Joanna Lumley

Joanna Lumley interview

Joanna Lumley says "It's all up to Jennifer Saunders if there will be more. If she writes a film, I'll be in it."

Video: Saunders & Lumley carry Olympic flame

Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley jointly carried the Olympic flame in London, a day before the opening ceremony.

The pair, famous for their roles as Edina and Patsy in the hit comedy Absolutely Fabulous, held the torch together as they jogged along the King's Road in Chelsea.

Charge your flutes with vodka champagne cocktail, Ab Fab fans! This could be the last-ever episode (although there are rumours of a movie). Certainly, it's the last of three specials, after two at Christmas and New Year, reuniting the bad girls of chichi Holland Park for their 20th anniversary.

Why the long wait? Well, this was always intended as an Olympics-themed edition, with the Games descending abruptly upon Patsy and Eddy's blinkered lives. Eddy could go for gold herself - if there were a category for partying and pratfalls. Sadly, Patsy looks set to be left at the starting line: she's developed, well, let's just say a little issue whenever she sneezes and is in need of a "tightening procedure".

Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley are on top form with the physical comedy and waspish remarks. June Whitfield's Gran is as endearingly batty as ever and tonight gets the final funny line - if not the last laugh. Watch out for cameos by Dames Kelly Holmes and Tanni Grey-Thompson, as well as fashion designer Stella McCartney, for whom Eddy has developed something of a girl crush. It is not reciprocated.

This latest of the specials seems more pantomime-like than ever: socially conscious Saffy is now wandering about in full African dress; the script is full of Olympics references (as are Bubble's surreal, high-concept outfits); and ugly sisters Edina and Patsy (Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley) once again set themselves up for a fall thanks to their desperate desire to party. Even at its cheesiest, though, Ab Fab is always raucous fun, while there are some game appearances from some Olympic heroes past and present.

Jennifer Saunders gave herself an Olympian challenge when she agreed to build an episode of her award-winning sitcom around London 2012.

She's managed it, though, with Absolutely Fabulous: Olympics (BBC1, 9.30pm).

Amid the Bolly, the bitching and the fags, her character Edina rents out her London home to a Hollywood A-lister for the Olympics.

However, no-one has told her that she is supposed to move out, along with her family and assistant Bubble (Jane Horrocks), To make matters worse, Edina's ex-husband and girlfriend turn up to stay for the Games.

There is some sports action - if you count Eddy and the fun-loving Patsy (Joanna Lumley) running
for glory in the Olympic stadium and managing to crash a celebrity reception attended by real-life Paralympics legend Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson.

Just when you thought no more Olympics-themed programming could be squeezed into the schedules, the "sweedie darling" sitcom returns to give its own raucous spin on events. Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders) feels past her sell-by date (rather like this show, cynics might suggest). Party invitations are no longer plopping onto her designer doormat and she can't even get into her favourite fashion stores anymore. Age has also caught up with best friend Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley), the former glamour puss is reduced to wearing incontinence pads and cripplingly tight control underwear. For the duration of the Games, Eddy has rented out her house to a Hollywood A-lister and London 2012 is passing the pair by, until daughter Saffy (Julia Sawalha) returns home and exhorts them to embrace the Olympic spirit. Cue celebrity cameos from Dame Kelly Holmes, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson and Stella McCartney, plus a sequence filmed inside the Olympic Stadium. This is the last of three 20th anniversary specials, the first two of which were shown over Christmas. It delivers the odd laugh but feels distinctly dated and should probably be laid to rest - at least until next year's mooted movie spin-off.

Ab Fab was back with another so-so offering from Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley, who never look tired in their respective parts, even if their scripts are occasionally lacklustre.

You can tell Saunders is missing her skits with Dawn French, because there were flashes of some very F&S-like sketches here, including an apparently pointless trip to the beauty salon, where a not-very-funny therapist took shot at Eddie's pampered life.

For a series that so often mocks the nepotism of the middle classes, there followed a lot of bit part-appearances by members of Saunders' daughter Beattie Edmonson's comedy troupe Lady Garden, but we'll skim over that.

After Eddie's hilarious attempts at speaking Danish in the Christmas episode, there were some slightly less amusing attempts to speak French and after the winning cameo from Sofie Grabol, there were slightly less endearing cameos from Emma Bunton, Lulu and La Roux.

Still, as the cast touched on everything from iPads to interns, there were enough funny moments to whet viewers' appetite for the Olympics special that will air later in the year.

The second of the festive specials resurrecting the badly behaved fashionistas. Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders) still purports to be a top PR guru, but her client list is getting shorter by the day. To make matters worse, daughter Saffron (Julia Sawalha) despises her. So, when Eddie and Patsy (Joanna Lumley) meet a French film star whom Saffy adores, she's determined to sign her up, show she's still got it and claw back some family respect. The trouble is, the woman's talents aren't all that they seem. Keep the Bolly on ice, because the sitcom will be back with an Olympic-themed third instalment later this year.

A minute with June Whitfield and Joanna Lumley

Twenty years after the first broadcast, Absolutely Fabulous is back on BBC One on Christmas Day - in the first of three 30-minute special episodes.

An uproarious comedy treat, Edina (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy's (Joanna Lumley) first appearance after a seven-year absence does not disappoint. A script bursting with fan-pleasing moments sees Edina belatedly embracing middle age ("I haven't got any real hormones left, darling, I'm just held together with gels, pills and suppositories"), assembling most of the original cast to welcome home her daughter Saffy (Julia Sawalha). A guest appearance by The Killing's Sofie Gråbøl is one of many highlights.