Cindy Shelley
Acting
Biography
Cynthia Shelley (born 23 March 1960 in Barnet, Hertfordshire) is an English actress, known for her roles in two BBC television dramas of the 1980s: Alice Courtenay in Tenko and Abby Urquhart in Howards' Way. Shelley made her television debut playing Rhiannon, one of the party girls in The Young Ones episode "Interesting". A week later, she played the girl on the radio in the "Flood" episode of the same series. Shelley played Alice Courtenay in the World War II-set series Tenko. Shelley appeared in nine episodes of series three and appeared in Tenko Reunion the following year. From 1985 to 1990, she was a regular cast member for six series of Howards' Way in the role of Abby Urquhart/Hudson. Shelley later made appearances in The Tripods, Bottom, Men Behaving Badly, A Prince Among Men and Grange Hill. She replaced Charlotte Long for the second series of The Tripods after Long's sudden death in a road accident.
Known For
The BBC's answer to Dynasty, Howards' Way was launched in 1985 with an enormous 1 million pound budget. The main characters in the show were 'best boat designer in the world' Tom Howard, his boutique running wife Jan Howard, 'I'll have a drink' Jack Rolfe and a nasty man called Ken Masters. It starred Maurice Colbourne.
Howards' Way
The misadventures of four lunatic students who live in a shared student house. There's Rick, the overblown political one addicted to Cliff Richard, Vyvyan the experimental scientific one/part-time anarchist, Neil the worried hippy, and Mike the ladies' man (at least he is in his mind).
The Young Ones
Based on real-life experiences, Tenko remains one of the most fondly remembered and acclaimed BBC dramas of the early 1980s. It follows a group of women, formerly comfortably well-off ex-pats living in Singapore, as they are captured by the Japanese during World War II.
Tenko
Richie Richard (socially awkward, sexually inexperienced) and Eddie Hitler (carefree alcoholic ) are two social outcasts living on the dole. Trapped together in a squalid flat in Hammersmith, London they are perpetually skint, bored and sexually frustrated. They spend their days scheming, bickering, and being nasty and sadistic to each other.
Bottom
Three of a Kind was a British comedy sketch show starring comedians Tracey Ullman, Lenny Henry and David Copperfield. Three series were made by the BBC between 1981 and 1983. The show bolstered the careers of Ullman and Henry, as well as being an outlet for young writers including Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, Ian Hislop and Nick Revell. Ullman and Henry went on to greater success after the show, with Ullman initially launching a brief but successful pop career in 1983 before starring in the ITV sitcom Girls On Top in 1985 and then going on to a high profile career on American television. Henry was given his own BBC series The Lenny Henry Show in 1984 and he remains a semi-regular fixture on British television to this day. Copperfield, however, garnered less success and has been seen relatively little since the series ended.