Absolutely Fabulous

You really have to have a reference level for the 60s and 70s culture to really get what the show is all about.

I adored that show when it first aired and then the second wave but watching now makes it unbearable because it was such an amazing time that I get depressed missing the 90s and the fun we had without the woke PC shit or social media. Patsy and Edina just knew how to live even when they were sloshed 24/7.

You piece of filth!

Insipid and annoying show.

Yes. It is no longer funny or watchable.

It is still very funny.

R2 There's nothing less funny than a paranoid racist that thinks everyone's out to 'cancel' all that is good in the world. I overheard a guy today while shopping crying about "cancel culture/wokeness" and still stuck on the 2016 all-female remake of Ghostbusters. How unique. How verboten to say these things. You're the MAJORITY of aggrieved white men that spend night and day moaning about non-existent censorship while failing to realize you're actually the "new Puritans," as Eddie would say.

Mainstream British/American comedy is still risqué. Fleabag, to name one. Then there's Sally4Ever which isn't Julia Davis' best work but even that wouldn't have been allowed to air in the 90's.

Baba is why Biden won

Loved AbFab first time around, then watching VHS tape copies. Now on the odd occasion when pop in a tape sort of cringe for good part of most episodes.

Yes, one knows and understands a and Patsy represented the self indulgent and obsessed 1990's, but things just go to far sometimes. Eds is horribly abusive and aggressive to her daughter. Saffron OTOH often does come across like a bit of a pill, and Pats, well Patsy is what she is....

Patsy burns Saffron with a cigarette, sells her into white slavery and otherwise abuses the girl, and Eds just takes it as a joke for most part.

Eddie's court room rant "why or why do we pay taxes.." would land her not just with community service nowadays, but likely several weeks locked up given the vast list of crimes she and Patsy committed.

Eds constantly falling down gets a bit old as well.....

Still the show does have its moments; Eds telling girl at art gallery front desk, "you only work in a shop, so you can drop the attitude" is priceless.

a and to some extent Patsy are the ultimate Boomers trying to remain hip and relevant as they zoom through middle age and onto senior citizen status.

It's very much of its time and you knew people like that existed. You just never saw their private lives.

The internet completely changed that. And the rise of reality tv. There is no shock or surprise about these kind of people because we've been inundated with seeing real "beautiful people" be their real ugly selves in real time. You could no longer congratulate yourself by saying, "I knew these people were fake assholes."

I enjoyed the movie, but it was basically a nostalgia piece. And that's okay.

Still love it and lines from the show pop in my head occasionally . It was over the top and hilarious. I love the Morocco, France and Romanian Baby episodes. They even cast a Young Idris Elba!

Sweetie sweetie darling, the show still has some great lines, such as “you may dress like a Christian, but the similarity ends there.” Maybe OP just doesn’t know any thirsty bitches who would throw their kid under a bus for the title of influencer? If hilarious and tragic at the same time.

Interesting how reality TV made so much of the acting of prior years seem awkward and fake. AbFab was definitely of its time. A lot of elements - including aging but not retired boomers carrying on partying and late GenXers brought up on anti-drug messaging - were specific to that time. I loved the extreme debauchery of the characters - which was seen as funny at the time. Now it seems tragic.

AbFab still holds up, there are still tons of people around who are very much like Patsy and Edina, especially people who work in fashion.

Yeah, cheers, thanks.

It was hilarious in the first two seasons. Then it became toned down and dumbed down thereafter for dumb American viewers. SAD!

Sally4Ever was disgusting. Not much was funny about that show. The scene where Julia Davis' character had some disgusting guy literally shit on her face, that wasn't funny at all. No wonder HBO canceled that trash.

Comedy doesn't have to be so disgusting. The audience knew what a horrible character that woman was, what she'd do for an acting job, basically anything. We could have easily imagined she'd even have a man shit on her face, yet we didn't have to see that.

Whenever I speed through a yellow light I shout, “GO FOR IT EDDIE!”

Yes I am why Biden won since I voted for him and Kamala. I simply stated television today is too “safe” and the days of AbFab type shows are toast.

The show was a wicked takedown of certain types of people, some of you are taking it too literally. It was supposed to be outrageous and biting.

[quote] Yes I am why Biden won since I voted for him and Kamala.

Richard Spencer, the "Jews will not replace us" guy apparently did as well. Big whoop. You had a dog in the race for personal reasons.

