The half-hour show featured former Skyhooks frontman Graeme "Shirley" Strachan and co-host Liz Rule alongside a cast of characters including Norm The Kangaroo, Ol' Possum, Claude The Crow, Stanley The Snake, Greenfinger the Garden Gnome, Yippee the Bunyip, Igor the Spider, Bartholomew the Sheep and a band of monkeys.
[1] The other characters were puppets created and brought to life by Ron Mueck.
Shirl's Neighbourhood was produced by Jenifer Hooks and Richard Bence of Puppetstuff.
Regular segments were Possum's Patterns with Auntie Mae, Greenfinger's Garden with Laurie Ryan and later Bruce Spence.
Claude had a slightly more cynical view of the world than the other characters (like Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street), and adults could identify with this.