Sharon Theodopolopodous played by Pauline Quirke
Sharon always says and does exactly what she’s thinking – even when she shouldn’t. She’s envious of Tracey’s comfortable life, always feeling like the inferior sister – but it’s given her the chip on her shoulder that she wears like a badge of honour.
Stepping back into Sharon’s shoes after a 15-‐year break was a wonderful moment for Pauline Quirke, who readily admits her screen character is her ‘alter ego’. Smiling, the 54-‐year-‐old actress says it feels like the most natural thing in the world to be back in Birds of a Feather because she loves it so much. “Our characters are our alter egos,” explains Pauline. “Coming back to make Birds of a Feather is not like starting a new show where you have to invent the character from scratch. The girls were there waiting for us to play them again. “And I have loved it. When we started rehearsing again, it really did feel like stepping back in time – but in a nice way. “Yes we are older but what’s so lovely is that we are still referred to as ‘the girls’! We were always referred to as the girls before and we still are!“ As Pauline readily explains, Sharon has an even bigger chip on her shoulder when the series returns. She is back living in her council flat and earning enough to get by in a Pound shop. She’s envious of Tracey’s comfortable life and the only thing she takes great pride in is she is a victim of the system.
“Sharon is a bit more angry now,” says Pauline. “The world has changed a lot but her life has not changed a lot. She always did have a chip on her shoulder and she always felt hard done by. Now she is a 54-‐year-‐old, she feels even harder done by! But she still adores her sister and the relationship the girls have.” The first time Pauline walked into the studio on her return was a defining moment for the actress. “My best moment was when I walked in and there were cameramen there who we had worked with on the original series,” she says, beaming as she does. “It was weird but also really lovely. We have such a good time with each other and we have always said we wanted to give it another go. Now we are, we are having the best time ever. “We all love each other so much and we are there for each other,” she confides. “We have a ball together and ever since we first met, we have always been so supportive of each other. “What I think is fantastic is the return of this show does have all the original actresses in it again. It works on so many levels because there is enough for younger people to watch too. I love telly and there is not much out there for my generation. “I really do believe that the people who loved Birds of a Feather the first time around will not be let down.” Aside from working with her close friends, Pauline has also loved sharing a studio with her youngest child, Charlie. He plays Tracey’s son, Travis, in the new series. Eyes welling up as she talks about how proud she feels that he is following in her footsteps, she admits: “He came away with us on tour and I was really nervous the first time he went out on the stage. “Obviously I am his mum and I am very biased but I do think he is really good. And what means so much to me is when the girls say things like ‘OMG he was so fabulous. I loved him in that scene.” Given the actresses are so close, it’s not surprising to learn they are already planning a big party together to mark the transmission of the first episode. “We are always going to each other’s places,” explains Pauline. “Even when we were on tour, we would always go back to one of our flats. We will definitely watch the first episode together. Linda and Lesley are very much part of my life and I always find it very insulting when I am asked if there is any competitiveness between the three of us because we are all actresses.” She doesn’t want to tempt fate too much in predicting whether there will be another series or not, but Pauline reveals she is very proud that the show does touch on important subjects. “We have a laugh but we surprise people,” she explains. “We are not comediennes, we are actresses. And what is so lovely to see is women liking women’s company.”