You're still comfortable using racist dogwhistles like "woke/cancel culture" like Don Jr. and frankly it's tedious and a substitute for having any actual originality. You just criticize something hyperbolically and wait for the aggrieved mob to join in. Like Bill Maher.

[quote] I simply stated television today is too “safe” and the days of AbFab type shows are toast.

There will never be another AbFab. Shows of its 'type' are still around. I've never found most sitcoms funny so maybe you're looking in the wrong places.

Jennifer Saunders says 'Ghosts' on BBC is pretty funny... maybe you'll take her word for it. Careful though, there's a black woman playing a Georgian noblewoman so I know that's going to be instantaneously upsetting to you.

Absolutely Fabulous is a classic, especially the first three seasons. Each episode a mini comedic masterpiece. But they're all worth a look. And don't forget to check out the outtakes on the DVDs, you'll fall in love with the actresses.

Would some of you lighten the fuck up😱

It’s of its time, extremely funny but a more ‘aware’ generation might be easily offended by some things. It did no harm, it sent up certain types, and it gave us a laugh.

Some of you are so fucking uptight. It's still a hilarious show, and wickedly funny.

One time when Eds went too far (IMHO) was when she jetted off to NYC (on the Concorde with Pats) and totally forgot Saffron's birthday. You could truly see how hurt she was saying "today was my birthday, mum".

In true self centered fashion Eds tries to turn it around and make it about *her*, but it doesn't work.

I find The Windsors to be as outrageous if not more than AbFab. Also enjoy What We Do In The Shadows... watched the first episode of Ghosts on JS' endorsement. Hilarious.

The show didn't even match the Mama's Family sketches from the Carol Burnett Show. Now that was wicked and vicious.

TITICACA TO THE SINK CUPBOARD!!!!

I was a gayling when this came out on Comedy Central in the mid 90's. Because Eddie loved gays, I loved the show even though I didn't get all the humor in the beginning. Then they came out with that dance track with the Pet Shop Boys "Absolutely Fabulous". I think you either get it or you don't, but I love them. Definitely comfort TV.

Ab Fab was a show where you loved the leads to go down in flames each episode.

My most favorite comedy episode is Poor where Eddie has to go shopping for the very first time and Patsy tags along.

The Poor episode has one of my favorite quick bits that they were so good at doing. Patsy and Eddie walk into a grocery store for the first time in their lives, stop and stand there looking around, and Eddie waves her shopping list in the air and shouts "Hello?" because she thinks someone will come and wait on her and do her shopping for her.

It was little bits like that that said so much about the characters.

Haha - same R30. My favorite scene was when Pasty and Eddie get pulled over for drunk driving and Eddie signals for the police to "go around".

The bit in the "France" episode where Eddie, driving shitfaced drunk, backed her car into a tree then just shifted gears and kept on going was hilarious.

I don't know if that would be allowed on tv today.

The censorious Woke Brigade killed Ab Fab. The Woke Brigade don't permit laughter.

Don't question me.

Don't laugh!

She's emaciated, like her brain!

Series 1 and 2 are brilliant.

3 has some good stuff but it starts to lose its edge by the end.

The specials are all pretty dire in my opinion. "Gay" is dreadful.

I've grown to love most of Series 4 over the years..."Small Opening" is a gem.

Five had some moments but Saffy's new husband was an awful addition.

That final mini season of three specials is proof you can only kick a dead horse for so long.

Never watched the movie. I 've seen the clips and after the last TV shows, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna hate it. So, rather than let it ruin the show for me, I'll just rewatch the brilliant early stuff.

The movie was pretty good, believe it or not. I thought it wrapped up all the characters' stories nicely. Saunders has said she's done with AbFab.

R39 June Whitfield died a few years back. Jennifer, Joanna and Julia were at her funeral. Even though Mother wasn't a main character most of the time doing the show without her wouldn't seem right. When they remastered the first 3 series for the DVD boxset it totally changed the look of the show. I know Red Dwarf got criticized for doing a George Lucas type remaster on the first 3 series a while back.

I had mixed to negative feelings about the Katy Grin character. Jane Horrocks got sick of playing Bubble by the end of the 3rd series (which is why Bubble was replaced by Catriona in The Last Shout) and Jennifer gave her a second role for the 4th and 5th series.

As much as I'd love a return, the show is pretty much done with unlike say Twin Peaks for example.

R39 I don't see how they could continue the show; they're all too old for it now.

It's painful to watch Saunders and Lumley try and do physical stuff; you worry they'll break something!

