Absolutely Fabulous is a British sitcom, created and written by, and starring Jennifer Saunders, with Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalha, Jane Horrocks, and June Whitfield. It was produced by Saunders & French Productions and BBC Productions, and initially broadcast a successful first series on BBC2, before moving to BBC One. The series originated from a sketch featured on French and Saunders , which led to a four-year run from 1992 to 1996, followed by a revival from 2001 to 2004, and then a brief return to mark the show's 20th anniversary, from 2011 to 2012.
During the course of the programme, 39 episodes of Absolutely Fabulous aired, including seven specials over five series, between 12 November 1992 and 23 July 2012.
Series | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | Network | |||
1 | 6 | 12 November 1992 | 17 December 1992 | BBC2 | |
2 | 6 | 27 January 1994 | 10 March 1994 | BBC One | |
3 | 6 | 30 March 1995 | 11 May 1995 | ||
Specials | 2 | 6 November 1996 | 7 November 1996 | ||
4 | 6 | 31 August 2001 | 5 October 2001 | ||
Special | 27 December 2002 | ||||
5 | 8 | 17 October 2003 | 24 December 2003 | ||
Special | 25 December 2004 | ||||
20th Anniversary | 3 | 25 December 2011 | 23 July 2012 |
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | "Fashion" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 12 November 1992 | LLCC521X |
2 | 2 | "Fat" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 19 November 1992 | LLVQ731H |
3 | 3 | "France" [lower-alpha 1] | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 26 November 1992 | LLVQ732B |
4 | 4 | "Iso Tank" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 3 December 1992 | LLVQ733W |
5 | 5 | "Birthday" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 17 December 1992 | LLVQ735J |
6 | 6 | "Magazine" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 10 December 1992 | LLVQ734P |
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
7 | 1 | "Hospital" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 27 January 1994 | LLVS602K |
8 | 2 | "Death" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 3 February 1994 | LLVS606L |
9 | 3 | "Morocco" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 10 February 1994 | LLVS605S |
10 | 4 | "New Best Friend" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 24 February 1994 | LLVS604Y |
11 | 5 | "Poor" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 3 March 1994 | LLVS601R |
12 | 6 | "Birth" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 10 March 1994 | LLVS603E |
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
13 | 1 | "Door Handle" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 30 March 1995 | |||||||
14 | 2 | "Happy New Year" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 6 April 1995 | |||||||
15 | 3 | "Sex" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 20 April 1995 | |||||||
16 | 4 | "Jealous" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 27 April 1995 | |||||||
17 | 5 | "Fear" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 4 May 1995 | |||||||
18 | 6 | "The End" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 11 May 1995 | |||||||
Specials | ||||||||||||
19 | S | "The Last Shout, Parts 1 & 2" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 6 November 1996 | |||||||
20 | S | 7 November 1996 | ||||||||||
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
21 | 1 | "Parralox" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 31 August 2001 | 8.28 [2] | ||||||
22 | 2 | "Fish Farm" | Christine Gernon | Jennifer Saunders | 7 September 2001 | 7.59 [2] | ||||||
23 | 3 | "Paris" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 14 September 2001 | 7.47 [2] | ||||||
24 | 4 | "Donkey" | Bob Spiers | Jennifer Saunders | 21 September 2001 | 7.34 [2] | ||||||
25 | 5 | "Small Opening" | Christine Gernon | Jennifer Saunders | 28 September 2001 | 7.44 [2] | ||||||
26 | 6 | "Menopause" | Christine Gernon | Jennifer Saunders | 5 October 2001 | 6.64 [2] | ||||||
Special | ||||||||||||
27 | S | "Gay" | Tristram Shapeero | Jennifer Saunders | 27 December 2002 | 8.68 [2] |
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
28 | 1 | "Cleanin'" | Dewi Humphreys | Jennifer Saunders | 17 October 2003 | 7.69 [2] | ||||||
29 | 2 | "Book Clubbin'" | Dewi Humphreys | Jennifer Saunders | 24 October 2003 | 7.87 [2] | ||||||
30 | 3 | "Panickin'" | Dewi Humphreys | Jennifer Saunders | 31 October 2003 | 6.15 [2] | ||||||
31 | 4 | "Huntin', Shootin' & Fishin'" | Dewi Humphreys | Jennifer Saunders | 7 November 2003 | 7.02 [2] | ||||||
32 | 5 | "Birthin'" | Dewi Humphreys | Jennifer Saunders | 14 November 2003 | 7.19 [2] | ||||||
33 | 6 | "Schmoozin'" | Dewi Humphreys | Jennifer Saunders | 28 November 2003 | 5.22 [2] | ||||||
34 | 7 | "Exploitin'" | Dewi Humphreys | Jennifer Saunders | 5 December 2003 | 5.86 [2] | ||||||
35 | 8 | "Cold Turkey" [lower-alpha 2] | Dewi Humphreys | Jennifer Saunders | 24 December 2003 | 6.91 [2] | ||||||
Special | ||||||||||||
36 | S | "White Box" | Ed Bye | Jennifer Saunders | 25 December 2004 | 6.34 [2] |
No. overall | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