One of the nation’s most popular actresses, Pauline’s career continues to go from strength to strength. As well as opening up her own Academy of Performing Arts across Britain, she has starred in several big shows since Birds of a Feather was last aired, including Emmerdale and the hugely popular, Broadchurch – a series she plans to work on next once Birds of a Feather goes out. “It is exciting times,” she says. “We are nervous but the tour proved we did hold our own. I want to enjoy everything…”
Tracey Stubbs played by Linda Robson
Tracey’s the perennial home-‐bird – wanting the best for her boys, but not necessarily for herself. Since we last saw her there’s been another marriage… but once again, she’s been left alone in the nest. She feels guilty that she and Sharon aren’t closer – but she has her reasons for preferring that they aren’t. She’d like nothing more than to play happy families with her two boys, but it’s never as easy as that… After a 15-‐year break, Linda Robson admits it feels like only yesterday she was playing Tracey in Birds of a Feather. “It’s really fantastic to be playing Tracey again,” says the warm, bubbly actress. “And as soon as we walked on set, you would not believe it had been 15 years since we last filmed it as everything just fell into place – the costume, the set and the scripts. It feels like we have never been away, it really does. It’s magical.” And as the new series kicks off, there are going to be plenty of twists and turns for Linda’s screen character, whom she describes as a heightened version of herself. The perennial home bird who always wants the best for her two sons, Garth and Travis, Linda is still living in comfort in Chigwell. But after the collapse of another marriage, she has been left alone as she is not speaking to her sister, Sharon. They fell out over her ill-‐advised marriage to Ralph and their fall-‐out has left Tracey feeling upset. But life has to go on and she is busy being mum to her teenage son, Travis, who is studying A-‐levels, when a chance meeting with her sister at a book event held by her old friend, Dorien, changes everything again. And not long after, her eldest son, Garth, announces he is moving home from Australia with his new girlfriend, Marcie, and her daughter, Poppy.
Explains the 55-‐year-‐old actress: “For me, it was really important that the scripts were right. “We all felt it was important to move the show on with the three of us and new, younger characters. “Viewers will find that Tracey is still living in her house. Her sons are living back and Garth turns up with a partner she didn’t even know about and a young daughter. She has been married and it has failed. She is alienated from Sharon and she hasn’t seen Dorien for years and years. They all meet up at the book launch and by the end of the first episode, everyone is back living with Tracey again!” There has been plenty of laughter during the filming of the new series, reveals Linda. “For me the best thing about the new series was filming the first episode,” she adds. “On the first day, we met up and it was actually hard trying to get us to rehearse because we kept wanting to chat about what had been happening with the children or my granddaughter! “I will always remember going out on the first night in the studio. It was just incredible. “We went out, thanked the audience for coming and told them that 15 years later, we still loved our characters. Seeing everyone laugh gave us all such a big buzz.” For Linda, the lifelong friendships she has forged with Pauline and Lesley mean so much to her. “We all get on brilliantly and there is so much chemistry between the three of us,” she explains. “I have known Pauline since I was at primary school and Lesley since 1988 “We just click and even when we get home, we will ring each other up and start chatting again – when we have spent the whole day together. We can always find things to talk about!” The 55-‐year-‐old star reveals she is often asked by fans the reason why Birds of a Feather has stood the test of time. Linda definitely believes the actresses’ friendship is a big factor. “We are all really honest with each other and we all work so hard to make it right,” explains Linda. “We know what the other is thinking too. We will tell each other if something does not sound or look right.” Smiling, she admits it was a joy working with Pauline’s son, Charlie, who plays her screen son, Travis. “I have known him all his life,” she adds. “He always says he has got one mum and two aunties. Mind you, we have trained him hard! He always makes us a nice coffee!” Since Birds of a Feather last aired in 1998, Linda has enjoyed great success on stage and screen. On stage, she’s toured in Telstar and Grumpy Old Women nation-‐wide
