The Liver Birds and Series 1 starred Pauline Collins as Dawn and Polly James as Beryl Hennessey. In Series 2, Nerys Hughes debuted as Sandra Hutchinson, replacing Dawn for the rest of the programme's run. The Beryl-and-Sandra pairing is generally regarded as the programme's best period. Beryl was the more 'common' one, while Sandra was soft-spoken and more refined, due to the influence of her snobbish, overbearing mother (Mollie Sugden). Carla Lane drew on her own mother for the character – "Mrs Hutchinson, I think she was my mother. I'm sure she was my mother". Beryl's 'common' mother (the Hennesseys live in Bootle,
Polly Walker second series. In 2014, she had a recurring role as the character Delphine Day in the ITV series "Mr Selfridge". In 2015, she appeared in "The Syndicate" as DI Baker. In 2018, Polly starred as Bel, the leading character in "Age Before Beauty". She is one of four siblings. Walker has two children from two previous relationships, Giorgio (b. 1993) and Delilah (b. 2000). She currently lives in the United States. On 23 October 2008, Walker married former actor Laurence Penry-Jones (brother of Rupert Penry-Jones), most famous for his role as Dr. Oliver Berg in the BBC soap "Doctors". Polly