supposed finale), two further series, three one-off specials between 2001 and 2004, then seven years later, two further hour-long specials on Christmas Day 2011 and New Year’s Day 2012 and the once again supposed final, “finale,” which aired in 2012, coinciding with the 2012 London Summer Olympics. Got all that? Now, after much prodding from Lumley, who reportedly said, “You must write it, darling. Otherwise we will all be dead and we won’t have made the film.” Absolutely Fabulous: The Film hits theaters this July.
The two sat down for a chat from their London studio, to talk about their character’s final swan songs. (Though it all bears an uncanny ring to Cher’s promised, yet endless, “Final Tours...”)
From those beginnings, Absolutely Fabulous,
or “Ab Fab” was a smash success because it had something for everyone: a dysfunctional family, a die-hard friendship and a wicked, outrageous sense of fun. “The characters in Ab Fab are a cartoon version of all of us,” says Saunders. “And I think, at the end of the day, people like to laugh at themselves and not take life too seriously. If I had to say why the show was a success, I would say that it was because it was a license not to have to behave.” Like we needed permission... Fast forward to 2016, after Ab Fab’s three successful series from 1992 to 1995, a two-part television film in 1996 entitled The Last Shout (a
Let’s start with a really basic question, because there are some of, as Patsy and Edina might say, “The poor, silly buggers” out there who don’t know about Ab Fab. Let’s start with who they both are... Jennifer: Well, these are people who have been friends since they began. Edina as we say, is a fashion guru, but I think it is not going to stick. Eddy instead is in PR. She thinks she’s a fashion PR guru. Patsy works as an editor on a fashion magazine. They’re utterly useless. They’re inseparable friends, and they walk in chaos. Joanna: A chaos of drink and cigarettes and champagne. Jennifer: And a few illegal substances, lots of Champagne, Bolly, of course and generally in very bad shoes. How did you update the characters from the end of the series to the movie? Jennifer: Well, we just get older. (Laughs) It so happens, Edina gets older and fatter and actu- ally Patsy doesn’t change at all. She’s just sort of
embalmed and remains exactly the same. (Laughs) Jennifer: Remember back in 1990, we never imagined in our wildest dreams we would still be sitting here having done a film of that show. It’s quite extraordinary and we feel very, very lucky. All the drugs, drinking and partying was really in step with the 1990s gay world, I wonder whether you were concerned at all that it wouldn’t resonate with today’s crowd. Jennifer: Do you know, when I write it, I write
it to amuse Joanna, really. (Laughs) I think if you wrote it with too many people, too many audiences in mind, you’d die of the pressure. I just basically write what I think will be funny, and what I wanted is if people could see this film, and not have known the series and still enjoy it, but that it would also satisfy people who knew the series extremely well. How did this current move toward political correctness in pop culture affect your writing? Jennifer: Quite a bit, to be honest, only because
people are much more ready to be offended these days. Also, if you write a movie, you have a raft of lawyers telling you who you can offend and who you can’t offend, and who’s going to sue you and who won’t. So, it was quite an issue, I have to say. Can you talk about the difficulty of doing your own stunts in those fabulous frocks? Joanna: We insisted on doing our own stunts. (Laughs) Obviously, it’s a reach, from a car traveling at almost three miles an hour, to take a cigarette off a completely supine man. It was a bit challenging, but I managed it. Jennifer darling, would you like to add something about how you managed to get the scooter to go? Jennifer: I’d never been on a scooter before and
they wouldn’t let me wear a helmet. I was very, very brave. It’s the most exercise I’ve ever done. (Laughs) How about those fabulous costumes? Jennifer: Patsy, she looks
fabulous...Cool as ever. Edina, well…
JULY 2016
JULY 2016 | | RAGE monthly
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