Birds of a Feather (TV series)

Lore & Background

The series begins when sisters Sharon Theodopolopodous and Tracey Stubbs are reunited after their husbands, Chris and Darryl, are convicted of armed robbery. Sharon, a loud-mouthed character from a council flat in Edmonton, moves into Tracey's luxury home in Chigwell, Essex. Their next-door neighbor Dorien Green is a wealthy, snobbish, middle-aged Jewish woman who constantly has affairs with younger men. The original run ended on 24 December 1998 after nine years, and the series returned on ITV on 2 January 2014 for a tenth series, attracting almost eight million viewers.

Reader's Guide

Birds of a Feather is significant as a long-running British sitcom that spanned three decades across two networks. Its revival on ITV in 2014 gave the network its highest-rated comedy since Barbara in 2000. The show explored themes of family, class, and friendship, with the sisters' contrasting personalities—Tracey more law-abiding, Sharon more unscrupulous—providing comedic tension. The character of Dorien Green, played by Lesley Joseph, became iconic for her man-eating persona and leopard-print style. The series ended with a Christmas special in 2020, in which Pauline Quirke did not appear due to her decision to focus on her performing arts academy.

Did You Know?

• The title comes from the idiom 'birds of a feather flock together'.
• In the last two BBC series, the location changed to Hainault, London, before returning to Chigwell in series 10.
• The opening episode of the 2014 revival attracted almost eight million viewers.
• Pauline Quirke did not appear in the 2020 Christmas special due to her decision to step back from acting.