Shelley Unwin

Shelley Unwin

Full name: Parents: Mother: Bev, Father: died on Christmas Day Born: Siblings: Sharon (deceased) and at least one other Married: Peter Barlow July 2003 (not legal, he was already married) Children:

Played by: Sally Lindsay First appeared: 9 May 2001 Last appearance: 29 Sept 2006

Shelley came to the rescue when staff was 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 were very good friends but it never developed into any more than that. Shelley was devastated when Duggie died on a building site.

In the pub, Shelley has proved to be a popular barmaid. After Fred bought the pub, Shelley and Geena competed for the position of bar manager. Shelley was given the job and Geena resented it. Shelley has settled into the job quite well though does tend to be a bit too lenient with the staff. Her best friend is Sunita who works in the corner shop.

Shelley fell in love with Peter Barlow after Peter left the navy and returned to the street at Christmas, 2001. They moved in together into the flat over the bookie's on Rosamund street. and Peter bought the bookies. They had a rough patch and broke up for awhile after Peter's friend Ciaran visited, made a pass at Shelley. She didn't tell Peter at first and when he finally found out, Ciaran made it sound as if Shelley came on to him. Peter became very jealous and Shelley, hurt that Peter didn't believe her, left. Once it became clear to Peter that Ciaran was lying, Peter cut off his friendship and he and Shelley reconciled. Ciaran returned to Weatherfield for Peter and Shelley's engagement party and stayed on, much to Shelley's chagrin. Peter and Ciaran began to renew their friendship and Shelley ended up accepting it but never really trusting Ciaran, who is now engaged to Sunita.

Peter and Shelley moved into the pub when Fred moved in with Ashley after the death of Ashley's wife Maxine but what Shelley didn't know was that Peter was seeing another woman, Lucy who got pregnant. Peter couldnt' find the words to tell Shelley because every opportunity either got interrupted or he lost his nerve. Just when he finally wanted to tell her, a week before he was going to marry Lucy, Shelley's sister, Sharon, died. Peter married Lucy on the day of Sharon's funeral but Lucy soon found out that Peter had never broken up with Shelley and kicked out Peter for good. Peter, although not divorced, married Shelley in July of 2003. Peter's baby, Simon had just been born. By the end of the summer, though, Lucy spilled the beans and told Shelley about her and Peter's marriage and the baby. Shelley and Peter have broken up for good and Shelley is now nursing a broken heart while trying to run the pub with the help of her mother, Bev.

In January 2004, Shelley had an ill-fated date with Newton and Ridley drayman Eric Garside. Eric tried his best to woo Shelley and took her out for am expensive meal, however, when they went back to his house for a drink, she was quickly put off by his mother, Dolly. Shelley told Eric that he was a lovely feller but she didn’t think things would work out between them.

Shelley started seeing builder Charlie Stubbs, even though he had been previously going out with her mother, Bev. In spite of his relationship with Shelley, it didn’t take Charlie long to bed Bev behind her back. Bev made the awkward decision to come clean to her daughter, but Charlie made sure that Shelley didn’t believe a word of it. Devastated that her daughter could believe Charlie over her, she left the Rovers and Weatherfield.

On her return to Weatherfield, Liz McDonald was offered a job and a room at the Rovers by Fred. Shelley and Liz didn’t get on from the start, as Shelley had already hired Leanne Battersby to fill the position left by Bev. Fred said that his choice was final, and Liz stayed.

It didn’t take long for Charlie to begin to make a move on Liz. She refused his advances and told Shelley, who, true to form rejected any claim that Charlie could cheat on her. Again, Charlie pressurised Shelley into believing him, and Liz was sacked from the pub and left Weatherfield briefly to help Bet Lynch in Brighton.

Charlie and Shelley’s relationship continued to be a picture of happiness to the other Street residents, and to Shelley herself. When Liz returned she was reinstated at the Rovers, but it wasn’t long before Charlie tried it on yet again. She walked out, this time for good, and took a job at the Weatherfield Arms.

