Absolutely Fabulous

Absolutely Fabulous was first broadcast in 1992 and became an instant hit. Originally a sketch on the French and Saunders Show, Jennifer Saunders saw its potential and created one of the most ground-breaking and debauched comedies on British TV. Centred around the hip London fashion scene the series follows Edina (Saunders) and Patsy (Joanna Lumley), two women who refuse to grow up and are constantly on a mission to lose weight, gorging themselves with cocaine and/or champagne, endlessly throwing parties (or throwing up at parties), and sporting outrageous outfits which were the height of fashion at the time--honestly sweetie! The superb comic performances offered star status to Julia Sawalha as Edina's straight-laced daughter and Jane Horrocks as the sublimely dippy Bubble, and re-invented the careers of Joanna Lumley and June Whitfield. Saunders meanwhile secured her status as one of the top female comedians Britain has ever produced. Although its consciously chic clothing looks a little dated now, its mad characterisations endure and the jokes remain as hilariously slick and apt as ever

Everyone knew that Jennifer Saunders was funny from her years of comedy specials with Dawn French as French & Saunders; but who would have thought that Joanna Lumley, previously best known as Patrick Macnee's girl-spy sidekick on The New Avengers, was such a bang-on comedienne? In the second series of Absolutely Fabulous, every appearance of human gargoyle Patsy Stone (Lumley, looking like the mutant love child of Keith Richards and Ivana Trump) is a comic tour de force--she slumps into a room like a marionette with its strings cut, unleashes a rotting-corpse grin or a reptilian scowl, supports Edina in every half-wit scheme and leaches off of her like an intestinal parasite. Series 2 is pretty bang-on throughout and manages to give the characters--Patsy, infantile p.r. agent Edina Monsoon (Saunders), Edina's long-suffering daughter Saffron (Julia Sawalha, Chicken Run), Edina's mother (June Whitfield, co-star of many Carry On movies), and Edina's dimwitted assistant Bubble (Jane Horrocks, Life is Sweet)--greater emotional range without losing an iota of scathing humor. Face-lifts, Morocco, alimony, rebirthing, and the death of Edina's father are all fodder for sharp, unflinching satire. But the core theme of the season is the unhealthily enmeshed friendship between Edina and Patsy, which sparks jealousy and backbiting but, when the chips are down (or the champagne and diet pills running low), an undying loyalty. Truly one of the richest and funniest Britcoms of all time

Ab Fab remains a landmark in TV since it was the first time that female comedians and writers had had the freedom and exposure to satirise problems close to their own heart, from their own perspective. With Feminist writers claiming that the ideals of feminism were dead in the 1990s and that female concerns were moving in the wrong direction--towards the "Laddette Culture"--and reports claiming that careers were taking a central role, forcing motherhood onto the back-burner, the series sought to embody and satirise these new supposedly "female" characteristics. As the show continued to grow in popularity both in Britain and the States, plans were made to transfer the formula to America. However, as with many other great British series, the content was considered too risqu? for American audiences due to the amount of sex and drug references. Thus domestic audiences breathed a sigh of relief that their beloved Ab Fab would stay forever British to the core.

The superb comic performances offered star status to Julia Sawalha as Edina's straight-laced daughter and Jane Horrocks as the sublimely dippy Bubble, and re-invented the careers of Joanna Lumley and June Whitfield. Saunders meanwhile secured her status as one of the top female comedians Britain has ever produced. Although its consciously chic clothing looks a little dated now, its mad characterisations endure and the jokes remain as hilariously slick and apt as ever.

Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley return to create more excessive substance and human abuse in another season of Absolutely Fabulous. The BBC series has become a perverse favorite all over the world as Edina and Patsy continue in their inspired comedic debauchery. This season features eight new episodes with guest appearances by stars Kristin Scott-Thomas, Elton John, Minnie Driver, and Jean-Paul Gaultier.

One of the most popular comedies in BBC history, this wickedly inventive comedy tells the tale of fashion femme fatales Edina (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy (Joanna Lumley), and their endless quest for sex, love and eternal youth. In "The Last Shout," Edina is thrilled to learn that her sweet but frumpy daughter Saffy is engaged to the suave and wealthy Paolo Carlo.

Edina and Patsy are back in this Chistmas special. While Patsy has embarked on a new career as Creative Director and Buyer for Jeremy's, a new concept fashion store, Eddie is becoming increasingly bored with Saffy and Bubble's company. After taking London Fashion Week by storm, Patsy has a new taste for flash photography, frocks and mail models and sets her sights Statesward.
In the meantime, Eddie discovers that her long-lost son, Serge is living somewhere in New York and, despite Saffy's efforts to keep his whereabouts a secret, she also decides to descend on the Big Apple. Eddy is particularly excited about tracking down her son when she discovers that he is gay. But will Serge turn out to be the queen of camp that she has always longed for? Or will he be a square disappointment like Saffy?