and in the West End. She’s also toured across Australia with Grumpy Old Women and a production of Passionate Woman. On TV her credits include I’m A Celebrity in 2012 and she is now also a regular panellist on Loose Women. Her recent film credits include Outside Bet and Anuvahood. But it’s her Birds of a Feather role that she is, not surprisingly, most proud of. “I do feel excited about it returning but I also feel nervous,” says Linda. “But everyone on Twitter is really excited, the reaction has been so positive and I actually feel I can enjoy it more this time as the pressure is off us now than when we were younger!” Her family also can’t wait for the comedy to return as it has, she says, played a special role in their lives too. “Filming has been hard and I have missed my granddaughter so much,” she says. “I have managed to see her a bit after rehearsals and Sundays have been the big day to see her but that’s been fine. It’s all really exciting.” So what’s next for Linda? She plans to take December and January off to enjoy a well-‐earned break and then she will take up her place again on the Loose Women panel. “We have all worked really hard,” says the actress. “I was offered a lot of money to do panto but I did not want to do it as I wanted to be with my husband, children and granddaughter. I want to spend time with my family. “After that, we will just have to wait and see what happens…”
Dorien Green played by Lesley Joseph
Dorien has been living the life Up West – more successfully than even she dreamed. But it’s not long before her “Es-‐sex In The City” lifestyle is back to being just Essex. She wants to hang on to the high life, and to eternal youth, but now she’s been forced to retreat back in Chigwell for the first time in years and she’s discovering that she’s trapped yet again. For Lesley Joseph, playing Dorien really is the dream role. And as she returns to Birds of a Feather, her character definitely can’t quite believe her luck after living it up in London. Still very much a man-‐eater, Dorien is now a rich, successful novel writer whose steamy book has caught the nation’s imagination. But her Champagne lifestyle soon comes crashing down and she is forced to move in with her old friends, Sharon and Tracey. “Dorien is rich now but what we didn’t want to do is depart too far from the original where it was a big fish in a small world,” explains Lesley. “And so that is why she goes and lives back with the girls. I didn’t want her to be so successful that she could live in Hollywood and ring Madonna. She has still got an eye for the men! “Over the series, we fill in a lot of gaps about what has happened over the last 15 years and so the jigsaw starts to fit into place. There are lots of digs at each other, but the warmth and friendship is still there as otherwise they wouldn’t be living with each other.”
Fans will be relieved to hear Dorien’s outfits are still as racy as ever, reveals the actress, who also admits she had to work out before filming started again so she could look her very best. “You can’t play Dorien unless you look good,” she says. “I didn’t want people to think I looked a bit podgier and so I did a lot of exercise. I really worked hard. I wanted to get back to a working Dorien weight.” And as the actress goes on to explain, whilst Dorien may think she is a cut above Sharon and Tracey, nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to Lesley’s own lifelong friendship with her two co-‐stars. “When it is three women together, people presume you don’t get on very well off-‐screen,” she says. “And so when you tell them you do, people don’t want to hear that. It’s annoying because they never say that about men. We really could not be closer. I think people are a bit bemused by that but what you see on-‐screen is what you see off. That is what has always been the great thing about Birds of a Feather – the chemistry works in every place.” Asked what her favourite moment has been making the new series and Lesley replies instantly that it is the fact she has been able to work again so closely with Pauline and Linda. “I get quite emotional even thinking about it,” she says. “The best thing about doing Birds of a Feather again has been the fact we are all together. We are all so brutally honest with each other. We are all family people at heart and I also admire them so much. There is such a bond between all of us.” Bursting out laughing, she reveals, however, all three actresses are conscious that they have aged since the last series went out and the technological advances of High Definition television means the pictures are even sharper. “We didn’t have HD last time,” she says chuckling. “We do touch on the stuff like getting older in the series – although there is a scene where Tracey is plucking her chin with a magnifying glass.” Incredibly passionate about the new series, Lesley feels there is a huge buzz surrounding the show. “It really is exciting times,” she says. “The reaction has been unbelievable and so many people have stopped me in the street asking when exactly it is coming back. They are really excited. “What is lovely is there is a real buzz at ITV. It has got so many great dramas on right now with Downton and Broadchurch and Birds of a Feather really does fit in too.” Smiling, Lesley jokes she hopes what happened in the theatres on tour won’t be replicated at home.
