Jennifer Saunders

The second of the festive specials resurrecting the badly behaved fashionistas. Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders) still purports to be a top PR guru, but her client list is getting shorter by the day. To make matters worse, daughter Saffron (Julia Sawalha) despises her. So, when Eddie and Patsy (Joanna Lumley) meet a French film star whom Saffy adores, she's determined to sign her up, show she's still got it and claw back some family respect. The trouble is, the woman's talents aren't all that they seem. Keep the Bolly on ice, because the sitcom will be back with an Olympic-themed third instalment later this year.

Absolutely Fabulous film to be set on French Riviera

Creator and co-star Jennifer Saunders says movie followup to sitcom's TV return will be shot on location in south of France.

Absolutely Fabulous review: Absolutely the same

Well after a few dismal specials which tarnished the show's reputation somewhat, Absolutely Fabulous seems to be back on fine, if predictable, form.

Absolutely Fabulous, Christmas special, BBC One, review

After a six year hiatus, Absolutely Fabulous is back for a three-part series. Sarah Crompton find the first episode low on laughs.

Reviving a popular sitcom usually smacks of desperation, but as far as panto reunions go, the first of three new episodes of Absolutely Fabulous is quite good fun, despite the unwelcome intrusion of a desperately over-indulgent studio audience and the embarrassing mugging of Jane Horrocks in a lazily crowd-pleasing cameo.

Jennifer Saunders is probably incapable of delivering a mirthless script, and she's still a terrific comic performer. It also boasts that rarity: a genuinely surprising celebrity cameo.

A plot precis would ruin the central gag, but it remains what it always was: a big, broad, raucous comedy with some agreeably sharp edges. Plus it's perversely pleasing to hear jokes about crack and methadone on BBC1 on Christmas Day, if only because it will annoy people who get annoyed by things like that.

Previewers have been asked not to reveal which of the characters has been away "doing bird" (in Patsy's words), which makes writing about the first new Ab Fab episode in six years a little bit on the tangential side. Not to worry, it's a gem, embracing such intervening technological advances as iPads (Bubble tries to draw on hers) and Twitter. Eddie (Jennifer Saunders) is ballooning ("not even the credit crunch can tighten your belt"), Patsy (Joanna Lumley) decides to claim her pension - if only she can find evidence that she exists - while applauding the summer riots ("I love a bit of extreme shopping"), and Bubble (Jane Horrocks) gives a bravura one-woman summary of the royal wedding. All that and a short but sweet cameo from Sofie Grabol, Sarah Lund in The Killing - this is the first and best of the three, new, 20th anniversary episodes.

Jennifer Saunders: TV is no laughing matter for women

Jennifer Saunders, star of the BBC's Absolutely Fabulous, says it is harder for women to succeed in television than it was 20 years ago.

Jennifer Saunders: I need a drink, and more chemicals!

Jennifer Saunders seems very relaxed, her booted feet up on a pouffe, snuggled in a big woolly cardie, sipping a mug of tea and talking openly about everything from the menopause to depression, cancer and her empty nest syndrome. Oh, and there are a few laughs, too.

An uproarious comedy treat, Edina (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy's (Joanna Lumley) first appearance after a seven-year absence does not disappoint. A script bursting with fan-pleasing moments sees Edina belatedly embracing middle age ("I haven't got any real hormones left, darling, I'm just held together with gels, pills and suppositories"), assembling most of the original cast to welcome home her daughter Saffy (Julia Sawalha). A guest appearance by The Killing's Sofie Gråbøl is one of many highlights.

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders did so well with their Christmas and New Year specials last year that they've been invited back. Listeners liked the way they talk to each other (occasionally tartly) as if they were in on the conversation. The guests are good too although you never quite know who's going to turn up. It could be Michael Palin, it might be Tracy Emin or even Clare Balding and her mum. Laughter is guaranteed. Ditto music.