Linda Robson has admitted to being ‘envious’ of her co-star and close friend Pauline Quirke’s success as she landed huge roles after Birds of a Father

Linda Robson has opened up about “feeling envious” of her close friend Pauline Quirke’s success after they starred in Birds of a Feather.

On the latest episode of the Loose Women podcast, Linda Robson and Jane Moore took to the hot seat, where they discussed jealousy in friendships.

As the pair received a dilemma from a listener, asking if it was “normal” to be jealous of their friend’s successes, Jane asked Linda: “What about you and Pauline Quirke? You’ve known each other since you were ten years old. You’ve both been in the business, so were there ever times when you felt a bit jealous of your success?”

Linda and Pauline shot to fame when they starred in beloved sitcom Birds of a Feather together (Image: ITV)

Linda then responded: “I won’t say that I felt jealous of her success, but sometimes I thought, ‘Oh, I’d love to have a part like that,’ because she’d done some amazing things in the past like Broadchurch and lots of other different things.”

She continued: “So, I’ve never been jealous of it but I just often thought I’d have loved to have gotten that part myself, and I’ve even told her that as well.” Clarifying, Jane said: “So envious rather than jealous?” as Linda agreed.

It comes after Linda opened up about feeling “really emotional” when Pauline Quirke’s son gave an update on her dementia battle.

Pauline’s husband Steve Sheen announced the 61-year-old was retiring from public life in January. It came after she was first diagnosed with dementia in 2021.

Linda admitted to being ‘envious’ of Pauline’s success after Birds of a Feather (Image: BBC)

Speaking on The Podcast, Linda said: “Charlie rang me and just said she is doing really, really well at the moment. Sometimes she has down days but at the moment she is quite up about everything.

“He said they got really, really excited when she said, ‘Here, where’s my mate Linda Robson?’ So I got quite emotional when he told me that as well.”

Back in February, Maurice Gran, co-writer of Birds of a Feather, explained Pauline was experiencing trouble recognising her own family members.

Linda and Pauline met when they were ten years old, and starred appeared together on Pauline’s comedy sketch show Pauline’s Quirkes in 1976, back when they were still both teenagers.

Over a decade later, the pair shot to fame with beloved sitcom Birds of a Feather, in which they played Sharon Theodopolopodous and Tracey Stubbs – sisters who are brought together after their husbands are both imprisoned for armed robbery.