BBC Radio 4 Extra - What's Funny About ..., Series 1 - Hello Bolly: What’s So Funny About Absolutely Fabulous? (2024)

Absolutely Fabulous first appeared in 1992 and quickly established itself as one of the BBC’s most popular and beloved sitcoms. It was big, bold, brash and unlike anything seen before. Following the adventures of an unravelling PR, , Edina (“Eddie”) Monsoon, and her disreputable friend Patsy, the heart of the show was Eddie’s fraught relationship with her daughter Saffy. But why did such an unusual and uncompromising show, centred around frequently unpleasant characters living in a rarefied world, capture the public’s imagination so successfully? TV veterans Peter Fincham and Jon Plowman (also the show’s producer) were joined by show’s creator and star Jennifer Saunders to try and uncover some of the show’s secrets.

“Being silly is how we learnt to be funny,” Jennifer Saunders revealed about her comedy education on stage with Dawn French. Ab Fab was based on a sketch that appeared in their very silly TV show and this sense of the absurd runs through the programme. Ab Fab existed in its own, unique, universe. As the producer Jon Plowman says: “There’s normal life and then there’s Ab Fab. And the division between the two is what’s funny.” To maintain this singular universe, the characters rarely interacted with the real world. As Jennifer made clear, “you don’t want to see them too much with normal people”.

It was character driven

Jennifer worried about adapting a sketch into a full length sitcom and admits to being “terrified” by the idea of doing it, especially as she had never written anything sitcom length before.

Shopping spree

Patsy and Edina go on a shopping spree.

But the longer, more character driven sketches in the French and Saunders TV show were a great training ground. She approached the show from the character’s perspective, rather than developing from comedic situations. As she states, “I think if you have good characters, and you know how they’re going to behave in every situation - the audience knows that something is going to happen.”

Jennifer was often late with her scripts and found the whole writing process difficult. “There’s such a pressure to writing. I don’t know why, but it’s a definite mental block.” But she loved the rehearsal process and it was here that the show was really crafted. “I love rehearsing. I love having those people in a room and working out what’s gong to happen. As it happens, you write the lines.” She claims that 50% to 60% percent of the show was written in the rehearsal room.

Limitations really helped

The lateness of scripts also helped to limit the number of choices she had. Even if the script wasn’t ready, the production team would need to know what sets they would need and which actors were required.

As Jennifer says, “It’s nice to work to limitations. If I’ve limited myself to three rooms, four actors and a donkey, I can write for that.”

The cast was amazing

With Joanna Lumley, June Whitfield, Julia Sawalha, Jane Horrocks, Kathy Burke and many more, Ab Fab was blessed with an incredible cast who all completely inhabited their roles. Jennifer originally wrote Patsy as a gutter journalist, but it was Joanna Lumley who created the iconic character we now know. On the page, Edina’s PA, was more of a posh airhead, but Jane Horrock’s transformed her into the surreal, singular Bubble. “They’re all such brilliant comedians and the characters made me laugh so much,” Jennifer says.

The beloved characters that inhabit Ab Fab’s world are certainly larger than life, but were mainly based on people that Jennifer had encountered, especially in the worlds of PR and fashion. “You observe people like that and you want everyone to be aware that those people are not to be taken seriously,” she says. Her own character, Edina, came from multiple sources. “It was a mixture of people. One person was a friend of mine’s mother. Another was a friend of a friend, who had a little daughter who followed her around and played the guitar. Which was hilarious. It couldn’t be just one person.”

It was relatable

There were fears that a show set in the high flying world of fashion and public relations would be uninteresting or alienating to the general television viewing public. But Jennifer had no worries about this. “There was this idea that people wouldn’t get it because it seemed elitist or niche. Any job is niche. It was basically about the mother daughter relationship.” And even though her character could be insufferable, she never went too far. “I think Edina is loveable in a way because she does actually feel some guilt. She does know what she should be doing. But she just wants to have too much fun and I think that’s relatable.”

Ab Fab didn’t feel like a traditional sitcom, as, from the start, Jennifer resisted too much input from BBC executives to include traditional elements. “No I’m just going to write it as I would write it,” she said to the BBC at the time. As a result, the comedy would often do things not usually encountered in a sitcom, such as set an episode in New York, Morocco or the French countryside. And even then risks were taken. Jennifer wrote a helicopter scene for Edina and Patsy while in Manhattan. But while Edina would love that experience, Jennifer is terrified of heights. As she says, “I forgot. I wrote it for Edina - I didn’t write it for me.”

Jennifer never had any doubts about the sitcom being filmed before a studio audience, as this would replicate the energy and the fun of the rehearsal room. But there was always one important stipulation. As the BBC bar closed at 10pm, the filming had to be over by 9.30. And the rules could be bent if necessary. On one occasion, the final line of the show wasn’t getting a laugh. They quickly wrote some alternative lines which also failed to raise a chuckle. Finally Joanna Lumley told the audience, “when I say the word ‘accessorise’ can you all laugh? Then we can all go home.”

Much like long-running American TV shows such as The Simpsons, Ab Fab had an elasticity to it, so improbable things could enter the show’s universe. The characters were well-defined, but could occasionally act in unexpected ways, or a piece of backstory would be revealed that appeared slightly incongruous. “I think the thing about a show you really enjoy doing is you don’t think about it too much,” Jennifer states. “Every episode, you virtually start with a new head. And you say ‘wouldn’t it be great if once they’d been to such and such’. Every episode you can reinvent them in a way.” This elasticity allowed for the unexpected, distinctive elements that gave the show its edge of originality.