suelesmiles This remains one of the best sit coms. It has it all - laugh out loud lines, pathos, an actual plot, excellent acting and very good scripts. It is easy to watch and so very enjoyable even after all these years.Tracey and Sharon, with their neighbour Dorian have changed in attitude and especially size, over the years and have actually aged like real people. Their problems have altered slightly but the sisters are always short of money while Dorian seems to have more and more - usually. Tracey's boys add to the story while remaining as side plots. This is a show you can sit down to for a truly enjoyable half hour that will ensure huge laughs, many smiles and some knowing nodding of head in agreement.

RaspberryLucozade 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'.

buddyboy28 I loved this show as a kid and now thanks to the fans and their petitions to have the DVD's released, I've had a chance to see it again in all it's glory and I still love it. Brilliant stuff. Modern sitcoms just can't compare. Pauline Quirke,Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph were perfect as the three leads and the dialogue was top notch. The humour has not dated one bit, it still seems fresh, probably offensive to the over sensitive politically correct. Some of the episodes are filled with non-stop funny lines, so much so I have to rewind it back sometimes to catch a line I've missed because I have been laughing so hard. The biggest compliment to the writers and the performers is how it stayed grounded in reality in many series. And this was right from the very first episode. It was never afraid to have long gaps without laughter or to become quite sad at times. There's so many classic episodes and situations, that it's impossible to list them all. It was getting millions of viewers in the years it was on TV but it's kind of a forgotten show now which is sad, especially when the vastly overrated Only Fools and Horses gets continuous praise. This show is a gem that should be re-discovered. You'll fall in love with the characters, laugh with them and feel for them. Cheers to the writers and creators Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran for this gem. 10/10.

indieadam Haven't seen this show for a very long time but i can remember watching it when i was a lot longer and i can remember it being very funny and cleverly written, it has a very low score, I'm convinced its because the show is not known outside the UK and this is a US web site. The actors performed well and the plot was slightly outlandish but yet believable which made the show very believable. The whole class war thing also worked well at the time, however I'm not sure if it would be quite as important in todays world. But for the time this was an good quality show that although had 102 episodes seemed to continue its quality.