“We have spent the last two years touring around the country with Birds of a Feather,” explains Lesley. “It has been a lot of fun and the audiences really did love it so much. In fact, people would bring their three-‐year-‐olds along because they could not get a babysitter and did not want to miss out. “But we also had to call out ambulances for more people than ever before! They laughed so much, they needed an ambulance! We called them out eight times and the show had to be stopped!”. Since the show was aired, Lesley has been very busy in various dramas, including playing Rachel Culgrin in the ITV soap, Night and Day, and she has performed in a lot of theatre shows like the Calendar Girls. Given she has loved working with Pauline and Linda so much, is she sad that filming is coming to an end then? “Yes but it will be lovely to think that maybe we will be able to do another series,” she replies. “I would love to do another one if this works.” Lesley – who is starring in panto over Christmas before going on to appear in the Hot Flush musical – adds: “I feel so positive. Everyone keeps telling me this is really going to work. There are great vibes going…”
Travis Stubbs played by Charlie Quirke
Working with his famous mum, Pauline Quirke, has been incredibly special, says Charlie Quirke as he prepares to sit down together with her at the family home to watch the return of Birds of Feather. The 19-‐year-‐old actor, who is Pauline’s youngest child, is playing Travis, who is Tracey’s son. He was born in the last ever episode of Birds of a Feather in 1998 but he is now a teenager who is studying for his A-‐levels. “Travis is an innocent, caring and intelligent kid,” explains Charlie. “He knows how to wind his mum up but he is a good kid at heart. He is a great character to play and there are some lovely scenes between him, Tracey, Sharon and Dorien. “I have loved being part of the show and working with my mum has been fantastic. “I love her to bits and she is an incredible actress. And whilst he has loved every minute playing Travis on set, he is keen to stress that he definitely did not land the role because of the fact his mum is one of the main stars. “Definitely not,” he declares. “I actually played Travis in the stage version of the show for two years. “I auditioned for that. It was hard for me as I was also taking my A-‐levels and so I had to miss a lot of school. “I was away from my friends but I still had mum and it was perfect. “And so, then, when the TV series was commissioned, I went along to the auditions. Incredibly close to both his parents, Charlie says he has loved the fact his mum has treated him like a co-‐star rather than as her son. “She doesn’t treat me as a son, she treats me as a co-‐worker,” he explains. “She never tries to tell me what to do. She says I do most of what she is thinking because we are the same person. Sometimes I ask her how she would play the role and I know she will do it better than me as she has been doing it for longer. I take on board everything she says and it’s lovely getting her advice. “But it’s also been amazing having Linda and Lesley around too. They are like two other mums! I have known Linda nearly as long as mum and they are always looking over my shoulder asking me what I am doing! It’s great fun.” Loving every second of his time on the set, Charlie admits playing Travis has made him realise just how much he wants to be an actor. “I had a part in a film when I was five and another part in Casualty when I was 12, “ he says. “But that has been it aside from school plays.
“I just really love acting and it is what I want to do. Doing the stage show of Birds of a Feather was great grounding for me as well and we have had such a laugh on set. “I get on really well with Matt Willis. We are best mates. We like the same things. We have both said if we had not got on, it would not have been so much fun.” Laughing, Charlie admits he doesn’t have any memories of the original Birds of a Feather series because he was too young. “I was only four when the last episode went out,” he chuckles. “People have come up to me on set and told me they can remember me when I was little. I can’t remember them though! “I have, however, seen re-‐runs of the episodes and they are just amazing.” He is very proud of what his mum has achieved. Still living at home with her, he enthuses: “Mum is amazing. It is overwhelming to look at how good she is, but what is so lovely is when she comes home, she is just my mum. She is a fabulous person.” Determined to follow in his famous mum’s footsteps, Charlie admits he has big ambitions. “I would love to star in a really gritty drama or a big American movie,” he says. “That would be amazing.”
