| Sheila Crossley | |||||||
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| Coronation Street character | |||||||
| Portrayed by | Eileen Mayers | ||||||
| Created by | Tony Warren | ||||||
| Introduced by | Tony Warren (1961) H.V. Kershaw (1962, 1969) Peter Eckersley (1966) Susi Hush (1974) |
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| Duration | 1961, 1962–63, 1966, 1969, 1974 | ||||||
| First appearance | 4 January 1961 Episode 8 |
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| Last appearance | 2 October 1974 Episode 1431 |
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| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||
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Sheila Crossley (née Birtles) is a fictional character from the British soap opera Coronation Street. She was portrayed by actress Eileen Mayers. The character is famous for her suicide plot which was ultimately axed.
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Sheila was introduced to the soap as a friend of Doreen Lostock, and in 1962, moved in with her and met Doreen's boss from Gamma Garments Neil Crossley.
Through his many faults, Sheila fell hard for Neil Crossley, so much so that she didn't see how badly he treated her. Neil only thought of Sheila as a bit of fun, and after he stood her up on a date she confronted him. Angered, Neil hit Sheila and left, leaving her devastated and she sunk into a deep depression. She pushed her friends away, and was sacked from her job after not turning up. After Neil met up with her and told her in no uncertain terms they were over, Sheila attempted to take her own life, but was rescued in time by Dennis Tanner, and on the doctor's recommendation left Weatherfield to move back in with her parents. Whilst there, Sheila discovered she is pregnant with Neil's child and gave birth to a baby boy in 1964, who she named Danny, but Sheila decided to give him up for adoption.
In 1966, Sheila was set up on a blind date by a friend and was shocked to find her date was Jerry Booth, who she went on an unsuccessful date with four years previously. Sheila and Jerry reconnected and Sheila moved back to Weatherfield as Elsie Tanner's lodger, securing a job at the new factory. Sheila and Jerry quickly fell in love, and intended to marry but when Sheila bumped into Neil later that year, her feelings for him came rushing back and Neil proposed. Jerry was heartbroken when Sheila left Weatherfield with Neil.
After learning that Sheila's character was to commit suicide in 1963, the public was outraged. Instead, it was re-written and viewers saw the character take pills before the screen faded to black. Actress Eileen Mayers has claimed that "It was disappointing, it was good and it wasn't shown", referring to the suicide scenes. However, in 2011, the scenes were shown in the documentary The Corrie Years.[1] Upon the announcement that the scenes were to air 50 years later, a Coronation Street insider told the Daily Mirror that "At the time it was deemed too controversial. But compared to what goes on in soaps these days, I don't think the scene will be very shocking."[2] The characters suicide plot has been compared to that of Natasha Blakeman's in 2010 in the soap.[3]