It was with some trepidation I rewatched the first episode of Shelley. What if it is not as good as you remember it to be?
It is safe to say. Shelley is still a comedy classic. This is a good opening episode and still made me laugh several times.
James Shelley is the perennial wisecracking layabout with a degree in Geography. In the first episode he and his girlfriend Fran are looking for a new flat. It is notable that the newspaper headline he is reading talks about being a rip off capital. Some of the flats Shelley goes to see are crummy. The rental agency is happy to supply false references for two weeks rent which was illegal.
In the cafe Shelley flirts with the nice but dim waitress. At the dole office his wit gets a sardonic response from My Alan Forsyth, not to be confused with Bruce. Forsyth is not happy with Shelley arriving late for his giro and not impressed with stories about his mother and her wooden leg.
Shelley is heading forman abrasive relationship with Mrs Hawkins (Josephine Tewson) their new landlady. She does not like layabouts.
Writer Peter Tilbury (who at the time was better known as an actor) has to be complemented for Shelley's caustic with and Hywel Bennett did it with so much charm. Tilbury was fortunate that the election of the Conservative government in 1979 led to an immediate increase in the unemployment figures. So the show became tropical very quickly.
Gillian Taylforth is makes brief appearance as the cashier in the cafe. Ironically she appeared in a Conservative Party political broadcast prior to their election victory. Rosie Collins was rather nice and perky as the waitress. Kenneth Cope is rather barbed as Forsyth.
To think that Hywel Bennett's career was in the doldrums prior to this show. He was a rising star in the late 1960s and ended up in social security benefits in real life.
It is safe to say. Shelley is still a comedy classic. This is a good opening episode and still made me laugh several times.
James Shelley is the perennial wisecracking layabout with a degree in Geography. In the first episode he and his girlfriend Fran are looking for a new flat. It is notable that the newspaper headline he is reading talks about being a rip off capital. Some of the flats Shelley goes to see are crummy. The rental agency is happy to supply false references for two weeks rent which was illegal.
In the cafe Shelley flirts with the nice but dim waitress. At the dole office his wit gets a sardonic response from My Alan Forsyth, not to be confused with Bruce. Forsyth is not happy with Shelley arriving late for his giro and not impressed with stories about his mother and her wooden leg.
Shelley is heading forman abrasive relationship with Mrs Hawkins (Josephine Tewson) their new landlady. She does not like layabouts.
Writer Peter Tilbury (who at the time was better known as an actor) has to be complemented for Shelley's caustic with and Hywel Bennett did it with so much charm. Tilbury was fortunate that the election of the Conservative government in 1979 led to an immediate increase in the unemployment figures. So the show became tropical very quickly.
Gillian Taylforth is makes brief appearance as the cashier in the cafe. Ironically she appeared in a Conservative Party political broadcast prior to their election victory. Rosie Collins was rather nice and perky as the waitress. Kenneth Cope is rather barbed as Forsyth.
To think that Hywel Bennett's career was in the doldrums prior to this show. He was a rising star in the late 1960s and ended up in social security benefits in real life.