This winter sees the return of Absolutely Fabulous, or Ab Fab as we all know it. After twenty years, Patsy and Eddy are celebrating theri anniversary in assuredly drunken style with three new specials for the BBC. Although the show started before most of us could even walk, the re-runs and Christmas specials have always been a part of our lives and deserve a watch this Christmas.
For those of you who haven’t watched the show, Ab Fab revolves around main characters Eddy Monsoon and Patsy Stone, played by Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley respectively. The only difference between the two women is their jobs: Eddy is an alcoholic international PR agent with a self-destructive yet hilarious streak, while Patsy is a magazine editor. Though both are ardent followers of fashion, drink comes first and their jobs come third. Julia Sawalha is Eddy’s cynical and bitter daughter Saffy, who suffers the role of taking care of her nearly constantly drunk mother. Other characters include June Whitfield as Eddy’s mother and Jane Horrocks as Bubble, Eddy’s assistant.
Where in the past the pair has gotten into scrapes — like Patsy burning Eddy’s house down to which she replies, black-faced and with a fag hanging out of her mouth, “I just nodded off”; and Eddy extinguishing her birthday candles and blowing the cake to piece — Eddy and Patsy, in all their hysterical yet fashionable adventures, never fail to bring themselves and the audience back to the real essence of the
show: comedy. Nothing is quite as hilarious as Eddy’s mother putting a pair of condoms of her hands to do the washing up complaining that they don’t have “any fingers”.
We can expect a lot more from Eddy as she plays an important part in the 2012 Olympics, and also more from Jennifer Saunders. Not only is the comedienne bringing us three more episodes, but is planning Ab Fab: The Movie for next year. Saunders told The Times that: “We thought it would be hilarious if [Edina and Patsy] went to a party on an oligarch’s yacht, got drunk, fell asleep and woke up in the middle of the ocean … everyone else has left, and the ship has been moved on.” I think it’s safe to say we can expect more of the same from our favorite drunks, and from Saunders herself. Twenty years can’t change these two.
