Shirley Armitage
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Shirley Armitage is a fictional character from the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
ITV
soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...
''
Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...
''. Played by Lisa Lewis, the character appeared for a period of five years between 1983 and 1989. Shirley became the programme's first regular black character. Shirley Armitage was a
machinist A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who operates machine tools, and has the ability to set up tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling machines. A competent machinist will generally have a strong mechan ...
at Baldwin's Casuals. From 1988 to 1989, she lived with Curly Watts in the shop flat but left the area when they split up.


Storylines

Shirley Armitage started work at denim factory Baldwin's Casuals in September 1983. Shirley came from a big family, with nine living in the same house. At the factory, Shirley was one of the youngest machinists and usually stayed quiet while the louder personalities, chiefly
Vera Duckworth Vera Duckworth is a fictional character from the Television in the United Kingdom, British ITV (TV network), ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Liz Dawn. Vera is known for her long-standing marriage to Jack Duckworth (Bill Tarmey); ...
( Liz Dawn) and Ida Clough ( Helene Palmer), led the gossip. She occasionally spoke up to back the girls against Mike Baldwin ( Johnny Briggs), for example when she favoured a strike when Mike announced that some jobs would be at risk because of a new computer system at the factory in July 1984. In 1985, Shirley chatted to Curly Watts ( Kevin Kennedy) at a dance at the Community Centre and let him walk her home afterwards. Curly was shy about asking her out, but they hit it off and Curly later chatted her up at Kevin (
Michael Le Vell Michael Robert Turner (born 15 December 1964), known professionally as Michael Le Vell, is an English actor. He is best known for his role as mechanic Kevin Webster in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', a role he has played ...
) and
Sally Webster Sally Webster (also Seddon and Metcalfe) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', portrayed by Sally Dynevor. The character first appeared on-screen during the episode airing on 27 January 1986, when Kev ...
's (
Sally Dynevor Sally Jane Dynevor (née Whittaker; born 30 May 1963) is an English actress, she is best known for her role as Sally Metcalfe in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', which she has played since 1986. In 2022, Dynevor competed in the fourt ...
) flat warming party in August 1987. They started seeing each other on a casual basis after that. By 1986, Shirley was getting sick of living in such a crowded home and decided to ask
Alf Roberts Alfred Sidney "Alf" Roberts, OBE is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Bryan Mosley. He ran a grocery shop at No. 15 and was involved in local politics, including two spells as mayor of W ...
(
Bryan Mosley Bryan Mosley (25 August 1931 – 9 February 1999) was a British actor, best known for his role as grocer Alf Roberts in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. Early life Mosley was born in Leeds, an only child, to Agnes Basquil ...
) if she could rent the shop flat as the Websters had moved into No.13. Alf asked for a reference, but in the time it took her to get one from Emily Bishop (
Eileen Derbyshire Eileen Derbyshire (born 6 October 1931) is an English retired actress, best known for her role as Emily Bishop in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. She played the character for 55 years from January 1961 to January 2016 (w ...
), Curly also made enquiries about the flat and Alf agreed that he could move in. When Shirley and Curly compared notes, they were puzzled as Curly had not been asked for a reference. Thinking Alf racist, Curly decided to refuse to move in, but Shirley suggested they move in together. Curly agreed and Alf backed down when Emily threatened to expose his racism. The unexpected move marked a big change in Shirley's and Curly's lives, as well as their relationship, with Curly losing his virginity to Shirley. Their next obstacle was winning over each other's families; as well as the race issue, Shirley's parents disapproved of her living in sin. Eventually, Mrs Armitage was convinced that Curly loved Shirley, but his parents never accepted her. Mrs Armitage was accepting enough to let Shirley's younger sister, Lucy, stay with the couple for a few weeks in August. Later that year, Curly enrolled in a business studies course at college. Shirley was not convinced it would be a good move as that would make her the sole earner while he studied but she admired his ability, and caused a stir at work by showing them Curly's essay on Mike making the machinists work in terrible Victorian conditions. Mike threatened to sack Shirley unless Curly gave him the essay. Curly's new career was to split the couple up. In April 1989, Shirley threw a surprise party to celebrate their first anniversary but Curly promptly threw everyone out as he had an important exam the next day. Shirley realised that Curly was too serious for her and decided to move back in with her parents. Desperate to stop Shirley leaving, Curly broke down and proposed marriage, promising to change, but Shirley knew that the relationship had run its course and left. Shirley left Baldwin's Casuals a week after splitting up with Curly and moved to Gorton.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armitage, Shirley Coronation Street characters Fictional Black British people Fictional machinists Television characters introduced in 1983 Fictional factory workers British female characters in soap operas