Joanna Lumley

Graham Norton is the master of pulling in the big guests and treating them to his charm, irreverence and sauce. This week he's joined by the inimitable Patsy and Edina (Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders) for the release of Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie. Australian fun-bomb Rebel Wilson completes a lineup of witty women. There's also audience participation and music from sinewy rock cockroach Iggy Pop.

Joanna Lumley: political correctness makes comedy hard

People take offence at the smallest things, which used to be just funny.

Patsy's best one-liners

To gird our loins for the return of PR's most disruptive trailblazers, we're warming up by a roll call of Patsy's most zinging one-liners.

35 life lessons learned from Eddy and Patsy

We look at the life lessons the pair have taught us since they first drunkenly stumbled into our lives back in 1992...

Joanna Lumley reveals that Patsy is transgender

"It's completely normal that Patsy is transgender."

Interview: Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley

Fashion people aren't famed for having a sense of humor about their personal lives, which makes the success of Absolutely Fabulous in haute circles something of an enigma.

We know who Walliams is, appearing in this new sketch show, but who's the friend? That'll be Joanna Lumley, who radiates such professionalism - whether playing herself, leading a troupe of Lumley-decoys, or a Hollywood-besotted Mary Berry ("A woman of my age knows her way around an eclair, Paul"; "I master-bake thinking of you") - she tosses armfuls of pixie-glitter into every crevice. Highlights include a rude tanning salon, a boy band with an incongruous member, and Walliams's unique take on Oscar Wilde.

Here's one that will make you feel really old: it's 10 years since the final series of Little Britain aired on BBC One. The show that made David Walliams a bona-fide star served as a launchpad for a career that has seen him take on a judging role on Britain's Got Talent, undertake jaw-dropping charity work (his Thames swim remains a crowning glory), and become a successful children's author.

Now he's going back to his comedy roots with a one-off Christmas TV special. Titled Walliams & Friend, it sees the comedian return to the type of sketches that helped make his name - and his 'friend' is a very special guest indeed. It is, of course, the absolutely fabulous Joanna Lumley, who remains a brilliant comedic presence.

By its very nature sketch comedy is hit-or-miss, but Walliams & Friend is thankfully more of the former - from a hilariously terrible gameshow contestant played by Walliams, to a meeting between Joanna Lumley and her own personal team of, erm, other Joanna Lumleys.

And then there's the Bake Off sketch - you'll never look at Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry in the same way ever again.

The 40-minute special is daft fun - and likely to be even funnier after a few Christmas Eve sherries. Here's hoping for more Walliams & Friend episodes in the future with a different guest star each time.

Review - Walliams and Friends: five things we learned

nlikely double act David Walliams and Joanna Lumley coin a new catchphrase and soil the Bake Off forever.