Series seven was titled on screen The Return of Shelley, and was broadcast in 1988. This time around, Shelley is (still) separated from Fran, and lives on his own, doing his best to avoid obtaining gainful employment. The series begins with Shelley returning to the UK from Kuwait after teaching English for several years, only to find that his calls to his old friends are now screened by answering machines and that yuppieness has taken root in his old neighbourhood. The final three series returned to the on-screen title of Shelley.
In the final series, Shelley is a lodger with Ted Bishop (David Ryall). Ted's house is the only one left in his street, the other residences having been demolished to make way for a leisure centre. Shelley moves in as lodger to help Ted with his fight against the developers who want to demolish the house Ted has lived in his whole life.
Shelley (or Perce) is the protagonist. He is a terminal layabout who is usually unemployed. He is qualified with a Ph.D. in geography. For a brief time he worked as an advertising executive (only to leave over a point of principle). He was later hired by the Foreign Office, only to be made redundant before his starting date. Shelley is obdurate, argumentative, and awkward; he has a wry, sardonic wit. He espouses left wingsocially liberal views, but he is often shown to have reactionary tendencies, and may be something of a hypocrite. Shelley is usually honest about his unemployment and poor work ethic, though occasionally he likes to obscure it by claiming he is 'paid by the government' or is 'in leisure'. He once described his occupation as 'a government artist' because 'I draw the dole'.
Fran is Shelley's longsuffering girlfriend and, later, wife. She is an aspiring writer. Like Shelley, she is educated but unemployed. She is one of the few people who can counter Shelley's more fanciful and obtuse arguments. In the first series she becomes pregnant with Shelley's child; in the second, she publishes a book and marries Shelley; in the third, she gives birth to a daughter, Emma. The beginning of the fifth series reveals that she has left Shelley; she appears in only one episode, and ceases to be a central character.
Mrs H. is a somewhat waspish and prim landlady who lets a West Hampstead bedsit to Shelley and Fran in series one and two. She has a son named Colin, and she refers often to Willy, an unseen husband whom she has apparently coerced into working days and nights. She is suspicious of Shelley, and she disapproves of his languid lifestyle. She shows little restraint in verbally attacking him, even though she may be left browbeaten by his eloquence. Her attitude toward Shelley softens over time, however.
Shelley's closest friend and best man (after being let down by the alcoholic Ned). Paul is a loyal friend to Shelley. Unlike Shelley, he is an industrious man with a successful career. Even so, some of his lifestyle choices betray moral failings (for instance, evidently he solicits prostitutes). Although coarser than Shelley, he doesn't attract the disdain from establishment figures that Shelley does, owing to his charm and self-restraint. He lets his flat to Shelley in series five.
An elderly widow who rents a bedsit downstairs from Shelley and Fran. She seems to enjoy a cordial relationship with Shelley, but she believes Fran to be a 'doxy', and landlady Mrs H. to be a murderess who killed her first husband. She appears only in series two and three.
A pompous warden in the flats to which Shelley moves in series five. He is envious of the educated Shelley, believing him to be typical of a privileged generation which has grown up in a society where education is attainable by the masses. He has an unrealistic appraisal of his own intelligence, and he fancies himself an amateur poet. He believes that his abilities could have been recognised had he enjoyed the educational privileges of Shelley.
Shelley's mother, who is only 16 years older than her son. Like him, Isobel is outspoken and argumentative. Her political views border on communism, and she lives a fairly nonconformist lifestyle. She smokes cannabis, which she grows for herself throughout her flat (which makes Shelley worry that she'll be discovered and imprisoned). She berates Shelley as an 'evil little capitalist'. Despite her sharp tongue, she has a kinder side: re-mortgages her flat so that Shelley and Fran can buy a house.
Shelley's pompous and ineffectual boss at the advertising firm Harper Mackintosh. Cyril is an old-fashioned, self-important. He is detached from the realities of both the company he runs and of contemporary life. (Compare the character CJ, whom Barron previously portrayed in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.)
Ned is Shelley's first choice for best man, even though Fran dislikes him intensely. Ned is an irresponsible alcoholic who is often involved in pub brawls. He is aware that he is slowly drinking himself to death. Although he only appears in one episode, he is mentioned several times thereafter, and is addressed on the telephone.
List of episodes
Series 1 (1979–80)
The ITV technicians' strike of 1979 delayed transmission of the last three episodes of series two (episodes 5–7). Because of the delay, ITV instead transmitted the three episodes eight months later, immediately before series two.
↑ ITV originally scheduled episode 5 for 16 August 1979.
↑ ITV originally scheduled episode 6 for 23 August 1979.
↑ ITV originally scheduled episode 7 for 30 August 1979.
Series 2 (1980)
For the three weeks leading up to the premiere of series two, ITV transmitted the three episodes from series one whose release had been delayed by the technician strike.