Garth Stubbs played by Matt Willis He may have won I’m A Celebrity and enjoyed success in the pop group, Busted, but Matt Willis reveals his mum is even more excited about him starring in Birds of a Feather. Laughing, Matt – who is married to TV presenter Emma Willis and dad to two children – says she still can’t believe that her son will be starring as Tracey’s eldest son, Garth, in the return of the hit comedy on ITV. “I was really stoked and so happy when I got the call to say I had landed the part of Garth,” reveals the 30-‐year-‐old star. “I went quite early on to the auditions and it was one of those jobs where you had to put it to the back of your mind. “Then when the call came through out of the blue to say I had got the role, I couldn’t believe it. My mum is more excited about me doing this than any job in my life. We watched the show when I was a child every week.” In the return of Birds of a Feather, viewers will see Garth, Tracey’s eldest son, return from Australia to live in the family home with his new girlfriend, Marcie, and her daughter, Poppy. “They have only been together for about six months,” explains Matt. “He is a chef and he has moved back home. He is a really nice guy and just on the right side of a bit of a dope! He is not the brightest tool! “He says what is on Tracey’s mind and he seems to facilitate her to say what is wrong.” Although he has loved every minute of his time on set, Matt admits he felt incredibly daunted filming the first few episodes. “I was so nervous in the first week,” he says. “And it was only a few weeks into filming that I started to relax. You are stepping on to a stage that has a reputation and fans love it so much. The people in the studio audience were real Birds of a Feather fans and I really felt that pressure. “I have really loved playing him and it’s been great starring alongside Linda, Pauline and Lesley. “We have had a really good laugh.” Linda’s motherly instincts definitely have played out on set, reveals Matt, laughing as he does. “She is like a mum on set,” he adds. “They have all got motherly turns to them. “I have learned so much from them. The girls know their characters more than anyone and they are really good at making perfect decisions for their characters. “I have loved rehearsing so much.”
Appreciating just how big a role it is for him, Matt – who has also starred in The Bill, Miss Marple, Casualty and various stage shows – is hoping it will lead to other interesting acting roles. “This was a big move for me,” he explains. “I have been wanting something like this – a regular in a series – for a while and I have been very lucky finding this. Acting is something I love and hopefully I am getting better and better at. I just enjoy the learning process and I want to get the most out of this opportunity.” He says the job has worked particularly well as it has fitted in brilliantly with his home life. “Emma and I do manage to make things work,” he says. “Emma’s parents are fantastic and they help us out loads. They are a real lifesaver. We are lucky. What has been great with this job is I have been able to spend the morning with the kids, come into work and then go home at 4pm. It has been really nice.” So what’s next for the talented star? Aside from attending more auditions, Matt is also planning to return to his music roots. “I have got plans to do a music tour next year,” he reveals. “It will be me on my own. I am going to be doing some music I have written. It will be fun and it will be a bit of everything. I am really excited and, yes, I really would like to release an album.” Reflecting on his career, Matt laughs as he admits: “I want to do everything – acting and music. It’s going to be so exciting when the first episode is screened of Birds of a Feather. The reaction from friends and family has really taken me aback. They can’t believe I am in this show! I don’t want to tempt fate too much but things do seem to be going really well.”
Marcie played by Camilla Marie Beeput Working on Birds of a Feather has been a master class in acting for Camilla Beeput, who plays Garth’s girlfriend, Marcie, in the return of the hit comedy. Camilla – whose work also includes Death in Paradise, Peep Show, Me and Mrs Jones, the Harry Hill movie and Lunch Monkeys – admits she has been bowled over by just how talented the three actresses, Linda Robson, Pauline Quirke and Lesley Joseph, are when they perform in front of the live audience. “The chemistry between them is fantastic,” says Camilla. “Watching Pauline going through the rehearsal and then to live is the master class. They all suddenly go up a level and it has taught me so much. They are perfectionists and they are geniuses. I have loved watching them. “It’s been such a joy to work with them and right from the start, they embraced me wholeheartedly. They took me into their coup. “They are all so lovely. They are like a mum to me. Linda is always bringing in samples of hand cream and offering cups of tea, Pauline is constantly trying to feed me and I have just been so overwhelmed by their generosity.” She admits feeling terribly nervous at the start of filming. “Like anything when you are the newbie, it is daunting especially as I loved this show as a kid,” says the attractive star. “I felt very apprehensive – especially on the first night filming in front of an audience. “I can remember watching it and it’s a real blast from the past that the show has been brought back. It is such a hilarious, touching and warm programme and so that’s why it has been so exciting to be part of the return.“ Smiling, Camilla explains that her character, Marcie, shares quite a lot in common with Tracey. Says the actress: “She arrives with Garth, who is her boyfriend and both Marcie and Tracey have in common. Her ex was busted out to prison too, which is very similar to Tracey. Marcie is not the easiest person to get on with. She is tough, strong and she stands her ground. “Sparks do fly. Everyone is there including Dorien. She is an attractive Australian and she rubs Dorien up the wrong way. “Bu the fact both Marcie and Tracey do have that history in common brings them together, which is nice.
