell's and Beale's have dominated the last two years and Babe is more involved with her family than she is.
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#6 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 90
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Quote:
The best scenes I have seen from Shirley lately was the other day with Tina and Slyvia.
I think we need to see more of her softer side and less of the desperate chasing after Phil side. I think the writers made a mistake making Shirley Micks mum, long term I think Shirley, Mick and Tina would still have that better dynamic as siblings Shirley and Mick scenes are kind of awkward now, I think. They should have just invested more in Linda's rape as the big Carter story line and focused on how it affected everyone in the family and not that Shirley was Mick's mum. I hope we see more of her in The Vic with Linda departing for a bit and Lee and Babe leaving, it will need bolstering up. |
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#7 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: South West England
Posts: 4,636
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She has been sorely underused for a very long time but it appears she is getting more to do now. Shirley is having scenes with the Carters and she is very popular on social media. Buster may be gone but I think it's increasingly likely that she'll be reconnecting with Phil and they'll get back together.
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#8 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 12,357
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Quote:
The show hasn't been fixed around Shirley. The Mitchell's and Beale's have dominated the last two years and Babe is more involved with her family than she is.
The whole Carters HAS been fixed around |Shirley... I wanna return to the old days. With Shirl swigging vodka from the gutter.... |
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#9 |
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 31,001
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Quote:
Oh dear oh dear
The whole Carters HAS been fixed around |Shirley... I wanna return to the old days. With Shirl swigging vodka from the gutter.... |
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#10 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 12,357
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Quote:
The Carter were built around Shirley not the show. The Mitchells dominate as they most often do.
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#11 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 22,735
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Quote:
The best scenes I have seen from Shirley lately was the other day with Tina and Slyvia.
I think we need to see more of her softer side and less of the desperate chasing after Phil side. I think the writers made a mistake making Shirley Micks mum, long term I think Shirley, Mick and Tina would still have that better dynamic as siblings Shirley doesn't do soft, she only does submission when it's Phil she can submit to. I thought they might do an abuse story line with her and Sylvie. Shirley really cannot stand her and has zilch patience and now that they are living together it seemd a possibility. |
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#12 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: With MyAndy!
Posts: 15,202
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Quote:
Yeah I agree.
Shirley and Mick scenes are kind of awkward now, I think. They should have just invested more in Linda's rape as the big Carter story line and focused on how it affected everyone in the family and not that Shirley was Mick's mum. I hope we see more of her in The Vic with Linda departing for a bit and Lee and Babe leaving, it will need bolstering up. |
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#13 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 31,001
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Quote:
Nope. The Carters were built around Shirley. It all revolved around that sad old lush...
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#14 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: With MyAndy!
Posts: 15,202
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Quote:
I said the family was built around Shirley
![]() I just thought I was being easily confused 😂😂 |
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#15 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 7,462
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i dont mind Shirley, as long as she isnt with Phil
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#16 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: London
Posts: 9,412
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I'm thoroughly enjoying Shirley again this year. Even if the writing is a bit off for her at times, she is consistently well-acted and Linda Henry always puts in scene stealing performances. They've toned down bitchy, hard faced Shirley since Dean left and it's done her character the world of good. She was unbearable 2014-15 but she's much more like her old self again now.
My main problem with Shirley in the DTC era is that he tried too hard to push her as a new 'icon' of the show, when she had only really been a supporting character beforehand. Like Denise, she had potential to be one of the main players but had never quite made it into the top tier of characters despite a lengthy stint. I therefore found it jarring when suddenly the entire show became about Shirley and her family who we'd never met, simply because she was DTC's fave character. It felt very self-indulgent. I was a fan of Shirley before Mick and co turned up, but when she was being shoved down our throats for months on end I went completely off her. For some reason she also became exceptionally nasty - going around shooting people, terrorising a rape victim and generally being spiteful to everyone in sight - yet was still portrayed as a victim. Still, they've obviously seen the error of their ways and done a rescue job on her, because she's great right now and I hope she stays this way. |
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#17 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 12,357
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Quote:
I said the family was built around Shirley
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#18 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 14,370
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The Carters have done nothing for her.
They seem to be using her a bit more recently but she still a sitting duck most of the time. |
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#19 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 9,021
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The show hasn't been fixed around Shirley. That's a forum myth that won't go away. She had big storylines in 2014 and 2015 (her affair with Phil and the aftermath of Dean raping Linda) but they each lasted the duration of a few months. The show isn't and never has been all about her. I like Shirley but that's quite right too. When characters are shoved down our throats too much it's easy to get bored of them.
