Birds of a Feather

- Season 8

(1998)

Sharon and Tracey are working at a casino and agree to take part in a publicity stunt in which Sharon 'appears' to win a million pounds. The sisters are unaware that they have been set up as thieves by the owner, crooked Davey Cooper, who is in league with a bent cop. The plan is that the girls get the blame and are arrested whilst Cooper pockets the million. Sharon and Tracey go on the run, helped by their niece Dawn, who is getting married, culminating in a chase where Sharon, in a wedding dress, Tracey, and Dorien - who just happens to number Davey among the ...

Sharon turns into one of the lads when she gets a job as a porter in a abattoir and Tracey feels used until Sharon tells her she got sacked for stealing meat to help Tracey and her unborn baby out. Dorien prepares for her flat-warming party but unfortunately for her none of the guests bother to show up.

The sisters start work as cleaners with a view to setting up their own cleaning company. However Sharon is not feeling well and goes to hospital. She believes that she may be suffering from an allergy but her illness is actually due to her over-eating.

Sharon and Tracey want to set up their cleaning business the Maids of Ongar but the manager of the bank their husbands robbed is not keen to provide the loan. Dorien is prepared to put up the cash if she is cut in as a partner, and gives the sisters a test - which they pass with flying colours - and the business is born.

Some things never change, as the sisters discover at their school reunion where Tracey - literally - exposes Poxy Loxy as the class sleaze and erstwhile bully Margie Harris still manages to torment Sharon, even though she is now in a wheel-chair. For Dorien, however, things do change. Her handsome young Luke, whom she re-encounters, has gone off her so she treats the girls to a night out instead.

When Tracey goes for her pre-natal check-up the doctor agrees with her that Sharon should go on a diet, which she does until she discovers that Chris has fallen for Josie, his amply-proportioned prison visitor. Dorien also reneges on her efforts to dress more her age when she finds that, for new beau Richard, less is more and hunky young Dominic, the new cleaner, has all the ladies crying out for more - massages.

Garth's endowment policy, started when he was a baby, has matured but Tracey spends it on herself, leaving him to use credit cards to buy into the restaurant where he is now a chef. Tracey makes it up to him after she and Sharon visit the restaurant for a meal and defend him against a loud-mouthed diner, though it is Dorien, whose efforts to bond with Richard's stroppy kids at the next table are failing, who saves the day.