Shelley Unwin in Coronation Street was the Rovers barmaid who won the hearts of viewers – and had the absolute worst taste in men!
She was at the heart of some huge Corrie storylines in her time on the show, from 2001 until her departure in 2006, and still has links to the Street today.
So what was her story?
Shelly’s arrival in Coronation Street
Shelley came to Weatherfield to help behind the bar at the Rovers as a favour to landlord Duggie Ferguson, who she knew from the local rugby club.
When Fred Elliott took over the pub, Shelley became bar manager and eventually she became Rovers landlady.
Romance with Peter Barlow
When Peter Barlow left the Navy and came home to the Street, he and Shelley hit it off.
They started a relationship and they seemed happy, until during a bit of a rough patch, Peter’s friend Ciaran came to stay and made a pass at Shelley.
Ciaran blamed Shelley and she and Peter broke up when he sided with his mate.
But the pair managed to put their differences aside and get back together. Soon they were living together and they moved into the Rovers and started planning their wedding.
Bigamy shock for Shelley!
Peter, though, was secretly seeing another woman – florist Lucy Richards. When Lucy got pregnant, Peter proposed. And though he intended to tell Shelley the truth, he never quite got round to it.
Shelley’s sister, Sharon, died, and Peter decided he couldn’t add to her stress, so he stayed quiet and tied the knot with Lucy on the day of Sharon’s funeral.
But that wasn’t even the worst bit!
Lucy found out that Shelley and Peter were still together and kicked Peter out. However, he still didn’t tell Shelley everything.
Shelley and Peter also got married – around the same time as baby Simon was born. Both women finally discovered the truth a few weeks later, breaking poor Shelley’s heart.
Who else did Shelley date?
Shelley tried to put her disastrous marriage behind her and went on a date with Newton & Ridley drayman Eric Gartside (played by Sally Lindsay’s old friend Peter Kay).
But it was builder Charlie Stubbs, who was having a romance with Shelley’s mum Bev at the time, who caught Shelley’s eye.
Emotional abuse by Charlie Stubbs
Shelley’s relationship with Charlie got off to a dodgy start when Bev admitted she was still sleeping with the beefy builder. Charlie denied the whole thing, and convinced Shelley that Bev was lying.
Shelley threw her mother out, and turned to Charlie for support.
His abuse, though, was just beginning.
Charlie was cruel to Shelley, making her feel unattractive and stupid. He bought her a dress two-sizes too small and told her to lose weight to fit into it, and made a pass at Liz McDonald.
Charlie isolated Shelley so much that she hid away in her bedroom for months, and planned to have plastic surgery before their wedding.
But when Charlie paid for a counsellor to help Shelley recover enough to walk down the aisle, it backfired – for him at least.
The counsellor made Shelley realise Charlie was abusive and she jilted him on their wedding day! Leaving Corrie fans and her friends in Weatherfield cheering her on!
When did Shelley leave Coronation Street?
After kicking Charlie out, Shelley got on with her life.
However, when Bev agreed to marry Fred, Shelley felt left out when Bev started to act like the landlady at the pub.
Shelley decided she needed a fresh start and went to run a country pub.
She did have a one-night stand with Charlie just before she left…
Could Shelley return?
Shelley came back to Weatherfield shortly after she left to help her mum – who she’d made up with – arrange her wedding to Fred Elliott.
She revealed she was pregnant with Charlie’s baby, though she told him she wanted nothing to do with him.
When Bev went to live with Shelley, after Fred’s death on their wedding day, she revealed that Shelley had given birth to a baby girl.
We’d love to see Shelley and her daughter back in Weatherfield one day. Though it looks like Sally Lindsay might be a bit busy…
Who played Shelley Unwin?
Sally Lindsay had already had roles in The Royle Family and Phoenix Nights when she bagged the part of the newest Rovers barmaid.
She won the hearts of Corrie viewers as Shelley and her career went from strength to strength after she left Weatherfield.
Since then she’s had roles in Scott & Bailey, Mount Pleasant, Still Open All Hours and Ordinary Lies.
She’s also appeared on the stage in several plays including Much Ado About Nothing and A Taste of Honey, and voiced Piella Bakewell in Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death.
And most recently she’s been starring in C5’s The Madame Blanc Mysteries – a series which she also co-wrote – about an antiques dealer solving crimes in the South of France.
However a return to Corrie isn’t totally off the cards…
During an appearance on This Morning in 2019, Sally failed to rule out a return to the much-loved soap.
She said: “Oh gosh, I’d never say never. I loved it – it was brilliant, it still is brilliant.”
Coronation Street usually airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV.
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