Channel 5 celebrate Birds of a Feather

In a ninety-minute celebration, Channel 5 tonight take a look back to the sitcom Birds of a Feather.

The celebratory documentary revisits some favourite moments, takes a look behind the scenes and explores just what made some twenty million of us tune in week after week during its original run on BBC One. The comedy focused on the lives of two sisters, Sharon – played by Pauline Quirke – and Tracey – played by Linda Robson. One has found herself well-off living in a grand house in Chigwell and the other is down on her luck residing in a council flat in Edmonton. The two are brought together when their husbands are jailed for armed robbery. Sharon moves in with Tracey in her Chigwell abode, but randy, snobby and nosey neighbour Dorien – played by Lesley Joseph – is never far away.

Featuring rarely seen behind-the-scenes footage and unique insights from the stars including Lesley Joseph and Linda Robson, we learn who suffered from such bad stage fright she would vomit before each studio recording, what the pre-filming rituals were and who got chased into a loo for their autograph by an overzealous fan.

Series producer Esta Charkham and writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran fill viewers in on the battles the show faced to include groundbreaking, gritty scenes, why the BBC received numerous calls of complaint after the first episode aired, and how Dorien got her “look”. The show also hears from celebrity fans including Linda Lusardi, Nina Myskow and Kelle Bryan on their favourite moments and characters.

Birds of a Feather launched on BBC One in 1989 and ran until 1998. It returned to screens in 2014 this time on ITV, with the last episode airing in 2020. Pauline Quirke and Linda Robson had been pals since their teens and appeared on a number of shows together prior to the sitcom including Pauline’s Quirks (Thames TV for ITV) and Shine on Harvey Moon (ATV/Central for ITV).

Birds of a Feather: 30 Years of Laughs, Channel 5, 8.25pm