The Liver Birds: A 70s Conundrum

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Everyone who grew in the UK in the 70s wants to remember Twiglets, Abba and Hovis Commercials. However, despite its surprisingly ground-breaking social commentary, no one really wants to remember The Liver Birds. Set in Liverpool, The Liver Birds (pronounced "Lie-veh"), which is what all Liverpudlian girls were known as back the day, was a sitcom, set almost entirely indoors in a flat shared by two young women who not only worked, but dated, fought with their parents, and struggled to stay afloat in what was ostensibly still a neanderthal man's world. While not exactly Laverne and Shirley, the show began in 1969 and ran until 1979, with an unsuccessful revival in 1996.

It began with Dawn (Pauline Collins) and Beryl (Polly James) and ran for 5 episodes, but came back in 1970 with Sandra (Nerys Hughes) taking over for Dawn. The Sandra and Beryl days were definitely the heyday for The Liver Birds (and it's Sandra and Beryl you can see in the clip above), though I'm more familiar with later series when Carol, played by Elizabeth Estensen, took over the flat from Beryl.

As a childhood memory, The Liver Birds has all but gone. Nothing more than a group of high-pitched annoying voices and that theme song, penned by Paul McCartney's brother, that just burrows into your brain and eats away you from the inside like something from a bad Star Trek episode. Prior to starting this blog, I'd have said the best thing to come out of The Liver Birds was the Half-Man, Half Biscuit song, I Hate Nerys Hughes.

Looking back on it properly, now, though, the show was actually quite revolutionary. Showing life outside of London, with two independent women (notice in this clip Beryl is only 19 years old) negotiating life on their own in a way women hadn't really done since World War 2. They find their own way though the world of work, romance and family strife with a sense of grit and determination. They aren't tarts, or even really "Dolly Birds", though they have been described that way in many of the other entries I've seen. They paved the way for the women of the 80s and onwards, showing that men weren't necessary for survival. In fact, many of the men who appear in the show are lazy, useless, or socially awkward, especially Carol's brother, who became a show regular in later years and was obsessed with his pet rabbits.

So, try to put aside the horrible sets and lighting, and the theme tune, and some interesting opinions on Chinese food, and let the upbeat quirkiness of The Liver Birds transport you back to a time when no one would look twice at a multi-colored crotchet gilet, or an overabundance of orange floral wallpaper.