Birds of a Feather - You Can't Always Get What You Want - 04:25 am Monday, December 22 on That's TV 2

Pauline Quirke (Actor) .. Sharon Theodopolopodous

Born: July 08, 1958 in London

Best Known For: Playing Sharon in Birds of a Feather.

Early-life: Pauline Perpetua Quirke was born on July 8, 1959, in London. Along with her siblings Sean and Kitty, she was raised by her mother Hetty in a tenement flat with no hot running water. At the age of nine, she joined a drama club arranged by her English teacher and started winning small parts in children's TV shows and Dixon of Dock Green. This led to bigger roles in series such as ITV's You Must Be Joking. In 1976 she was given her own show, Pauline's Quirkes.

Career: In 1980 she made a brief appearance in The Elephant Man. Bigger roles came in Shine on Harvey Moon and Angels. In 1989, she was cast in the sitcom Birds of a Feather alongside best friend Linda Robson; it ran for nine years. In 1996, Quirke earned critical acclaim for her role in psychological drama The Sculptress, and was praised for her performance as a bereaved mother in Our Boy. She also appeared in Office Gossip, Real Women, Maisie Raine, Being April, Down to Earth and The Thieving Headmistress before having a two-year stint in Emmerdale. While appearing in the Yorkshire-based soap her character underwent the trauma of losing a son, which coincided with the actress losing six-and-a-half stone in weight. She's since starred in Broadchurch and the ITV revival of Birds of a Feather.

Quote: On nearing her target weight of 11 stone: "I won't put myself through any surgical procedures if there's an alternative. It's all manageable. I've never been hungry."

Trivia: Quirke suffers from osteoarthritis and has had a hip replaced. She suffers from stage fright. Her son, Charlie, plays Travis in Birds of a Feather.

Linda Robson (Actor) .. Tracey Stubbs

Born: March 13, 1958 in Islington

Best Known For: Playing Tracey in Birds of a Feather.

Early-life: Born Linda Patricia Mary Robson in Islington on March 13, 1958. She attended the fee-paying Anna Scher Theatre School. One of her early acting roles on TV was in a non-speaking part as young girl in 1976 BBC drama Survivors. In the same year, she appeared alongside Pauline Quirke for the first time in Pauline's Quirkes, a magazine-style show for teenagers.

Career: Robson's big break came in 1982 when she took on the part of Maggie in popular ITV comedy drama Shine on Harvey Moon. She reprised the role in 1995 in a revived version of the series. She also appeared in IRA drama Harry's Game. She became a household name in 1989 after landing the part of Tracey Stubbs in BBC sitcom Birds of a Feather, alongside Pauline Quirke and Lesley Joseph. The hugely popular series ran for 102 episodes until 1998. She returned to the role of Tracey in a touring version of the sitcom in 2012, and again when the show was revived in 2014. She is a Loose Women panellist and has appeared in a number of reality TV programmes, including Come Dine With Me, the Weakest Link and Comic Relief Does Fame Academy. In 2012, she was a contestant on I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

Quote: "I tend not to worry about the future and instead I spend whatever I've got."

Trivia: In November 2014, Robson was a part of Gareth Malone's 'All Star Choir', which recorded a cover version of Wake Me Up to raise money for the BBC's Children in Need. It reached No.1 on the Official UK Singles Chart.

Lesley Joseph (Actor) .. Dorien Green

Born: October 14, 1945 in London

Best Known For: Birds of a Feather.

Early-life: Lesley Diana Joseph was born in London on October 14, 1945 and grew up in Northampton. At the age of seven, she made her stage debut in Hansel and Gretel at the New Theatre in Northampton. After training to be an actor at Lamda, she spent several years playing an assortment of roles at the Northcott Theatre in Exeter.