“It is a family show and it is all about the family. Garth and Marcie are genuinely in love, which is really sweet. “At heart, she is a good mum. She has a laid back motherly style and she definitely is not like Tracey. She is more relaxed but she wants to give her child the best possible life she can. “What is good, too, is that Marcie is a massage therapist and so she quite literally rubs the girls up the right way!”. For Camilla, it feels incredibly special to be working on a programme that is so well loved. “I am so happy to be here working on the show,” she says. “It is great to be part of something that is so loved and this is a big thing for me. I have done things like the Peep Show before, which had a massive cult following but that was on a much smaller scale to this! “Whenever I mention to friends that I am going to be part of Birds of a Feather, they all start saying ‘OMG I loved that show. It is amazing you are in it.’ And my mum is very excited too! It is a dream come true that her daughter is in the show. She can’t wait for the comedy to start and she has literally told everyone! “It’s also been fun working alongside Charlie and Matt. We all get on brilliantly. “Charlie is hilarious. He is so talented and it definitely must run in the family. He is always kidding around.” It’s proving to be an exciting time for Camilla who is also going on to shoot a movie alongside Johnny Depp, Ewan Mcgregor and Gwyneth Paltrow once Birds of a Feather finishes filming. “I can’t believe it,” admits Camilla, sounding very excited as she does. “I am playing a woman who works in a snooty auction house and, err, I have three scenes with Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ewan Mcgregor. Can you believe it?! It’s unbelievable. This year has been such an amazing one for me…”
Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran (Series Creators and Writers)
When Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran decided to bring Birds of a Feather back to the TV screens, it seemed only fitting to set the new series 15 years later. And rather than try and pick up from where they left off, the show’s writers wanted to move with the times by introducing modern day fads like Twitter and Facebook. “We found it amusing that people even thought we would want to pick up in 1998,” explains Maurice. “Why would you want to do that? “We had an idea early on that Dorien had written this saucy book and that she had drifted out of the girls’ world and once we had that, we came up with the idea that Sharon and Tracey, who were also alienated, could meet up again at Dorien’s book signing. “From there, we realised that we didn’t just want to write a show about three middle-‐aged women. We felt it needed to be a multi-‐generational show and so that is why Tracey’s sons feature too. By moving Dorien as a lodger into their house, they are on top of each other and that gives them more things to fight about. “Comedy is about rows and they get to row every week!” “What is an empty and lonely house at the beginning of the first episode,” adds Laurence. “Turns into an overcrowded one at the end. “What happened in the 20th century is now only a reference point. We pick up where the women are now – middle-‐aged with all the problems of today.” Both Laurence and Maurice – who together have penned many other TV hits including Goodnight Sweetheart, Shine on Harvey Moon and The New Statesman – are incredibly pleased ITV has decided to resurrect the popular comedy. “These three girls are very special,” says Laurence. “There are not many TV series that we have had over the last 50 years where the characters are so special, people can’t wait to see them again. “There are only a handful of shows, and I would cup Only Fools alongside Birds of a Feather, where people will drop things to watch a programme and we hope they will.” Talking passionately about the magical chemistry between the three actresses, Pauline Quirke, Lesley Joseph and Linda Robson, the writers admit they feel very proud. “As soon as you walk into the studio, you can see the magic is there,” reveals Maurice. “A lot of hard work has been put into it but I am very pleased with it. Comedy is really difficult but we have three particularly good actresses.”
