The first series, broadcast in Summer 1979, comprised just four episodes although seven were made. The final three episodes were not shown due to an ITV technician's strike and instead were shown at the beginning of series two in 1980.
Belinda Sinclair had been playing the wife of Richard Beckinsale in a West End run of "I Love My Wife" when spotted by the production team; she suspected that he was the original actor lined up to play Shelley and they'd actually been there to see him.
Belinda Sinclair thanked Mrs H actress Josephine Tewson for helping keep the show and its' talent together when tensions rose. She found her co-star Hywel Bennett slightly cold, and recalled his drinking became more of an issue the longer she was with the show (so much so that Bennett's work was largely confined to mornings before his alcohol consumption escalated). In a chance encounter many years later, however, they had lunch together and she was genuinely surprised to find him charming company and much mellowed.
A novelisation of the first six episodes, "Shelley" (credited to Peter Tilbury and Colin Bostock-Smith), was published by New English Library in March 1980.
James Shelley has 10 O-Levels, 4 A-Levels, a B.A and a PhD (in Geography).