Career: Joseph made her TV debut in a 1974 episode of Wendy Craig-fronted sitcom And Mother Makes Five. She went on to make appearances in Sadie, It's Cold Outside, The Knowledge and Minder. Her big break came in 1989 when she was cast as man-eater Dorien Green in popular sitcom Birds of a Feather. It ran on the BBC until 1998 but it returned in 2012 as a stage version. The interest generated by the stage version led to ITV commissioning a new series which began airing in January 2014. Away from Birds of a Feather, Joseph has also starred in ITV soap Night and Day, appeared in a number of pantomimes, been a regular guest on Loose Women and co-hosted a radio show on BBC London 94.9 with Christopher Biggins. In 2015, she was a contestant on ITV's celebrity sheepdog trials programme Flockstars.

Quote: "Some people say there are fewer parts for older actresses, but it doesn't seem that way at the moment. I think there has been a renaissance for older women."

Trivia: Joseph supports Tottenham Hotspur.

Charlie Quirke (Actor) .. Travis Stubbs

Matt Willis (Actor) .. Garth Stubbs

Born: May 08, 1983 in London

Best Known For: Busted and winning I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!

Early-life: Mathew James Willis was born in London on May 8, 1983. He has an older brother, Darren. As a child, Matt suffered from brittle bone disease, tunnel vision, asthma and hyperactivity. He went on to attend the Sylvia Young Theatre School. Matt found early success as a bassist and vocalist with pop-rock band Busted alongside James Bourne and Charlie Simpson. They sold more than four million albums worldwide before breaking up in 2005 when Simpson wanted to pursue other projects.

Career: Willis released his debut album, Don't Let It Go to Waste, in 2006. In the same year, he won I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! Since then, he has presented shows for ITV2, starred in West End musicals Footloose and Wicked, and had roles on TV in Birds of a Feather and EastEnders. In 2014, Willis returned to music by touring with James Bourne and members of McFly under the name McBusted.

Quote: "I was a party boy, I drank a lot and had a good time. I would drink all the time and after three days, I would forget the words to our songs."

Trivia: Willis was admitted to The Priory in 2005 for alcohol abuse and re-admitted a year later for an addiction to cannabis.

Judith Barker (Actor) .. Sadie

Judy Cornwell (Actor) .. Annie

Adam Astill (Actor) .. Julian

Anna Skellern (Actor) .. Sasha

Lorraine Kelly (Actor) .. Herself

Born: November 30, 1959 in Glasgow

Best Known For: Her friendly on-screen manner.

Early-life: Born November 30, 1959, in Gorbals, Glasgow, but later moved with her family to East Kilbride. Her dad John was a TV repairman. She claims her family were far from being well-off, and that her first home had no running water, phone, bath or shower. After passing her Scottish Highers, she was expected to take up a place at university to study Russian and English, but turned it down to take a job on her local newspaper, the East Kilbride News, instead.

Career: Kelly was a news reporter before landing a position as a TV researcher for BBC Scotland in 1983. It was not well paid and she worked as a waitress in the evenings to make ends meet. Despite once being told that her Glasgow accent would prevent her from gaining small screen success she joined TV-am as its senior Scottish correspondent in 1985, but didn't become a household name until she became co-host of Good Morning Britain in 1990. She's hosted her own weekday morning show since 1994; it's been known by various titles but is currently called Lorraine. Other projects include a Sky One show, a regular column for The Sun and her own fitness videos, as well as guest hosting Have I Got News For You and The Paul O'Grady Show. She began co-hosting Daybreak with Aled Jones in May 2012.

Quote: "Being thought of as a sex symbol is hilarious and deeply, deeply flattering."

Trivia: Kelly is a patron of the Association for International Cancer Research.

Rupert Vansittart (Actor) .. Counsel

Rachel Bell (Actor) .. Judge

Laurence Marks (Writer)

Maurice Gran (Writer)

Dez McCarthy (Director)

Jo Willett (Producer)

Jon Rolph (Executive producer)

Steve Sheen (Executive producer)

Birds of a Feather: You Can't Always Get What You Want

04:25 am - 04:45 am, Monday, December 22 on That's TV 2 (65)

About this Broadcast

You Can't Always Get What You Want
Season 10, Episode 8

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