BIRDS OF A FEATHER PRESS INFORMATION

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1 BIRDS OF A FEATHER PRESS INFORMATION CONTENTS ON EMBARGO OF SATURDAY 6TH DECEMBER 2014 ITV Press Contact Gary Smith on gary.smith@itv.com

2 BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLY AGAIN ON ITV Hit comedy Birds of a Feather returns to ITV this Christmas with a festive special followed by a brand new series. The revival of the series, produced for ITV by Retort (part of FremantleMedia UK) and QuirkyMedia Stuff attracted audiences of up to 9.5 million earlier this year making it ITV s most successful comedy launch in over a decade. The series averaged 8 million viewers based on consolidated overnights. The new series will again feature the original cast of Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph as Sharon Theodopolopodous, Tracey Stubbs and Dorien Green. Charlie Quirke returns as Travis Stubbs with Samuel James joining the cast playing Garth Stubbs. Original writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran with Gary Lawson and John Phelps will once again write the eight part series with Susan Nickson also penning an episode. Maurice said: "We're delighted Birds of a Feather was such a success on ITV and we hope the further adventures of Sharon, Tracey and Dorien will continue to thrill audiences young and old." ITV s Director of Comedy and Entertainment Elaine Bedell said We re very pleased that the brilliant chemistry between these three great actresses attracted the large and loyal audience that Birds of A Feather deserves. The writers and producers have done a fantastic job in making the show feel funny, fresh and relevant. Birds Of A Feather has been commissioned for ITV by Elaine Bedell, ITV s Director of Comedy and Entertainment and Saskia Schuster, ITV s Comedy Commissioner. Saskia says "The success of Birds of a Feather earlier this year proves viewers still have an appetite for the original Essex girls. This new series is brilliantly written with some great adventures for the Chigwell trio. It is a co- production between Retort, FremantleMedia UK s scripted comedy label and QuirkyMedia Stuff for ITV and will be Executive Produced by Jon Rolph and Steve Sheen.

3 Sharon Theodopolopodous played by Pauline Quirke Sharon always says and does exactly what she s thinking even when she shouldn t. She s envious of Tracey s comfortable life, always feeling like the inferior sister but it s given her the chip on her shoulder that she wears like a badge of honour. We re absolutely delighted to be back! it s a really good series with fantastic scripts and storylines for the characters.and we have a lovely new Garth. We were surprised at how well the new series performed earlier this year. With so many channels available to people nowadays it was very humbling that people sat down as a family to watch Birds of a Feather. We have some big changes for Sharon this series: no romance - - in fact no romances for any of the characters - - but we do learn something very interesting about Sharon. I do feel sorry for our director at times as we re always gossiping when we re together: at the moment it s what we re buying for Christmas! At the end of the day, though, we get the work done and we re all very professional on set. We re all there for each other and we absolutely love this show. If we could have any guest star on the show I d love it to be Curtis Stigers or Victoria Beckham!.

4 Tracey Stubbs played by Linda Robson Tracey s the perennial home- bird wanting the best for her boys, but not necessarily for herself. She d like nothing more than to play happy families with her two sons, but it s never as easy as that I m beyond happy to be back! We re so pleased the last series was received well by viewers - - and the scripts are great this year. We find out a lot more about each character this year, and there s lots of drama, especially in the last 2 episodes. We do laugh a lot on the set and we re always giggling when we re together it s like going to work with your best mate everyday. The poor director never gets a word in edgeways, but we do take it seriously and always work hard on the scripts. If we could have any guest star on Birds I d plump for Sean Bean. I d love Tracey to have a fling with him and a nice bed scene!

5 Dorien Green played by Lesley Joseph Dorien still loves the high life and hangs on to her idea of eternal youth. She s enjoying being back in Chigwell with the girls as well as developing Foxy Cohen s next chapter. I m absolutely thrilled to be back, we all are. It s like a family working on this show, we all know each other so well. Birds of a Feather is an absolute joy to work on. It s always a risk bringing a show back, especially after 15 years off screen and we were so nervous before the first episode transmitted earlier this year. We were so happy everyone enjoyed it. This new series delivers a few hidden secrets for Dorien, and she s still clinging onto her youth. We see more layers of the Dorien character stripped away this series, in the new scripts which are great. Working on Birds is like the biggest Christmas gift that keeps on giving. We are relaxed on set and have fun but that s only because we know the characters so well: we know how each other works and it makes for a such a great team. If I could have any guest on Birds it would be George Clooney. I m so jealous Downton Abbey have nabbed him!.

