Jerry Hall

Review - Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie

BBC comedy makes a wobbly transfer to the big screen but its two delicious lead performances keep the comedy fizzing along.

'Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie': Review

"All I ever wanted was not to be fat and old!" cries PR guru and bad gran Edina Monsoon, bewailing the time when "the zeitgeist used to run right through me". As her best friend Patsy injects herself with Botox, flips through Tinder and quaffs Chanel No 5 because they've run out of Bolly, it's clear that writer/star Jennifer Saunders hasn't lost her touch over the quarter century since these characters were first conceived for TV.

Absolutely Fabulous review

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie is ridiculous, riotous and a bit of a mess but Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley save the day and raise our spirits when we need them the most.

Absolutely Fabulous The Movie review

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

Ab Fab The Movie review: cameos drab, but leads are fab

No matter how much fashion has moved forward, Eddy and Patsy will always be in style.

Absolutely Fabulous the Movie: the magic is still there

Remarkably, the questions 'why now' or simply 'why' feel irrelevant when watching the Absolutely Fabulous movie.

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.

This could possibly be the most deranged variety show you'll ever see, the only place on earth where you can watch Christopher Biggins pretending to be Boris Johnson, and Jerry Hall impersonating Katie Price. If that doesn't draw you in, how about Joe Pasquale as Lady Ga-Ga? Or Ulrika Jonsson as David Beckham? No? Surely Vanessa Feltz masquerading as James May is irresistible. As is Eamonn Holmes as Elvis Presley. And David Gest as Elton John. Les Dennis as Gary Barlow... The list goes on, and just gets odder. The All Star Impressions Show could be completely awful or it could be enjoyably barmy. It certainly has a very good pedigree, being co-produced by Steve Coogan's and Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer's production companies. And it has a certain surreal gloss that could be quite winning. Harry Hill will make a guest appearance, though we don't know whether he will reprise the Morrissey impression that won him Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes all those years ago.

Christopher Biggins as Boris Johnson, Jerry Hall as Jordan, Ulrika Jonsson as David Beckham, Joe Pasquale as, er... Lady Gaga? Yes, here's a show that does exactly what it says on the tin as a stream of TV presenters, actors, singers, chefs and assorted other media-dependent life-forms do their best (which often amounts to their worst) impressions of fellow celebrities. Indulgent but hilarious in parts.

If you thought that George Galloway pretending to be a cat on Big Brother was bizarre, ITV1 has cranked up the weird-o-meter with this programme, which must have been conceived after a heavy-drinking session among channel executives. It involves one famous person doing an impression of another - a concept that could result in an awful abyss of ineptitude and sycophancy, with Stephen Mullhern's commentary digging it into an even deeper hole. But read this line-up and defy yourself not to be horribly compelled to watch. Joe Pasquale as Lady Gaga, David Gest as Sir Tom Jones, Jerry Hall as Katie Price, Christopher Biggins as Boris Johnson, Vanessa Feltz as James May, Tim Healy and Paul Daniels as an elderly Ant and Dec. Pardon?