George Peters (East Enders) - Shirley Benson

Shirley Benson is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Robyn Moore. The character was axed in 2004.

Shirley was initially seen in Albert Square in May 2003. A divorcée, she had three sons, now grown up; two were in the army and the other lived in New Zealand. She worked at the Walford Bookies and lived with her cat, Boots, at 89a George Street.

Dan Ferreira needed a date for an upcoming wedding, so he asked Shirley and she agreed. Dan told Shirley that his wife, Pushpa, was dead, when they had only separated, following Pushpa's infidelity. At the wedding, everyone was enjoying the day until Pushpa introduced herself to Shirley. She was mortified to discover Dan's lies, telling him that her ex-husband was a liar and she was not prepared to put up with lying again. She also told Dan that she wanted nothing more to do with him.

In August that year, Shirley had problems with her new neighbour, Gavin Sharp. He lived in the flat above hers and played extremely loud music at all hours, meaning Shirley could not sleep. She tried reasoning with him several times but he laughed at her, only playing his music louder, so she complained to the council. Maddened, Gavin threatened to make her life a misery as payback. Days later, Shirley's cat, disappeared and Shirley feared that Gavin was responsible. Whilst Dan confronted Gavin about Boots, Little Mo walked in to The Queen Vic, cuddling Boots. Shirley rewarded her with money but later that day, Shirley found Boots on her doorstep — dead in a plastic bin bag. Shirley turned to the Ferreiras for help, and Dan confronted Gavin again. Gavin denied killing Boots and said that he found her lying dead in the road and left her on Shirley's doorstep so she could bury her. Shirley, however, was not convinced. Gavin's taunting continued when he put her telephone number on a card, advertising her as a prostitute, and distributed it across Walford. Later, while she was at work, Gavin broke into her flat and tipped rotten rubbish all over the floor. Shirley was at her wits' end, and seeing her angst, Ash Ferreira, decided to lend a helping hand. He played Gavin at his own game, borrowing his brother's amplifier and speakers and played dance music extremely loudly. He then broke into Gavin's flat and let a rat loose. Gavin was petrified of rats and when he discovered it, he agreed to call a truce if they removed it.

The saga brought Ash and Shirley closer together and it was not long before they started a relationship. Ash wanted to keep it a secret because he knew his father would be furious if he found out. Shirley began to get irritated with Ash's inability to tell Dan, particularly when Dan started to try to woo Shirley for a second time. Ash explained that he had been a compulsive gambler, and Dan had bailed him out of serious financial difficulties after he lost his house and his wife. He owed his father everything and was unwilling to hurt him. Things came to a head when Dan tried kissing Shirley and she told him that she was seeing his son. This revelation caused huge rows at the Ferreiras' and although Ash loved Shirley, he felt he had no choice but to finish with her to keep the peace.

In February 2004, Andy Hunter took over the bookies where Shirley worked. Shirley did not like the way Andy ran things and after she complained repeatedly about his conduct, Andy fired her. Shirley demonstrated about her unfair dismissal with a placard outside the bookies. Eventually Andy offered her a large sum of money to leave. Shirley was thrilled with the pay-off and decided to go to New Zealand to visit her son.