Pauline Quirke and the gorgeous Linda Robson first started working together on a regular basis in the '70's on 'You Must Be Joking' and Quirke's own weekly series 'Pauline's Quirkes' and then again in the early '80's when the two appeared in Laurence Marks & Maurice Gran's long running comedy drama 'Shine On Harvey Moon' for Central Television. In 1989, Marks & Gran pitched the pair together again in their next show - 'Birds Of A Feather' - a sitcom which had them as warring sisters Tracey Stubbs and Sharon Theodopolopodus. Tracey and Sharon are polar opposites to say the least. The glamorous, happily married Tracey lives in a swank house in Chigwell with her husband Darryl and their son Garth, who is studying at a private school to become a chef. The plain, downtrodden Sharon however lives in a grimy council flat in Edmonton with her sleazy, two-timing, criminal minded husband Chris ( who is of the Greek persuasion as is evident by his surname ).
However's Tracey's idyllic lifestyle is soon turned upside down when Darryl along with Chris is arrested and sent to prison for armed robbery. Tracey is devastated at losing the man she loves however Sharon seems glad to see the back of her spineless husband. To help her sister get through her turmoil, Sharon moves out of her flat in Edmonton and in with Tracey. Living next door to Tracey is Dorien Green, a promiscuous middle aged Jewish woman whose amount of gold jewellery would put Mr. T from 'The A-Team' to shame. Despite her disdain for the sisters' lack of social standing, Dorien soon becomes Sharon and Tracey's closest friend. In the early episodes, Dorien is married to an accountant named Marcus but in later episodes he leaves her for a younger woman.
The first series had a none too promising response from the public. The first episode, 'Nicked', caused the BBC switchboard to be jammed with complaints due to the inclusion of a scene where Sharon tries on a Basque ( over her clothes I must add in ) at an Ann Summers party taking place in Tracey's house. However, by the second series it became one of Britain's most popular sitcoms of the era, with stars such as Lionel Blair, Ray Winstone and even George Hamilton and George Wendt queueing up to appear on it. When it became established, other writers inherited the scripting duties such as Tony Millan, Mike Walling, Gary Lawson, John Phelps, Peter Tilbury, Ian Davidson and Peter Vincent. Linda Robson and Pauline Quirke had a good rapport together as the constantly fighting but devoted sisters. Robson, incidentally, was my first childhood crush and even now she still does it for me. Lesley Joseph was hilarious as Dorien, particularly in the episode in which she sang on stage Madonna's 'Like A Virgin'. Alun Lewis was excellent in those episodes he did as Darryl though I never took to Doug McFerran who replaced him. David Cardy played Chris initially though his placed was taken in series two by Peter Polycarpou up until 1997 when Cardy returned to the role. Cardy was not bad in the role though in my view Polycarpou was superior.
'Birds Of A Feather', if not a classic, was an entertaining, gentle-paced sitcom which made sure it gave its viewers a good laugh each week. The BBC let it run for nine seasons, before it ended with a Christmas episode in which Tracey gave birth to her second son Travis. In 2014, 'Birds Of A Feather' made a welcome return to our screens, this time courtesy of ITV, attracting more than 8 million viewers. The success of the revival led to a further two series being commissioned, with the most recent one ending in February of this year. Whether another series makes the screen remains to be seen but let's hope that Marks & Gran & co don't bite off more than they can chew like Rob Grant & Doug Naylor did with 'Red Dwarf'.
