| Absolutely Fabulous: 20th Anniversary | |
|---|---|
| Season 20 | |
 Region 2 DVD cover | |
| Starring | |
| No. of episodes | 3 |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Original release | 25 December 2011 – 23 July 2012 |
| Season chronology | |
Absolutely Fabulous: 20th Anniversary (also known as Ab Fab at 20) is a set of three special episodes of the British television sitcom Absolutely Fabulous . It was broadcast on BBC One between 25 December 2011 and 23 July 2012 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the series, which debuted in 1992.
| No. overall | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37 | "Identity" | Mandie Fletcher | Jennifer Saunders | 25 December 2011 | 9.07 [1] | |
Edina collects Saffron from prison, where she served two years for (unknowingly) providing asylum seekers with forged passports. Saffron later invites a former cellmate, Baron, to the house, but it is soon revealed that Baron was once Patsy's drug dealer and Patsy still owes her £50,000; Baron refuses to leave until the debt is repaid. In order to obtain the money, Saffron convinces Patsy to claim her pension, forcing her to own up to her actual age. Realising she has no official documents, Patsy begins to question her own existence—until Mother presents Patsy's old Post Office savings book. After going to the benefits office with Edina, Patsy finally pays off her debt to Baron. | ||||||
| 38 | "Job" | Mandie Fletcher | Jennifer Saunders | 1 January 2012 | 7.97 [2] | |
When Saffron berates Edina for being lazy and incompetent, Edina and Patsy decide to impress her by booking her favourite French film star, Jeanne Durand, to perform at the Royal Albert Hall. However, they are dismayed when Jeanne refuses to sing aloud and instead merely mouths the lyrics. As a solution, Jeanne lip-syncs to Bubble's vocals on the night of the concert. | ||||||
| 39 | "Olympics" | Mandie Fletcher | Jennifer Saunders | 23 July 2012 [3] [4] | 6.38 [2] | |
Edina decides to rent out her house to Michael Douglas during the Summer Olympics, hoping it will lead to prestigious A-list parties, even though Patsy—who now needs incontinence pants—no longer shares Edina's penchant for partying. However, Bo and Marshall arrive instead, after Michael gave the couple his party invitations. Frustrated with her dwindling social life, Edina happens upon one of Michael's invitations, allowing her and Patsy to attend a pre-Olympics party. The pair are eventually escorted out after Edina harasses Stella McCartney. Note: This episode stands as the final episode of Absolutely Fabulous, as it was announced by Jennifer Saunders in 2016 that no more series or specials will be produced, with the 2016 film concluding the franchise. | ||||||
Absolutely Fabulous: 20th Anniversary was broadcast in the United States simultaneously on BBC America and Logo, and in Australia on ABC1.
| No. | Title | Broadcast date | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Logo (U.S.) | BBC America (U.S.) | ABC1 (AUS) | ||
| 1 | Identity | 8 January 2012 [5] | 8 February 2012 [6] | |
| 2 | Job | 6 February 2012 | 12 February 2012 | 15 February 2012 |
| 3 | Olympics | 25 July 2012 [7] [8] | ||
| Episode | UK viewers | AUS viewers | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | Rank | Rating | Rank | |
1 | 9.070,000 [9] | 8 [9] | 654,000 [10] | 13 [10] |
2 | 7.970,000 [11] | 10 [11] | 584,000 [12] | 17 [12] |
3 | 6.380,000 [13] | 8 [13] | — | — |
Michael Hogan of The Daily Telegraph gave the specials a negative review; following the "Olympics" episode, he commented, "The special Olympic edition of Absolutely Fabulous [...] would have won no medals for comedy." He added, "This was the last of three 20th anniversary specials, the first pair of which were shown over Christmas. Every single one of those 20 years showed on-screen during this torturous half-hour." [14]
In a more favourable review, Meredith Blake of The A.V. Club stated, "While longtime AbFab fans will enjoy this latest incarnation of the series, which has been reprised multiple times since its official end in 1995, 'Identity' most definitely isn't for AbFab neophytes, who will most likely be confused by the broad performances, the outré costumes, and the disembodied canned laughter." [15]
In 2012, Jennifer Saunders received the BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance [16] for her portrayal as Edina Monsoon following the first two specials.
