For more than 30 years they have been television’s favourite Bollinger-guzzling fashionistas.
But Joanna Lumley, 78, and Jennifer Saunders, 66, almost didn’t get the chance to play their career-defining roles in Absolutely Fabulous as a BBC comedy boss said he ‘didn’t find drunk women funny’.
In a new BBC documentary, Absolutely Fabulous: Inside Out, the sitcom’s producer John Plowman revealed: ‘We do the pilot and I see Robin Nash, Who was the then head of comedy and I said, ‘What do you think?’
‘And he said, ‘I’ve never found women being drunk very funny.’ And I thought, ‘Well, that’s it, it’s over.’
Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders almost didn’t get the chance to play their career-defining roles in Absolutely Fabulous as a BBC boss said he ‘didn’t find drunk women funny’
‘But we did it in the evening. The audience was wonderful and my most binding memory was at the end of it I saw Ben Elton [comedian] and he said, ‘Well, I’ve seen the future of comedy and it’s that.’.’
Absolutely Fabulous ran for five successful seasons from 1992 to 2003 and one film, boasting a hoard of A-list guest stars including Tom Holland, Emma Bunton and Rosie Huntington Whitley.
But speaking on the documentary, due to air on Thursday, the show’s lead star Joanna Lumley said: ‘I remember a Times television review when the first episode came out and it was, ‘Sorry, no, this is not going to work and it’s not funny. Drunk women aren’t funny.
‘Goodbye, this is the end of that show.’
Her co-star and the sitcom’s creator, Jennifer Saunders, added: ‘I remember he also said, ‘Beware of the sitcom where the writer takes the main part.’ I thought, ‘Oh!’.’
Joanna said: ‘I remember a Times television review when the first episode came out and it was, ‘Sorry, no, this is not going to work’
Her co-star and the sitcom’s creator, Jennifer Saunders, added: ‘I remember he also said, ‘Beware of the sitcom where the writer takes the main part.’ I thought, ‘Oh!’
Read the full interview in this week’s Radio Times
Absolutely Fabulous follows Edina Monsoon, played by Saunders, who is an alcoholic and drug-abusing PR mogul and her best friend Patsy, Saunders, as they spend their time in a haze of inebriated selfishness.
The show is credited for having a ground-breaking influence on female comedy by breaking the mould of roles for women.
Speaking to the Radio Times yesterday, Ms Saunders said: ‘It went out on BBC2 to begin with, which was more like Channel 4 in those days — you could push boundaries a bit.’
‘There was no great expectation. Some male execs weren’t that impressed by women being drunk. But the show got audiences.’
