Birds of a Feather
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Birds of a Feather is the name of a successful situation comedy shown on BBC1 in the United Kingdom between 1989 and 1998.
The premise revolved around two sisters, the archly named Sharon (Pauline Quirke) and Tracey (Linda Robson) whose lives had taken very different routes. The former had married a loser husband and lived on a council estate whilst the latter had risen through society to reach the status of a pampered housewife in suburban Essex. When the women's husbands are convicted and imprisoned for armed robbery, Sharon moves in with Tracey and eight years of prime time sitcom material followed.
The third main member of the cast was Lesley Joseph who played Dorian, a sexually voracious aging trophy wife and neighbour to Tracey. Reminding the viewer of a poor man's Joan Collins, Dorian's lusty excursions and stereotypical Jewish mannerisms are generally the most fondly remembered elements of the series.
The comedy was largely derived from the culture clash between the two sisters, Dorian's love life, her cuckolded husband and the earthy language in the banter between Quirke and Robson, who were close friends in real life. The show's audience was almost exclusively female and its lack of comedic pretension and occasional dramatic moments put it in the same category and audience demographic as Bread, Butterflies and Just Good Friends. In spite of all this it was enormously successful both in Britain and foreign sales. An American remake, called Stand by Your Man was made starring Rosie O'Donnell but limped to a close after just a few episodes.
The series was devised and originally written by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran who must also take responsibility for much of what Britain offers in the vein of Jewish humour. Following the explosive success however, the franchise was taken on by numerous other writers.