37 | "Identity" | Mandie Fletcher | Jennifer Saunders | 25 December 2011 | 9.07 [5] |
38 | "Job" | Mandie Fletcher | Jennifer Saunders | 1 January 2012 | 7.97 [6] |
39 | "Olympics" | Mandie Fletcher | Jennifer Saunders | 23 July 2012 [7] [8] | 6.38 [6] |
Prior to the third series, a dramatized behind-the-scenes special was broadcast on 6 January 1995. The special was titled 'How to Be Absolutely Fabulous' and featured Jennifer Saunders as she enters the BBC studio in which the woman at reception is unaware of who Saunders is. Unable to convince the receptionist that she is in fact Edina for the series, Saunders, along with the camera crew runs up to the Absolutely Fabulous office, despite being refused access from the receptionist. Once in the office, Saunders talks about the origins of the series. The special features clips from the series. [9]
A second special, released in 1998 and titled 'Absolutely Fabulous: A Life' features Edina and her mother as she and a camera crew are filming the story of Edina's life in a documentary. The setting for the documentary is in the charity shop in which her mother works. Edina talks about her surroundings in the charity shop, a setting that she is unaccustomed to and certainly is not to her taste. She also reminisces about her life. The special features clips from the series. [10]
A behind-the-scenes special documentary, "The Story of Absolutely Fabulous", was broadcast on 2 January 2004. The special gives a definitive account of the history of the series. [11]
A Comic Relief sketch was broadcast on 11 March 2005 which sees Edina and Patsy reluctantly accompany Emma Bunton to the taping of Comic Relief at the BBC Television Centre. Inside, a member of the production staff can't find Emma's name on the list of presenters, prompting Edina to suggest they check again under Queen Noor or Lulu. Emma and Edina bicker in a dressing room when Edina insists that the point of Emma's participation should be to gain greater exposure for herself. Edina urges Emma to lobby director and Comic Relief founder Richard Curtis for a role in one of his films. When Richard visits the dressing room to apologise for Emma having been left off the list, Edina and Patsy fail to recognise him and ask him to fetch Richard straightaway. Emma angrily writes a cheque to the charity and storms off. When the production staffer returns to collect Emma (now scheduled to appear after Graham Norton), Edina and Patsy first conceal (in the dressing room) and then loudly acknowledge (on-stage, live, during the Comic Relief special) Emma's departure. Patsy is struck by stage fright while Edina attempts a song. Once Patsy wets herself, both are quickly shooed from the stage by a horrified Graham. Guest stars include Emma Bunton, Richard Curtis, Graham Norton and Miranda Hart. [12]
A Sport Relief special was broadcast on 23 March 2012 and follows Edina as she is busy training for a Sport Relief charity function with Emma Bunton with disastrous results while Patsy fills in for her downstairs in a meeting with Stella McCartney. Patsy ends up taking the credit for Edina's idea to feature Kate Moss and David Gandy in the magazine, but the only condition is that Patsy must not let Edina anywhere near the shoot. In the gym upstairs, Edina boxes with David Haye and she and Emma end up fighting. Emma punches Edina who ends up getting wheeled through the hotel bar on a stretcher. Guest stars include Llewella Gideon, Kate Moss, Stella McCartney, Emma Bunton, David Gandy, Colin Jackson, Linford Christie and David Haye. [13]
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.
Emma Lee Bunton is an English singer, songwriter, media personality, and actress. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Baby Spice, reflecting the fact that she was the youngest member. With over 100 million records sold worldwide, the Spice Girls are the best-selling female group of all time. The group went on an indefinite hiatus in 2000, before reuniting for a greatest hits album (2007) and two concert tours: the Return of the Spice Girls (2007–2008) and Spice World (2019).
Dawn Roma French is a British actress, comedian, and writer. She is known for writing and starring on the BBC sketch comedy series French and Saunders (1987–2007) with her best friend and comedy partner Jennifer Saunders, and playing the lead role of Geraldine Granger in the BBC sitcom The Vicar of Dibley (1994–2020). French has been nominated for seven BAFTA TV Awards and won a BAFTA Fellowship with Saunders in 2009.
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 Kiv in Trial of a Time Lord in 1986 and Sontaran General Staal in 2008 and 2010.
Miranda Hart Dyke is an English actress, comedian and writer. Following drama training at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, Hart began writing material for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and making appearances in BBC sitcoms, including Hyperdrive (2006–2007) and Not Going Out (2006–2009).
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 three 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.
Absolutely Fabulous: 20th Anniversary 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.