Absolutely Fabulous. Image shows from L to R: Bubble (Jane Horrocks), Saffron (Julia Sawalha), Edina (Jennifer Saunders), Mother (June Whitfield), Patsy (Joanna Lumley). Copyright: Saunders And French Productions / BBC
Absolutely Fabulous

Absolutely Fabulous

  • TV sitcom
  • BBC One / BBC Two
  • 1992 - 2012
  • 39 episodes (5 series)

Public relations maven Edina and best friend Patsy drive sensible daughter Saffron up the wall with their self-absorbed, substance-abusing escapades. Stars Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalha, June Whitfield and Jane Horrocks

  • JustWatch Streaming rank this week: 743

Press clippings Page 10

Stand by with your Bolly Stoli cocktails, Ab Fab fans. The bad girls of Notting Hill are back for the first time in six years - and they're on sparkling form. Eddy is enduring "the fat cell reunion of the year", Saffy gains unexpected respect from Patsy, Mother is pilfering spoons and bonkers Bubble re-enacts the royal wedding for an ex-con. The lines and sight gags are sharp, there's a special treat for The Killing devotees and this - the first of three 20th anniversary specials - is blissfully free of any mention of Christmas.

Patrick Mulkern, Radio Times, 25th December 2011

Absolutely Fabulous (BBC1, Christmas Day), back from beyond the grave, for the first of three 20th-anniversary specials. So who is Edina picking up from prison, in the limo? Well, it must be Patsy, we haven't seen her yet ... No, it's Saffy! A nice visual gag - you thought it was going to be something, but it was something else!

Sometimes it does feel a bit 1995. And the world it used to send up perhaps no longer exists. But it's a time for nostalgia. The Saunders-Lumley (Patsy does eventually make her entrance, tottering down the stairs) dynamic is still beautiful. And they have adapted to take on the modern world. Edina's attempts to adopt modern youth speak - wa'gwan, wha'happen etc - are a special joy. Yeah, she's still got it; they both have. There's even a (rather improbable) guest appearance from everyone's favourite Danish detective, Sarah Lund! As Edina might say: rispec'.

Sam Wollaston, The Guardian, 25th December 2011

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.

Sarah Crompton, The Telegraph, 25th December 2011

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.

Paul Whitelaw, The Scotsman, 24th December 2011

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.

Gerard Gilbert, The Independent, 23rd December 2011

A minute with June Whitfield and Joanna Lumley

Twenty years after the first broadcast, Absolutely Fabulous is back on BBC One on Christmas Day - in the first of three 30-minute special episodes.

Fiona Wickham, BBC Blogs, 23rd December 2011

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.

Tim Walker, The Telegraph, 23rd December 2011

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.

Ginny Dougary, Radio Times, 23rd December 2011

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.

Gerald O'Donovan, The Telegraph, 23rd December 2011

Jennifer Saunders interview

Comedian Jennifer Saunders, 53, discusses the two new Christmas episodes of Absolutely Fabulous, taking the mick out of Elton John, and Madonna's sex life.

Simon Gage, Metro, 22nd December 2011

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