And, it's now apparent that Julia Sawalha is actually much older than her character; the actress is only 10 years younger than Saunders and she really can't pass as her daughter anymore.

I think you have to be tuned to the fact that it is satire.. The cast is amazing. Excellent and droll writing, much of which is done by the original players.

It doesn't all hold up but certain scenes do.

The fashion magazine planning meeting ("Moist is my word du jour") where they throw together an issue one day before deadline is still hysterical.

No...I was not there and too watched it later but if you look up the cultural references you get how shallow they were.

Funny stuff no matter when you were born.

"I just watched Bette Davis in 1942's Now, Voyager. Did you have to be “there” (time period) to get it?"

[quote] The censorious Woke Brigade killed Ab Fab. The Woke Brigade don't permit laughter.

No, sweetie, that was the 3 part anniversary special and Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie. You seem to have confused the "Woke Brigade" with Jennifer Saunders calling it quits and running out of ideas.

It's not really a new phenomena for [bold]bigots[/bold] like yourself to [bold]censor[/bold] under the guise of being [bold]anti-censorship.[/bold]

R34 is Andrew Sullivan.

r43: The entire script of that brilliant scene. I worked at an Art magazine in the '80s and it was EXACTLY like this.

Yes they're all too old now and it wouldn't be the same without June.

I'm watching it again on Amazon now. Thanks, OP.

i thought it was was hilarious but i also drank heavily back in the day. Now, the drunkeness aspect makes it less funny,but it was extraordinarily clever, regardless.

Christoper Malcolm (Justin) died in 2014

To give an idea of how much time has gone by James Lance who played the gorgeous youth "Daniel" who was part of Saffy's study group is now middle aged (45).

I didn't find it funny.

I still think it's hilarious. My favorite line is when Eddie's friend meets Saffron for the first time and says, "Well, it's too late to flush her now".

Would you like to follow me into my gracious drawing room?

R56 - we're talking about Absolutely Fabulous, not Keeping Up Appearances.

r56 that's a line from AbFab, when Patsy meets the editor for Hello magazine.

[quote]To give an idea of how much time has gone by

I was in high school when AbFab started. I am now the same age Joanna Lumley was in the first season.

It's shocking to me.

[quote]Ab Fab was a show where you loved the leads to go down in flames each episode.

Exactly—you weren't supposed to root for them!

R57: Patsy used Eddie's HOLLAND PARK house for her Hello Magazine interview in Series 2. It's a direct quote.

Though I supposed lower-class types like yourself wouldn't be accustomed to things like a drawing room.....

Patsy had nine days to look 35 for the Hello photos.

R55: That was no friend of Eddie, that was THE Jackie Stone, sister of Patsy, behind the rich and powerful, beside the rich and powerful, UNDER the rich and powerful.

It was 90s Brit humour and very funny at the time. It’s very dated now but I can still laugh at it.

The very HEART of Holland Park, r61!

I absolutely love the standoffs between Patsy and Saffron.

As with most series, the first seasons, dated as they may look, hold up so well.

Joanna Lumley is the absolute star of the show. I had the honour of meeting her once, and she (still! Is a very beautiful, funny woman. Truly talented.

The Patsy/Saffy bickering back and forth was always a highlight.

In the France episode when they were playing Monopoly together:

Saffy: What are you doing?

Patsy: I'm taking money from the bank.

Saffy: You can't take money from the bank, that's illegal!

Patsy: I own Park Place, I can do whatever the bloody hell I want!

Saw it during its original run and never, ever understood the appeal of the show. I suppose I liked watching Patsy, a bit. And it put Jane Horrocks on the map for me. Other than that... I did enjoy French & Saunders.

I was about 17 at the time and the daughter looked much too old for her part. Regardless, I didn't like it one bit. I suspect the people who found it funny were a bit like the people from the show, or knew people who were. Otherwise, it's uninteresting.

It's for people who enjoy bitterly sardonic humor and don't have a bug up their ass.

I'm Saffy's age and I recognized a lot of people from my parents' generation in Patsy and Edina - Boomers who refused to grow up and move on, still believed they were young and hot shit, and couldn't let go of their pasts.

Antonia [Hello Magazine] : Where am I here?

Patsy : In my gracious drawing room.

Antonia : No, I mean where is this? Shepherd's Bush?