The 20th Anniversary specials have been released on DVD, first in the United Kingdom on 30 July 2012, [17] and then in Australia on 16 August 2012, [18] and in the United States on 11 September 2012. [19]
Additionally, the specials are available as part of complete collection sets including "Absolutely Fabulous: Absolutely All of It!", released 5 November 2013 in the United States, [20] and "Absolutely Fabulous: Absolutely Everything − The Definitive Edition", released in both the United Kingdom, on 17 March 2014, [21] and in Australia on 30 April 2014. [22]
Absolutely Fabulous is a British television sitcom based on the French and Saunders sketch "Modern Mother and Daughter", created by Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. The show was created and written by Saunders, who also stars as one of the main characters. Its cast includes Joanna Lumley and Julia Sawalha.
Dame June Rosemary Whitfield was an English radio, television and film actress.
Dame Joanna Lamond Lumley is a British actress, presenter, former model, author, television producer, and activist. She has won two BAFTA TV Awards for her role as Patsy Stone in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous (1992–2012), and was nominated for the 2011 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for the Broadway revival of La Bête. In 2013, she received the Special Recognition Award at the National Television Awards, and in 2017 she was honoured with the BAFTA Fellowship award.
Jennifer Jane Saunders is an English actress, comedian, singer, and screenwriter. Saunders originally found attention in the 1980s, when she became a member of The Comic Strip after graduating from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama with her best friend and comedy partner, Dawn French. With French, she co-wrote and starred in their eponymous sketch show, French and Saunders, for which they jointly received a BAFTA Fellowship in 2009. Saunders later received acclaim in the 1990s for writing and playing her character Edina Monsoon in her sitcom Absolutely Fabulous.
French and Saunders is a British sketch comedy television series written by and starring comedy duo and namesake Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders that originally broadcast on BBC2 from 1987 to 1993, and later on BBC One until 2017. It is also the name by which the performers are known when they appear elsewhere as a double act. The show was given one of the highest budgets in BBC history to create detailed spoofs and satires of popular culture, movies, celebrities, and art. French and Saunders continued to film holiday specials for the BBC, and both have been individually successful starring in other shows.
Julia Sawalha is an English actress. She is best known for playing Saffron "Saffy" Monsoon in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous (1992–2012). Her other television roles include as Lynda Day in Press Gang (1989–1993), as Hannah Greyshott in Second Thoughts (1991–1994), and its sequel series, Faith in the Future (1995–1998), Lydia Bennet in the television miniseries of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (1995), Georgina and Kid's vocal effects in Sheeep (2000–2001), Carla Borrego in Jonathan Creek (2001–2004), and Dorcas Lane in the BBC's costume drama Lark Rise to Candleford (2008–2011). Her film credits include Buddy's Song (1991), The Wind in the Willows (1996), Chicken Run (2000) and Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016).
Christopher Papazoglou, known professionally as Christopher Ryan, is a British actor best known for his roles as Mike The Cool Person in the BBC comedy series The Young Ones, Dave Hedgehog in the BBC comedy series Bottom, Tony Driscoll in the BBC comedy series Only Fools and Horses, and as Edina Monsoon's ex-husband Marshall Turtle in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. He has also appeared as the McKendrick twins in One Foot in the Grave, and in Doctor Who played the Mentor Kiev in Trial of a Time Lord in 1986 and Sontaran General Staal in 2008 and 2010.
Lynne Joanne Franks is a communications strategist and writer. She founded a public relations consultancy in the early 1970s.
ABC TV, formerly known as ABC1, is an Australian national public television network. It is owned and operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and is the flagship ABC Television network. The headquarters of the ABC TV channel and the ABC are in Ultimo, an inner-city suburb of Sydney.
