Celia Imrie

Absolutely Fabulous: The movie - bolly good show!

The jokes spring out at you from our crumpled old friends, sharp and fresh and pleasingly tasteless.

Absolutely Fabulous The Movie review

'It certainly makes better use of its armies of celebrities than was managed in Zoolander 2'

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie - wearing its yeas well

The plotting is lazy, but this big-screen reboot of the much-loved sitcom gets by thanks to its stars and to the endless goodwill cameos.

Although most of Victoria Wood's work since 1985 had been for the BBC - including her sketch series As Seen on TV and the sitcom dinnerladies - she fell out with the corporation in 2009 when her seasonal specal, All the Trimmings, commissioned for Christmas Day, was dumped in a lesser slot without consultation.

Possibly because of this, only ITV was able to gain access to the writer-comedian's closest colleagues - including Julie Walters, Duncan Preston and Celia Imrie - for Let's Do It: A Tribute to Victoria Wood. There was also a suspicion that, in relation, the BBC might have been mean about releasing clips: there was so little material from dinnerladies and As Seen on TV that the opening titles had to be used as illustration.

Despite smart use of DVDs of stage shows and clps from a 1996 South Bank Show, the talking heads between the extracts adopted the now standard TV obit-show tone of rave about the person in the grave. James Corden explained that "she just made a lot of people laugh". Sir Lenny Henry averred that "she was just brilliant", while Jim Broadbent siad: "You just think, God, what a special person!'"

Attention was rightly paid to Wood's epic comic song, The Ballard of Barry and Freda. But, rather than reference to its double internal rhymes or climactic triple rhymes or the comic effect of domestic detail (lagging, grouting, flameproof nightie), we got a string of celebs calling the song "brilliant" and David Threlfall[/o] declaring: "Is there no end to this woman's talent?" Well, sadly, Dave, yes, there was, which is why an ITV crew is in your dressing room.

The secret to Victoria Wood's popularity was that her humour allowed her to be "inoffensive and yet quite naughty." There may be comedians who were sharper or funnier, but they couldn't claim the huge affection Victoria Wood had. She was loved by so many because she'd never resort to shocks, sex or scandal to grab attention, finding the right tone by being a tiny bit "naughty" but never cruel.

Julie Walters, Barry Cryer, Celia Imrie, Alison Steadman, Michael Ball and others offer funny anecdotes and warm memories of her and if you begin to feel it's perhaps getting too sweet and sad, clips of Victoria Wood elbow their way in, being a little bit "naughty" to correct the balance. You can't be melancholy when she pops up on screen to discuss ageing women visiting the doctor, some with pelvic floors dangling and another holding her cervix in a margarine tub.

We also learn of Wood's Lancashire childhood and how she saw Joyce Grenfell's act as a girl, and became fascinated with the image of a lone woman on a stage who could make everyone laugh.

The lovable collection of silvery expats returns for an inevitable sequel. Dev Patel's Sonny is expanding his Jaipur hotel business, with the help of Maggie Smith's Muriel; foxy old Richard Gere may be able to help them with that. Meanwhile, Judi Dench and Bill Nighy dither around romance, while Celia Imrie's Madge has her choice of men. Twinkly charm is guaranteed, but that's enough now.

Radio Times review

Loathe it or love it (and I'm in the latter camp), Vicious is back for a second run. It's been a long time coming - it isn't easy coordinating the diaries of this stellar cast. Derek Jacobi and Ian McKellen are back chewing the scenery as bickering couple Stuart and Freddie, with Game of Thrones' Iwan Rheon as their doe-eyed neighbour Ash and Marcia Warren upstaging all as the forgetful Penelope.

Tonight, their voracious best pal Violet (Frances de la Tour) panics when her long-absent sister Lillian pays a visit. Violet pleads with Stuart to butch up - it's a struggle - and pretend to be her husband. Mirth ensues, not least because Lillian is played by goddess of camp, Celia Imrie.

Celia Imrie interview

Celia Imrie talks about returning for the sequel, pretending not to know the cast, and fixing cars in the middle of India...

Celia Imrie on writing her first comic novel

The Olivier award-winning actor Celia Imrie, best known for film roles in Calendar Girls and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, is about to publish her first novel, Not Quite Nice. A comic caper set among the tangled lives of a group of expats in a southern French village, Imrie wrote most of it at her own apartment in Nice.

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: rewarding

Maggie Smith and Celia Imrie shine in a surprisingly moving sequel to the 2012 word of mouth comedy hit, says Robbie Collin.