After Liz had left, Shelley became more and more concerned about Charlie straying. The height of this came when a drunken Shelley marched over to Number 8 and confronted Gail Platt, whom she thought was having an affair with Charlie. The two women argued in the Street, and Gail told Shelley that Charlie was doing some building work for her. Shelley was shame-faced and Charlie told her that she was stupid. Shelley grovelled to Charlie and they stayed together.

After Maya Sharma burnt down Dev Alahan’s grocery shop empire, Shelley thought, that since they were friends, Charlie could do all of the rebuilding work for Dev. Over dinner at Dev and Sunita’s flat, Shelley made suggestions to Dev that Charlie would do the work for cheap and that he could start as soon as possible, since he had little work on the go. This enraged Charlie who, back at the Rovers, told Shelley that she had seriously undermined him and made him look like a fool who couldn’t get any work. Again, Shelley grovelled.

In December 2004, Shelley made contact with her mother, Bev. The two women arranged to meet for lunch and Shelley told Charlie that she was going to a Newton & Ridley Christmas Do. Sly Charlie phoned the brewery, who told him that there was no such party, and his suspicions started to increase. He confronted Shelley who tried to deny her whereabouts at first, but when Charlie accused her of seeing another man, she admitted that she’d been to see Bev, and that they planned to meet up again. Charlie then made Shelley phone Bev and tell her that she didn’t want to see her anymore. Charlie continued to put Shelley down, and after every phone call he accused her of talking to her mother.

A few weeks later, Bev turned up at No.1 and asked Deirdre Rachid to pop next door to the Rovers and fetch Shelley because the two women needed to talk. Shelley said that everything was fine with Charlie and tried her best to make Bev think the same. As she was leaving, Bev told Deirdre to keep an eye out on Shelley as she thought that Charlie was treating her badly.

For New Year 2004, Charlie bought Shelley a new dress; however it transpired that the dress was two sizes too small for Shelley. Charlie pretended to be upset that he’d got the wrong size, but then hinted that instead of getting a replacement, Shelley should try and lose some weight. Shelley was upset by this, and told him to get the dress in a larger size. Instead, Charlie gave the dress to his workmate Jason Grimshaw who hastily gave it to his barmaid girlfriend Violet Wilson.

Shelley was humiliated when Violet turned up at work in the dress, and caused a scene in front of a pub full of regulars. In the end Charlie managed to get his own way (as usual) when Shelley suggested that it would be a good idea to lose a bit of weight.

Charlie further isolated Shelley until she ended up hiding away from every one in her bedroom for several months. She pushed away all her friends, including Ciaran who ended up leaving Weatherfield. Shelley thought having some plastic surgery on her face would help her feel better about herself so Charlie paid for it. She then thought that they should get married and Charlie went along with it, not thinking she'd actually go through with it. In the meantime, he found her a psychologist because she was also retreating from him. He didn't realize that Zack would start to give Shelley the confidence she needed to start standing up to Charlie. He tried to fire Zack since he was paying the bills. This seemed to be the last straw Shelley needed. She did manage to get to the church and so did Charlie after a night with another woman. Then Shelley dumped Charlie at the altar and took herself home through the streets of Weatherfield, head held high. She chucked Charlie out and started rebuilding her life and her friendships.

After her mother, Bev, agreed to marry Fred, Shelley started to feel more left out and overshadowed in the pub when Bev started acting the landlady even before the wedding. Shelley decided she needed a fresh start and got a job at a country pub. Before she left, she had a one night stand with Charlie. She returned month or so later to help her mother with the wedding, only to reveal that she had 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 with Tracy. Deirdre insists she's going to tell Tracy before Shelley leaves and does, 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's keeping the baby and will never ask him for a penny. He doesn't believe her but she leaves, telling him the baby will never know who its father is. That's the last we see of Shelley.