Why is absolutely fabulous so popular

For Saunders and Lumley are two of the most interesting, engaging and thoroughly charming women you will ever come across. Throughout their extensive publicity tour for Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie , they have laughed, posed and laughed some more, delighting fans and journalists equally. Their easy banter is the result of more than 25 years' friendship, which began when Lumley auditioned for the role of Patsy. The eight-minute sketch, titled Modern Mother and Daughter featured Saunders in the now infamous role of Eddie, with Dawn French playing her stern daughter.

But no Patsy. It was only natural that Edina would have a friend. It needed to be a friend who would support her bad behaviour. And Ruby Wax, who was the script editor, said 'oh you should see Joanna Lumley, she's really funny'.

So she came in for an audition. After meeting the statuesque blonde, Saunders was inspired to draw on Lumley's own past as a model to create Patsy's story. They bring something else to it.

What's Funny About Home Episodes. Main content. It was big. You must enable JavaScript to play content. Shopping spree Patsy and Edina go on a shopping spree. It was free and loose.

It was based on real people. It was a mixture of people. It took risks. Saunders was Edina Monsoon, the self-absorbed mother of straight-laced Saffron, played by Julia Sawalha. The immediate success of the comedy was aided by the inspired casting of the ensemble. The show quickly became known as Ab Fab and the misbehaving women Edina and Patsy became comic icons. The idea for Ab Fab originated in a French and Saunders sketch about a needy modern mother desperate to show her more sensible daughter how cool she was, in which French played Saffy.

The series opened out into the world of fashion and PR, taking aim at the rising celebrity culture along the way. Ab Fab ended after five series, but its continued popularity gave rise to several specials and, in , a film.

The part played by Absolutely Fabulous in boosting the profile of women in comedy is hard to over-estimate. There's Alex James , the former coke-addled rock star who opened a cheese farm in his countryside pile. Here's Angelina Jolie, displaying her global awareness one adopted baby at a time.

There's Gwyneth Paltrow's commercial repositioning with a holistic self-help website. Sex and the City has built an entire franchise out of repeating Patsy's mantra: that nothing cannot be solved by the purchase of a fancy pair of shoes. What started as a sly poke at ridiculous figures of fun has become a new aspirational model. Patsy's cries of "Bolly! In order to make a new series of Absolutely Fabulous work, Jennifer Saunders is going to have to work extra hard when the country already provides her with a former PR as prime minister, his wife with a creative directorship of a luxury goods company and his sister-in-law on the masthead at Vogue.

In , Britain is led by a family whose prime motor skill is fabulising stuff, absolutely. And TV itself is driven by an engine of all-consuming self-improvement.