No. overall
No. in series
Title
Original release date
8
1
"Owner Occupiers"
8May1980(1980-05-08)
9
2
"Expletive Deleted"
15May1980(1980-05-15)
10
3
"Tea and Sympathy"
22May1980(1980-05-22)
11
4
"Hearth and Home"
29May1980(1980-05-29)
12
5
"Fully Furnished"
5June1980(1980-06-05)
13
6
"Dearly Beloved"
18June1980(1980-06-18)
Christmas Special (1980)
No. overall
No. in series
Title
Original release date
14
1
"Christmas With Shelley"
22December1980(1980-12-22)
Series 3 (1980–81)
No. overall
No. in series
Title
Original release date
15
1
"Of Mice and Men"
29December1980(1980-12-29)
16
2
"Signing On"
5January1981(1981-01-05)
17
3
"Nor Iron Bars a Cage"
12January1981(1981-01-12)
18
4
"Foreign Affairs"
19January1981(1981-01-19)
19
5
"Universal Trust"
26January1981(1981-01-26)
20
6
"Dry Rot"
2February1981(1981-02-02)
21
7
"You Have to Laugh"
9February1981(1981-02-09)
Series 4 (1982)
No. overall
No. in series
Title
Original release date
22
1
"Unkindest Cuts"
18February1982(1982-02-18)
23
2
"A Drop of the Pink Stuff"
25February1982(1982-02-25)
24
3
"No News is Good"
4March1982(1982-03-04)
25
4
"Credit Where Credit’s Due"
11March1982(1982-03-11)
26
5
"Mortal Coils"
18March1982(1982-03-18)
27
6
"Slaughterhouse Sling"
25March1982(1982-03-25)
Series 5 (1982)
No. overall
No. in series
Title
Original release date
28
1
"On the Road to Damascus"
4November1982(1982-11-04)
29
2
"Brave New World"
11November1982(1982-11-11)
30
3
"Shelley Versus Shelley"
18November1982(1982-11-18)
31
4
"Noises Off"
25November1982(1982-11-25)
32
5
"Tubes Help You Breed Less Easily"
2December1982(1982-12-02)
33
6
"When the Chip Hits the Fan"
9December1982(1982-12-09)
Series 6 (1983–84)
No. overall
No. in series
Title
Original release date
34
1
"Dry Dreams"
1December1983(1983-12-01)
35
2
"It Nearly Happens to Somebody Else"
8December1983(1983-12-08)
36
3
"Of Cabbages and Kings"
15December1983(1983-12-15)
37
4
"The Party"
22December1983(1983-12-22)
38
5
"Owed to the Electrician"
5January1984(1984-01-05)
39
6
"Brief Encounter"
12January1984(1984-01-12)
Series 7 (1988)
For this series only, it was titled The Return of Shelley.
No. overall
No. in series
Title
Original release date
40
1
"The Return of Shelley"
11October1988(1988-10-11)
41
2
"In God We Trust"
18October1988(1988-10-18)
42
3
"Emergency Ward 9"
25October1988(1988-10-25)
43
4
"One of Those Nights"
1November1988(1988-11-01)
44
5
"Why Me?"
8November1988(1988-11-08)
45
6
"The Big S"
15November1988(1988-11-15)
Series 8 (1989–90)
No. overall
No. in series
Title
Original release date
46
1
"The Artful Lodger"
17October1989(1989-10-17)
47
2
"Shelley Washes Whiter"
24October1989(1989-10-24)
48
3
"A Happy Event"
31October1989(1989-10-31)
49
4
"Born Freeish"
7November1989(1989-11-07)
50
5
"Day of the Reptile"
14November1989(1989-11-14)
51
6
"For Whom the Bell Tolls"
21November1989(1989-11-21)
52
7
"The Gospel According to Shelley"
28November1989(1989-11-28)
53
8
"Wages of Virtue"
5December1989(1989-12-05)
54
9
"It’s Only a Game"
12December1989(1989-12-12)
55
10
"Killer Driller"
19December1989(1989-12-19)
56
11
"Cold Turkey"
26December1989(1989-12-26)
57
12
"A Problem Aired"
2January1990(1990-01-02)
58
13
"Help!"
9January1990(1990-01-09)
Series 9 (1990)
No. overall
No. in series
Title
Original release date
59
1
"A Trial Period"
24September1990(1990-09-24)
60
2
"A Question of Attitude"
1October1990(1990-10-01)
61
3
"Golden Oldies"
8October1990(1990-10-08)
62
4
"The Bug"
15October1990(1990-10-15)
63
5
"Second Best Man"
22October1990(1990-10-22)
64
6
"Brainstrain"
29October1990(1990-10-29)
New Year Special (1991)
No. overall
No. in series
Title
Original release date
65
1
"Forward to the Past"
1January1991(1991-01-01)
Series 10 (1992)
No. overall
No. in series
Title
Original release date
66
1
"The Deep End"
28July1992(1992-07-28)
67
2
"Come Fly With Me"
4August1992(1992-08-04)
68
3
"Love Is…"
11August1992(1992-08-11)
69
4
"A Little Learning"
18August1992(1992-08-18)
70
5
"Happy Birthday - R.I.P."
25August1992(1992-08-25)
71
6
"Accountants & Zulus"
1September1992(1992-09-01)
Video releases
Network Distributing released the first six series on Region 2DVD-Video between 2007 and 2012. Although a technician strike in 1979 delayed the transmission of three episodes of series one by several months, the Complete Series 1 DVD set contains all seven of the series one episodes, including the three that were delayed. Similarly, the Complete Series 2 set contains only the six episodes that belong to series two—even though ITV transmitted the delayed episodes directly before the series two episodes.
On 20 November 2017, Network released a six-disc set comprising the first six series, and a second DVD set comprising series 7–10.
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