I never watch myself on TELEVISION!'

Actor Lesley Joseph admits she usually reaches for the off switch when she appears on screen

- SUE CRAWFORD

She’s forever known as Dorien Green, who had Birds of a Feather fans howling with laughter at her witty one-liners and open-mouthed in shock over her provocative and skimpy dress sense.

The award-winning series ran on and off for 31 years and pulled in audiences of up to 20 million viewers at the height of its popularity, but Lesley Joseph, who created Dorien, confesses she wasn’t one of them.

‘I never watch myself on television,’ she reveals. ‘I’m too critical about the way I look – I look too old, I look big, I look small, I look this or that.

‘I can’t take it. I’d watch Dorien and think, “Ugh, look at her!” I’m very self-critical. I haven’t seen half the episodes of Birds of a Feather.’

Lesley, 76, last played Dorien in a Christmas special in 2020. There has been much debate about whether the show will reunite once more after Lesley was recently pictured enjoying a lunch with her co-stars Linda Robson and Pauline Quirke, but Lesley has firmly ruled that out.

‘To be absolutely honest, I don’t think I want to do anymore,’ she says frankly. ‘I accept that I will always be Dorien in a lot of people’s eyes, but Lesley the actor has a long way still to go towards reaching my dreams.