Girl Friday is a 1994 BBC reality television special, starring Joanna Lumley in which she spends nine days on the desert island of Tsarabanjina near Madagascar. Lumley wrote an accompanying book, also called Girl Friday, which was published by BBC Books.
Patsy Stone is one of the two main characters from the British television sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, portrayed by actress Joanna Lumley.
Edina "Eddie" Margaret Rose Monsoon is one of the two main characters in the British television sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, created and portrayed by comedian Jennifer Saunders.
"Absolutely Fabulous" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released by Parlophone and Spaghetti Records as a single for 1994's Comic Relief under the artist name "Absolutely Fabulous"; it is based on the BBC sitcom of the same name created by Jennifer Saunders and features sound bites taken from the first series of the show. The single peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart and number seven on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. It was more successful in Oceania, debuting and peaking at number two in both Australia and New Zealand; in the former country, it is the band's highest-charting single, and in both, it was their last top-10 entry.
The first series of the British television sitcom Absolutely Fabulous premiered on BBC Two on 12 November 1992 and concluded on 17 December 1992, consisting of six episodes. The sitcom was created and written by Jennifer Saunders, who starred in the title role of Edina Monsoon, a heavy-drinking, smoking, and drug-abusing PR agent who has dedicated most of her life to looking "fabulous" and desperately attempts to stay young. Edina is nicknamed 'Eddie' by her best friend, Patsy Stone, a magazine editor who constantly takes advantage of Edina by living the life of luxury in Edina's extravagant home. Edina is a twice-divorced mother of two. Her eldest child, a son, Serge, left home many years before in order to escape his mother's clutches. Her long-suffering daughter, Saffron 'Saffy', whom Edina is reliant upon, is a sixth form student and remains at home. The series also includes Edina's sweet-natured-but-slightly-batty mother, whom Edina sees as an interfering burden, and Edina's dim-witted assistant Bubble.
The second series of the British television sitcom Absolutely Fabulous premiered on BBC One on 27 January 1994 and concluded on 10 March 1994, consisting of six episodes.
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie is a 2016 comedy film directed by Mandie Fletcher, written by Jennifer Saunders and based on the television series Absolutely Fabulous. It stars Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalha, June Whitfield and Jane Horrocks, reprising their roles from the series. The film finds the drug-addicted, alcoholic PR agent Edina Monsoon and her best friend/codependent Patsy Stone on the run from the authorities after it is suspected they killed supermodel Kate Moss. The film serves as a de facto series finale for the show.
The third series of the British television sitcom Absolutely Fabulous premiered on BBC One on 30 March 1995 and concluded on 11 May 1995, consisting of six episodes. The third series was originally intended to be the final series of Absolutely Fabulous. However, the following year, Jennifer Saunders decided to write a two-part special titled "The Last Shout", serving as an official finale to the third series. The series was later revived five years later in 2001.
The fourth series of British television sitcom Absolutely Fabulous premiered on BBC One on 31 August 2001 and concluded on 5 October 2001, consisting of six episodes. Originally, Absolutely Fabulous was to end with the third series, then two-part special "The Last Shout" was created to serve as an official finale to the series. However, in 2000, Jennifer Saunders created and wrote a television pilot for a proposed new series, Mirrorball, in which she intended to reunite the cast of Absolutely Fabulous in new roles and a different plot. Saunders, along with Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalha, Jane Horrocks and June Whitfield, returned for the pilot, but the series was never commissioned. Nevertheless, Mirrorball inspired Saunders to revive Absolutely Fabulous and a fourth series was produced. A Christmas special, "Gay", was produced following the fourth series and was broadcast in 2002.
The fifth and final series of the British television sitcom Absolutely Fabulous premiered on BBC One on 17 October 2003 and concluded on 24 December 2003, consisting of eight episodes. A Christmas special, "White Box", followed the fifth series and was broadcast in 2004. Though no further series have followed, three specials were broadcast several years later to mark the show's 20th anniversary for 2012.