Absolutely Fabulous

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.

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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.

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Absolutely Fabulous review: Absolutely the same

Well after a few dismal specials which tarnished the show's reputation somewhat, Absolutely Fabulous seems to be back on fine, if predictable, form.

Stand by with your Bolly Stoli cocktails, Ab Fab fans. The bad girls of Notting Hill are back for the first time in six years - and they're on sparkling form. Eddy is enduring "the fat cell reunion of the year", Saffy gains unexpected respect from Patsy, Mother is pilfering spoons and bonkers Bubble re-enacts the royal wedding for an ex-con. The lines and sight gags are sharp, there's a special treat for The Killing devotees and this - the first of three 20th anniversary specials - is blissfully free of any mention of Christmas.

Absolutely Fabulous (BBC1, Christmas Day), back from beyond the grave, for the first of three 20th-anniversary specials. So who is Edina picking up from prison, in the limo? Well, it must be Patsy, we haven't seen her yet ... No, it's Saffy! A nice visual gag - you thought it was going to be something, but it was something else!

Sometimes it does feel a bit 1995. And the world it used to send up perhaps no longer exists. But it's a time for nostalgia. The Saunders-Lumley (Patsy does eventually make her entrance, tottering down the stairs) dynamic is still beautiful. And they have adapted to take on the modern world. Edina's attempts to adopt modern youth speak - wa'gwan, wha'happen etc - are a special joy. Yeah, she's still got it; they both have. There's even a (rather improbable) guest appearance from everyone's favourite Danish detective, Sarah Lund! As Edina might say: rispec'.

Absolutely Fabulous, Christmas special, BBC One, review

After a six year hiatus, Absolutely Fabulous is back for a three-part series. Sarah Crompton find the first episode low on laughs.

Reviving a popular sitcom usually smacks of desperation, but as far as panto reunions go, the first of three new episodes of Absolutely Fabulous is quite good fun, despite the unwelcome intrusion of a desperately over-indulgent studio audience and the embarrassing mugging of Jane Horrocks in a lazily crowd-pleasing cameo.

Jennifer Saunders is probably incapable of delivering a mirthless script, and she's still a terrific comic performer. It also boasts that rarity: a genuinely surprising celebrity cameo.

A plot precis would ruin the central gag, but it remains what it always was: a big, broad, raucous comedy with some agreeably sharp edges. Plus it's perversely pleasing to hear jokes about crack and methadone on BBC1 on Christmas Day, if only because it will annoy people who get annoyed by things like that.

Previewers have been asked not to reveal which of the characters has been away "doing bird" (in Patsy's words), which makes writing about the first new Ab Fab episode in six years a little bit on the tangential side. Not to worry, it's a gem, embracing such intervening technological advances as iPads (Bubble tries to draw on hers) and Twitter. Eddie (Jennifer Saunders) is ballooning ("not even the credit crunch can tighten your belt"), Patsy (Joanna Lumley) decides to claim her pension - if only she can find evidence that she exists - while applauding the summer riots ("I love a bit of extreme shopping"), and Bubble (Jane Horrocks) gives a bravura one-woman summary of the royal wedding. All that and a short but sweet cameo from Sofie Grabol, Sarah Lund in The Killing - this is the first and best of the three, new, 20th anniversary episodes.