For all this talk of several characters being introduced for Shirley the likes of Linda, Lee, Nancy and Johnny were introduced for Mick's character. The idea of Mick is that he's a family man. There'd have been no point in bringing him in on his own. Shirley interacts with her family but not to a domineering extent. 2011-2012 revolved around Shirley more than 2014-2016 has. BK described her and Phil as King and Queen of the Square. She was very prominent in those years. |
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#20 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Sarf London
Posts: 1,828
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I don't like Shirley being so obsessed with Phil but I do like her, she's had some good scenes sporadically like helping Dot with her interview worries and further back really good scenes with Carol, also I've recall some nice scenes with Shirley and Jean. So from these examples I don't think Shirley is a vile person, they just need to stop with this Phil nonsense! Lol
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#21 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 568
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I don't really see her as a leading lady and don't think her character would work in that position to be honest, however she is a great character: multi faceted, complex, deeply flawed (vile if you like) and she has some cracking one liners. I'd definitely like to see some stronger storylines for her. I think the other Carters have devalued her a bit. A character like Shirley doesn't need family, she works as a solitary figure.
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#22 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 185
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Shirley is a very interesting character. She's was originally set up as the archetypal neglectful mother who abandoned her children because she didn't care about her family, but then turned out that she couldn't cope with the heartache of watching her eldest son's suffer from cystic fibrosis. She has painted herself as someone unreliable and uncaring, but what has emerged slowly over time is that she is neither - she does in fact have such intense emotions that she feels she has no option but to suppress them (through anger and/or vodka) and when that fails - she runs away from them. Classic fight or flight response.
I find her feelings towards Phil believable - she sees him as a kindred spirit, but unlike her will mostly fight rather than run away. She admires this because running away has made her problems worse over the years. She does not lack empathy though - watch her reaction when Sonia fought back over leaving Tina. There was guilt written all over her face at the unavoidable truth that she and the Carters had left Sonia to care for Sylvie. And interestingly, when faced with what seems like trivial concerns (e.g. Dot's worry about her job), she'll pull out the stops to help providing there's no immediate emotional impact on herself (though funnily enough, she always seems more relaxed and happy when doing these small kindnesses....hmmm!) The easiest thing in the world is to label Shirley "vile" and be done with it, and that's exactly what 'fight or flight' Shirley wants. Easier to be thought of as vile and uncaring than to face up to very difficult emotions and experiences. There's plenty of storyline mileage yet in old Shirley Carter! |
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#23 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Master of all fit EE males
Posts: 6,529
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Quote:
The best scenes I have seen from Shirley lately was the other day with Tina and Slyvia.
I think we need to see more of her softer side and less of the desperate chasing after Phil side. I think the writers made a mistake making Shirley Micks mum, long term I think Shirley, Mick and Tina would still have that better dynamic as siblings |
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#24 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: London
Posts: 9,412
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What was the point of making Shirley Mick's mum? What has it achieved?
Pointless twist.
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#25 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Club Tropicana
Posts: 791
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Quote:
Shirley is a very interesting character. She's was originally set up as the archetypal neglectful mother who abandoned her children because she didn't care about her family, but then turned out that she couldn't cope with the heartache of watching her eldest son's suffer from cystic fibrosis. She has painted herself as someone unreliable and uncaring, but what has emerged slowly over time is that she is neither - she does in fact have such intense emotions that she feels she has no option but to suppress them (through anger and/or vodka) and when that fails - she runs away from them. Classic fight or flight response.
I find her feelings towards Phil believable - she sees him as a kindred spirit, but unlike her will mostly fight rather than run away. She admires this because running away has made her problems worse over the years. She does not lack empathy though - watch her reaction when Sonia fought back over leaving Tina. There was guilt written all over her face at the unavoidable truth that she and the Carters had left Sonia to care for Sylvie. And interestingly, when faced with what seems like trivial concerns (e.g. Dot's worry about her job), she'll pull out the stops to help providing there's no immediate emotional impact on herself (though funnily enough, she always seems more relaxed and happy when doing these small kindnesses....hmmm!) The easiest thing in the world is to label Shirley "vile" and be done with it, and that's exactly what 'fight or flight' Shirley wants. Easier to be thought of as vile and uncaring than to face up to very difficult emotions and experiences. There's plenty of storyline mileage yet in old Shirley Carter! Such a nice chance from petty point scoring so many seem to be caught up in. |
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Shirley doesn't do soft, she only does submission when it's Phil she can submit to.