Barry's Beef

My joy at the passing of two of my least favourite Eastenders characters ever: Pauline (to death) and Sonia (to Manchester), has been somewhat tempered by the introduction of Shirley Carter. Now Shirley's been around the block a few times, and she isn't scared to remind anyone who crosses her, or even talks to her actually, by drawing reference to her years on the clock whilst exuding a heavily perfumed (Eau de Marlboro Light) sexual aura. Truly she is horrific. So I thought I'd find a picture of her so that I could convey my feelings on this subject. I duly entered "Shirley Eastenders" into Google and was directed to the Eastenders character site (almost every character past and present has their own page), but strangely not to the page of Shirley Carter, for that is the surname of this tough-as-nails Shirley; but rather to the page of Shirley Benson. You remember her don't you? Shirley lived downstairs from Gavin, the neighbour from hell. She also had storylines, and romantic tristes, with the Ferreira family. Sadly the Ferreira family never quite clicked, I mean an Asian family in the East End? That's unbelievable. Or was it perhaps that the father of the household, Dan, kept on dressing up as Elvis or that his offspiring were crap: there was Adi: the boring one, Ash: the boring one, Kareena: the boring one and Ronnie and Tariq - THE BAD BOYS ONES (two), but boring. Anyway, the biogs of the characters have their links to other characters, love interests and their individual 'ups and downs' and Shirley's down brings a tear to my eye. Not only did she have her rows with Gavin, her neighbour from hell (mentioned above) and her love interests with the Ferriera family (mentioned above) but, worst of all, her cat was killed. Not by the curiosity of her owner's stories, one would speculate.

Labels: Eastenders, Gavin: NEIGHBOUR FROM HELL, Shirley Benson, Shirley Carter, the Ferreira family