He stresses that what has especially provided them both with a great deal of pleasure is the buzz surrounding one of Britain’s best-‐loved comedies in the run-‐up to transmission. “A show made in front of a studio audience is rare these days,” he says. “But what is nice is they are all starting to make a comeback. We believe grown-‐up people, who don’t wear cutting edge jeans or show their knickers off, do want to see shows like this. “I am really proud to be the writer of this show and I am excited too. From doing the theatre show, we realised that people couldn’t get enough of the girls and now it is returning, there is a great deal of buzz. “One only hopes the show meets those expectations. “But when we wrote the first episode for this new series, we wrote it as ‘103’. We are not starting from scratch. Sharon, Tracey and Dorien are already known to so many people.” Given the mounting excitement that Birds of a Feather is returning, do Laurence and Maurice feel under pressure to deliver the best ever series? Both insist they aren’t apprehensive. “I am never nervous,” insists Laurence. “It is a TV show and it will either work or it won’t work. I hope it does and I think it might. “It’s exciting that it is coming back. And when we first started filming, I also felt curious as to how it would be again with the cameras – but the cameras love the girls. “It’s been intriguing, too, returning to television ten years after we first worked. Television has changed a great deal. I don’t know whether that is for better or for worse but it has been a fascinating experience. It’s like arriving in a foreign country and learning the language again as so much has changed. They say the greatest accolade viewers can pay them is to watch again and again. “You can advertise and ask people to watch it, but you can’t make them watch number two if number one is no good,” explains Maurice. “What we want to do is bring a big audience to watch a situation comedy. As for whether Laurence and Maurice, would like the series to run and run again, only time will tell. “If this show is successful, then that is very flattering,” says Maurice. “But we are very proud to be able to wave the flag for the classic form of comedy. The reason why I think classic comedies, like Porridge, Friends or Frasier, work is because people at home are invited to feel part of the audience. We will just have to see how it all goes…”
EPISODE SYNOPSES 1-‐3 (8 episodes in total)
GIMME SHELTER – EPISODE ONE Sharon’s living back in her council flat and Tracey’s still in Chigwell with younger son Travis… but what’s become of Dorien? What can bring the Birds back together? And who else might return to the nest? SLAVE – EPISODE TWO Sharon finds that looking after Dorien’s every wish is a full time job – and with money tight, Sharon and Tracey take Dorien’s designer clothes to a car boot sale to raise funds. But it’s not enough – Dorien will have to start earning too… HOT STUFF – EPISODE THREE Money and space are still tight – and now Tracey can’t ignore that Garth and Marcie aren’t getting any “together time” – so it’s all change in the bedrooms again to give them space…. And after failing to sleep in the lounge, Sharon tries to bed down in the loft. An unexpected discovery might solve all their problems
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Series Creators: LAURENCE MARKS & MAURICE GRAN Writers: LAURENCE MARKS & MAURICE GRAN GARY LAWSON & JOHN PHELPS Producer: JO WILLETT Directors: NICK WOOD DEZ McCARTHY Director of Comedy & Entertainment and Comedy Commissioning Editor, ITV: MYFANWY MOORE Executive Producers: JON ROLPH for Retort/FremantleMedia UK STEVE SHEEN for QuirkyMedia Stuff
Retort is the FremantleMedia UK label specialising in scripted comedy, formed in January 2012 from the Scripted Comedy department of talkbackThames. Retort is the latest incarnation of a company that has produced some of the best and most popular sitcoms and sketch comedy of the last forty years, including ground-breaking and award-winning shows such as Brass Eye (Channel 4), Green Wing (Channel 4), I'm Alan Partridge (BBC Two), Da Ali G Show (Channel 4) and many more. Recent Retort commissions alongside Birds of a Feather include Count Arthur Strong (BBC Two), PhoneShop (E4), and The IT Crowd Special (Channel 4).
Quirky Media Stuff ( QMS) is a diverse media company owned by Pauline Quirke and her husband and manager Steve Sheen. QMS produced two tours of the successful National Stage Play of ' Birds of a Feather' selling out in over 30 venues with a staggering 235 performances! It is the media company for Pauline's Performing Arts academies, putting on 4 shows a year at Her Majesty's Theatre and orchestrating the annual Film festival at the Empire Leicester Square. This year QMS co produced 'Gracies Story' a film about living with bi-polar and has several other projects in development.