Birds of a Feather is a British sitcom originally broadcast on BBC One from 16 October 1989 to 24 December 1998, then revived on ITV from 2 January 2014 to 24 December 2020. The series stars Pauline Quirke and Linda Robson, with Lesley Joseph. It was created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, who also wrote many of the episodes.
In the first episode, sisters Sharon and Tracey are brought together when their husbands are sent to prison for armed robbery. Sharon, who lives in an Edmonton council flat, moves into Traceys upmarket house in Chigwell, Essex. Their next-door neighbour and later friend Dorien, is a middle-aged married Jewish woman who is constantly having affairs with younger men. In the last two BBC series, the location is changed to nearby Hainault, London, before returning to Chigwell in series 10 (the first aired on ITV).
The series original run ended on 24 December 1998 after nine years, and returned just over 15 years later, on 2 January 2014 (this time on ITV) for a tenth series.[1][2] The opening episode of the new series attracted almost eight million viewers, giving ITV its highest-rated comedy since Barbara in 2000.[3] A further two series were broadcast, followed by two Christmas specials.[4][5] There was a further Christmas special in 2020, where Pauline Quirke did not appear due to her decision to take a step back from acting, in order to focus on her performing arts academy.[6]
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Synopsis edit
The phrase “birds of a feather flock together,” which refers to people who have comparable personalities, histories, passions, or worldviews, is where the title originates.
Opening titles edit
In the first series opening theme, Quirke and Robson were seen walking toward the screen through multiple spotlights while wearing black skirts and white shirts. They rotated and Quirke and Robson sat back to back as they reached the screen. Quirke and Robson performed an extended rendition of the theme song at the end. And as the credits rolled to the left of the screen, it showed Quirke and Robson making their way to and from the screen while passing through the spot lights.
The opening theme for Series 2 was the same as for Series 1, but it included images of Sharon and Tracey as they grew older.
- Sharon and Tracey as babies, could be toddlers.
- When they were young children (the closing theme features this stage of their lives)
- As children, grown up
- From this photo onward, Quirke and Robson are the ones who appear in the images as teenagers.
- As young adults
- As adults on Traceys wedding day. From this picture onwards, the pictures are in colour.
- As adults on Sharons wedding day.
- As adults, now as they appear in the series.
For the picture transition, the pictures faded. The final image persisted until the whole screen transitioned into the episode.
In the video for the closing theme, young actors playing the roles of Sharon and Tracey are shown in the second picture of the opening theme eating ice cream and chasing each other in a park. Tracey also tries to get Sharon to play, jumps down some steps, and looks through a railing to a pond. The clip concludes with Sharon and Tracey waving goodbye and running away from the screen together.
Quirke and Robson performed an updated rendition of the song during Series 3. Robson sang the first verse and Quirke the last in the opening theme; in the closing theme, the roles were reversed. The opening and closing themes from series two were featured in the same video.
An abridged version of the song served as the episode’s theme. Before singing the final line together, “That wont come true, whatll I do?” Quirke and Robson sang separate verses.
The theme is rearranged by Dave Arch to go with a new title sequence that incorporates several of the s from the previous series titles along with a new image of the sisters and Dorien that is formatted to look like slides, frames, and s seen through a camera view screen. The opening sequence features a clip from an old episode that has been altered to appear like a home video recording, along with the video sequence from the original closing credits. The program alternates between the old end credits video and the commercial break. Joseph now sings in the opening titles alongside Quirke and Robson, and it was confirmed prior to broadcast in an online interview with Whatsontv that the opening titles have been slightly updated with new s. [citation needed].
The theme tune is played in its previous arrangement, but only Robson’s lines are sung because Quirke isn’t in this episode. As a result, the theme tune is shortened. Instead of the s of Sharon and Tracey, a dark blue background displays the writers’ credits and the title of the program, with only Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph listed. When the show switches between commercial breaks, the old video of Sharon and Tracey is not displayed.
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