Lesley Joseph Lesley Joseph Lesley Diana Joseph (born 14 October 1945) is an English actress and broadcaster, best known for playing Dorien Green in the television sitcom "Birds of a Feather" from 1989 to 1998, and again since 2014. Other television credits include "Absurd Person Singular" (1985) and "Night and Day" (2001–03). Her stage roles include UK touring productions of "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (2005), "Calendar Girls" (2011) and "Annie" (2015). In 2018, she was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, for the original West End production of "Young Frankenstein". Joseph was born in Hackney, London and
Sitcom The effect of a live studio audience can be imitated or enhanced by the use of a laugh track. During filming productions, the laugh track is usually prerecorded. The terms "situational comedy" or "sitcom" were not commonly used until the 1950s. There were prior examples on radio, but the first television sitcom is said to be "Pinwright's Progress", ten episodes being broadcast on the BBC in the United Kingdom between 1946 and 1947. In the United States, director and producer William Asher has been credited with being the "man who invented the sitcom", having directed over two dozen of the