Absolutely Fabulous | Comedy Series, Jennifer Saunders & Joanna Lumley | Britannica (original) (raw)

Absolutely Fabulous, British television situation comedy that was broadcast on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in five seasons (1992, 1994, 1995, 2001, 2003), along with several specials, and that built up a loyal following among both its British fans and American cable viewers, who watched the show’s rebroadcasts.

The show, known as Ab Fab to its devoted audience, was created by Jennifer Saunders, based on a sketch from French & Saunders (1987–2007), another long-running BBC program in which she starred. Ab Fab featured the antics of Edina (“Eddy”) Monsoon (played by Saunders) and her friends and family. A self-indulgent, trendy public-relations manager (often with only one client), Eddy is obsessed with fashion and celebrity. Her best friend, Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley), is a fashion magazine director with substance-abuse issues who rarely goes to work, has trouble finding her office, and evinces a parasitic dependence on Eddy for her material needs as well as for companionship (when she is not chasing much younger men). Saffron (Julia Sawalha), Eddy’s straitlaced, virtuous teenage daughter, acts as a mother to her mother and serves as the moral centre and conscience of the show. June Monsoon, Eddy’s mother (June Whitfield), is an eccentric kleptomaniac whom Eddy apparently despises and constantly insults. The main cast is rounded out by Bubble (Jane Horrocks), Eddy’s dim-witted personal assistant and sometime nemesis. The show focuses on Eddy and Patsy’s juvenile adventures as they try to keep up with the latest fashions, uphold their 1960s counterculture self-images, take various fads to their extremes, and embark on numerous self-improvement schemes (such as their “almost religious” practice of Buddhism and various unsuccessful attempts to lose weight).

Absolutely Fabulous earned numerous awards during its run, including two International Emmy and two British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards. Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, which saw the bibulous duo on the lam after Eddy accidentally toppled model Kate Moss into the River Thames, was released in 2016.

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This article was most recently revised and updated by Richard Pallardy.