British Comedy Guide
Imagine... French & Saunders: Pointed, Bitchy, Bitter. Image shows left to right: Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders
Imagine... French & Saunders: Pointed, Bitchy, Bitter

Imagine... French & Saunders: Pointed, Bitchy, Bitter

  • TV documentary
  • BBC One
  • 2023
  • 1 pilot

A look back at the 40-year-long career of Dawn and Jennifer. Features Alan Yentob, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Ruby Wax and more.

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Imagine... French & Saunders: Pointed, Bitchy, Bitter. Image shows left to right: Jennifer Saunders, Alan Yentob, Dawn French

Key details

Genre
Documentary
Broadcast
2023
Channel
BBC One
Episodes
1 Pilot
Features
Alan Yentob, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Ruby Wax, Richard Curtis, Alexei Sayle, Mel Giedroyc and more
Directors
Laura Blount
Producers
Alan Yentob, Laura Blount and Tanya Hudson
Company

Documentary exploring a brand of comedy based on satire, silliness and above all friendship - of the UK's most successful double act of the last 40 years, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders.

French & Saunders' relationship started when they were college flatmates, entertaining each other by playing pranks and inventing characters. Behind the scenes at a recording of their successful podcast, Titting About, it's clear they're still sparking off each other to create comedy.

Imagine... charts their journey from the game-changing Comic Strip team, which helped launch the new Channel 4 in 1982, to their domination of BBC schedules over the decades and their recent ventures on the stage, the page and in film.

Dawn and Jennifer revisit the former site of the Comic Strip Club in Soho where a group of young comedians revolutionised the comedy scene. Alongside interviews with Comic Strip comedians Alexei Sayle, Adrian Edmondson and Nigel Planer, Dawn and Jennifer tell the story of being the women in a team that would change the face of television. Just five years after Dawn and Jennifer met, they would be part of The Comic Strip Presents... Five Go Mad in Dorset, shown on the launch night of the new Channel 4.

At the start of French & Saunders' career comedy was still firmly a male domain. Interviews with later generations of female comics like Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, who Dawn and Jennifer encouraged when they were a young double act, reveal how empowering their presence on TV was at the time.

Dawn and Jennifer are joined by a cast of collaborators including Dame Joanna Lumley, Ruby Wax, Richard Curtis and Alexei Sayle. These interviewees help to reveal the caustic wit behind their cosy exterior and show the huge impact that French & Saunders had on the generations of comedians that followed.

Catch-up

Additional details

Picture
Colour

Broadcast details

First broadcast
Wednesday 27th December 2023 at 10:30pm on BBC One
Episode length
90 minutes
All previous repeats
  • Wednesday 27th December 2023 at 11:45pm on BBC1 Scot

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