Shelley

I just by chance stumbled across an old episode of Shelly on forces TV. And watched it just to see if it was as good as I remember it. I was 15 when Shelly first aired and the razor sharp script and Hywell Bennett's dead pan sarcastic delivery for me makes it one of the most underrated shows of all time.. This show was ahead of it's time it was almost too good to be classed as a sit com Peter Tilburys writing is a masterclass in comedic writing whilst Bennett delivers the gags and one liners with immaculate comic timing. I wonder if Ricky Gervais ever watched Shelly as his shows remind me of Shelley's sarcastic wit. Was the show as good as I remember it? Yes it was and more.

My sense of humor tends to run on the dry side like a single drop of vermouth hitting the most parched patch in Death Valley so I enjoy this series for being similar to that. It is very talky, very wordy, and without a trace of physical comedy. Some episodes never leave a living room or a dining room table. The most physical comedy you get is gestures and looks either while giving or receiving a line of dialogue. If you are expecting something along the lines of Fawlty Towers, Dad's Army or Steptoe and Son with that brilliant blend of both forms of comedy, you won't find it here.

The show was meant to be contemporary which makes it very dated with references to early 80s problems and paranoia over nuclear war which many were forced to believe to be inevitable.

The setting and plot is preposterous for most of the series. Young couple with a newborn manage to go a few series eating and living in their own two story house while neither of them have any kind of income except for what James Shelley gets from government assistance and his father in law. Despite that, they still whine and make excuses for never seriously doing anything to support their daughter, themselves and pay their own bills. That's basically the entire premise and it goes on from there without really getting anywhere. The return of the series is much better without the annoying family man aspect being a part of it.

Despite their protestations ITV are not known for their sit-coms. It is usually a mirth fee zone but every now and then a gem is discovered and Shelly is a bona fide, premium grade comedy classic.

Hywel Bennett plays the over educated professional layabout Shelley whose mission in life is to avoid work and muse about life. It was anti establishment and anti Tory which gave it a political edge.

It had sharp writing and funny without resorting to knockabout comedy. In Hywel Bennett they found the perfect actor.

Bennett was someone who was a rising star in the late 1960s but problems in his personal life meant he hit skid row in the early 70s and was out of the limelight until the late 1970s.

Shelley established him back to the forefront, he might had looked older and less baby faced than before but still attractive enough to make Shelley appealing enough to women and an everyman philosopher without turning to bombast.

Later series had to deal with issues when his screen wife left the show and had him musing to a tape recorder to his daughter now relocated to Canada. Some years later Shelly returned in new episodes, more wiser, more cynical but still funny as ever.

A lasting tribute to the talents of Hywel Bennett.

This was must watch enjoyable tv as a teenager,but rewatching this year was a big disappointment a lot of talking which every half hour feels like an hour,also everyone remembers this being about a job shy layabout actually from the 2nd series on he's desperately looking for a job, the biggest laugh I got was realising the main complaints about tories destroying the jobs schools and nhs are the same as comedians are making now 40 years later with nuclear war being replaced with brexit