Travis Stubbs played by Charlie Quirke He may be the younger of the Stubbs brothers but he often acts like the older one when it comes to keeping Garth in check with his latest grand schemes.

6 Travis Stubbs played by Charlie Quirke He may be the younger of the Stubbs brothers but he often acts like the older one when it comes to keeping Garth in check with his latest grand schemes. Sadly, he doesn t have much luck with the ladies. I m thrilled to be back with everyone and I love having Sam here who now plays Garth! We bonded straight away. I knew the original series was popular but it was so great to see the fans are still out there. This series we see Travis still fail with the ladies: he s hopeless! We also see the brotherly bond between Garth and Travis in some great stories. I think Travis is the kind of glue in the family. The mood on set is such good fun. We often get into hysterics - - but we get the job done: we re a bit more serious on shoot days.

7 Garth Stubbs played by Samuel James Although he s now an adult he s still trying to get his life together, and flits from one venture to another. He has sadly split with Australian Marcie who featured in the first ITV series, and though he s more successful with the ladies than his younger brother Travis, we ll have to wait for him to find the right one. I was absolutely over the moon to land the role of Garth. When I found out, I went screaming around my living room!. After the initial shock and excitement of landing the role, the nerves then took over and I realised I was joining this iconic television programme that s been on air for over 25 years!. Since I joined it s been a dream come true job: they ve all taken me under their wing, and it s like one big family. I remember watching the original BBC series. It was appointment to view television every week. Sadly I didn t see the last series when it was on as I was touring in a play, but I ve since caught up with episodes. If I could have any guest star on Birds it would have to be Sid James! I know he s no longer with us but I grew up on the Carry On films and he s a comedy legend. He d be brilliant in Chigwell.

8 EPISODE GUIDE 1-2 EPISODE ONE FESTIVE SPECIAL Birds On A Plane by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran Dorien is treating Sharon and Tracey to a Christmas trip to the Canaries! But with Tracey s fear of flying, Sharon s hopes for adventure and Dorien s eagerness for anything in trousers will it be plane sailing? EPISODE TWO There s Something About Sharon by Gary Lawson and John Phelps Dorien gets the idea that Sharon could be the heroine for her next book - - and Tracey s got her hands full with a despondent Garth. EPISODE THREE- EIGHT AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

9 PRODUCTION CREDITS Series Creators: LAURENCE MARKS & MAURICE GRAN Writers: LAURENCE MARKS & MAURICE GRAN GARY LAWSON & JOHN PHELPS SUSAN NICKSON Producer: HUMPHREY BARCLAY Director: MARTIN DENNIS Director of Comedy & Entertainment for ITV: ELAINE BEDELL Comedy Commissioning Editor for ITV: SASKIA SCHUSTER Executive Producers: JON ROLPH for Retort (FremantleMedia UK) STEVE SHEEN for QuirkyMedia Stuff

10 Retort is the FremantleMedia UK label specialising in scripted comedy, formed in January 2012 from the Scripted Comedy department of talkbackthames. Retort is the latest incarnation of a company that has produced some of the best and most popular sitcoms and sketch comedy of the last forty years, including ground-breaking and awardwinning shows such as Brass Eye (Channel 4), Green Wing (Channel 4), I'm Alan Partridge (BBC Two), Da Ali G Show (Channel 4) and many more. Recent Retort commissions alongside Birds of a Feather include Count Arthur Strong (BBC Two), PhoneShop (E4), and The IT Crowd Special (Channel 4). Quirky Media Stuff ( QMS) is a diverse media company owned by Pauline Quirke and her husband and manager Steve Sheen. QMS produced two tours of the successful National Stage Play of ' Birds of a Feather' selling out in over 30 venues with a staggering 235 performances! It is the media company for Pauline's Performing Arts academies, putting on 4 shows a year at Her Majesty's Theatre and orchestrating the annual Film festival at the Empire Leicester Square. This year QMS co produced 'Gracies Story' a film about living with bi-polar and has several other projects in development.

Birds of a Feather Press Pack EMBARGOED FROM USE UNTIL TUESDAY 22 DECEMBER 2015

EMBARGOED FROM USE UNTIL TUESDAY 22 DECEMBER 2015 Birds of a Feather Press Pack January 2016 Contents Press Release 3-4 Cast Interviews 5-9 Episode Guide 10 THE BIRDS FLY AGAIN! This Winter on ITV, hit