June Whitfield

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie review

Some were trepidatious about this belated big-screen outing for the fashionista sitcom. In fact, post-referendum, the timing couldn't be better ... and neither could Joanna Lumley.

Film review: 'Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie'

Structure is as much anathema to Saunders' writing style as it is to her alter ego's entire lifestyle; this is the comedic equivalent of paintball, and when her splatter-shots land, they do so to raucous effect.

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': film review

An endearing shambles, much like the original show.

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.

Last in the series of Richard Pinto's amiably silly sitcom about sixtysomethings - and in June Whitfield's case, ninetysomethings - resolutely failing to behave like old folks. Tonight, Joan (Whitfield) appears to have landed herself a 70-year-old toy boy, Roy. Joyce and Maureen are convinced that he's after her money but it turns out to be more complex than that. Good to see Paula Wilcox back on screen, so underused since Man About The House.

Radio Times review

You don't get much bigger than the end of the world and Iain Hollands's drama squeezes every ounce of tension from the fact that Earth's destruction is not so much nigh as a living nightmare. "It's been quite a morning," says Mat Baynton's Jamie (or is it?) in the safety of the Slough bunker before we flash back to all the close shaves, dramatic escapes, self-sacrifice and redemption that have led to the final reckoning.

Earlier forays into the supernatural (we met God, played by June Whitfield) also prove not to be a one-off as divine intervention once more plays its part, alongside special effects of biblical proportions) There's a final twist, which may irritate you as much as it did me, but this is still an exciting and satisfying end to an excellent series.

The Casebook of Max and Ivan is a new, daft comedy series from Max Olesker and Iván González that boasts some top supporting talent (June Whitfield in the first episode, Reece Shearsmith, Matt Lucas and Jessica Hynes coming up). It's a sprightly, silly show that reminds me a little bit of Milton Jones (though not as surreal), and when everyone calms down a bit, it'll be very good.

Radio Times review

"Now let's really see those chests come out!" Kenneth Williams urged Barbara Windsor in Carry On Camping - triggering the saucy, bra-pinging reveal that opened the floodgates for the bawdier tone of the Carry Ons that followed in the 1970s.

Jacki Piper and the Amazonian Valerie Leon are among the former totty invited down Memory Lane in this concluding part, while June Whitfield lends an air of dignity (despite playing Miss Prodworthy in the startlingly anti-feminist Carry On Girls). The tone struggles to keep celebratory while charting the grim demise of the franchise into single-entendre smut, as well as the deaths of the Carry On stalwarts - some so long ago now.

Radio Times review

The Boomers muster for an anniversary dinner at a pretentious restaurant, but there's an immediate cloud over proceedings when long-suffering Carol (Paula Wilcox) announces she's bored with Trevor (James Smith), her husband of 40 years.

What follows is half an hour of creaking comedy that's occasionally crude and often quite unpleasant, particularly when Maureen's ageing, wheelchair-using mum (the mighty June Whitfield, rising majestically above the quality of the material) joins the party. Cue limp gags about the bodily functions of the elderly.

Most of the jokes fall to the floor, though there is a ribald, funny quip about a well-known pizza chain.