Eddie : Holland Park! HOLLAND PARK! It's not on the outskirts, either. It's not the EDGE of Holland Park. This is the RICH HEARTLAND of Holland Park here. All right? Is the photographer here yet?

Antonia : No, we never do photos on the same day. Next week.

Eddie : It's a seventy-foot drawing room with west-facing garden. One point five million.

It is a miracle that I can walk at all... I bless the wonder of life... and the newness of living.

R73: OH, how transparently stupid of me. Those question were obviously intended for a MUCH younger woman. And you're not Annabel Croft?

No, I'm Patsy Stone.

Stone, Stone.... AH, here it is. Did your life change much, after Basic Instinct?

This photo from the Hello! shoot never fails to make me laugh.

Patsy nibbles a humble salad....

If you looked closely at Patsy's passport in the Paris episode of series 4, it states her birth year as 1919 but the last two digits are crossed out. This is a continuity error as her older sister Jackie was born in 1923. Plus Patsy is supposed to be several years older than Eddy but was in the same grade as her in school due to being held back several years.

R63 R.I.P. Jackie Stone (1923-2003) and the actress who played her, Kate O'Mara (1939-2014).

[quote] Boomers who refused to grow up and move on, still believed they were young and hot shit, and couldn't let go of their pasts.

That's the same for Auntie Mame, isn't it.?

"You may dress like a Christian, but the similarity ends there!"

"Buns so tight he was bouncing off the walls"

Just reading these lines is making me laugh. The lines themselves were very funny, but the entire cast was brilliant at delivering them.

Shahpari Khashoggi, darling. All that money and she's still got a moustache. Oh, sweetie, one more facelift on this one and she'll have a beard.

R82 That's an adaption from a ribald 1920s verse— "If skirts get any shorter, Said the flapper with a sob, I'll have two more cheeks to powder, and a lot more hair to bob!”

Jackie Stone - I have a theory that all Englishmen are gay

Oliver - If only!

Who cares if you're fat or thin? Who cares if you live or die?

LaCroix Sweety!

R53 - Danny, hello.

I love the Hello magazine episode. There's nothing I like more than collecting knick knacks. Patsy nibbles on a humble salad and sips an Evian water (to go along with the photo upthread). Holland Park and not the outskirts, but the rich heartland of Holland Park.

Nobody did could fall out of a car or go headfirst down a flight of stairs than these two. Great performances and you can tell their is real affection there. I think that makes a difference as well. They look like they are having fun doing their jobs.

I don;t think there is middle ground with AbFab. You either love it or are just not that into it.

[quote]Who cares if you're fat or thin? Who cares if you live or die?

There ya go again, mistakin' me for someone who gives a damn!

[quote] She might look good in it, but I don't very much that she could afford it.

Eddie to the bitch nurse making fun of her outfit in the hospital.

Bitch nurse (looking at Saffy): "Is that your daughter?"

Edina: "Yes."

Bitch nurse: "Oh, there is a God!"

The best parts of any Ab Fab episode were the flashbacks from their childhoods or their swinging London youth. Always a HOOT. The one where they visit Miranda Richardson's character in her pristine white apartment slays me every time. I typically rewind the scene five times before I can move on and finish episode. Miranda and her husband have no place to put the wine Eddie brings for them, because the stringent minimalism of the apartment is SO over the top, they begrudgingly just have to set the wine in a corner on the floor! Fantastically funny.

It's in a white box.

R93 (Utter confusion ensues....)

[quote] Miranda Richardson's character in her pristine white apartment

I confess that I WAS that apartment for ten years!

I'm gonna have a mixed-race baby! I'm gonna have a mixed-race baby, darling! A mixed-race baby is the finest accessory a person in my position could ever have, sweetheart! Oh, my God, it's the must-have of the season! It's the CHANEL of babies!

[quote] There is no course in redemption. You cannot become a better person through massage.

You piece of filth!!!!!!!!

[quote]because the stringent minimalism of the apartment is SO over the top, they begrudgingly just have to set the wine in a corner on the floor!

"I'll put it......over here."

I'm gonna have a mixed-race baby! I'm gonna have a mixed-race baby, darling! A mixed-race baby is the finest accessory a person in my position could ever have, sweetheart! Oh, my God, it's the must-have of the season! It's the CHANEL of babies!

Haha - que fantasy sequence of Eddie strutting down the street with mixed race baby, everyone telling her how cool she is and giving her high 5's.

I love how Patsy lives above a liquor store.

“Your truth! Your little asswipe truth!”

"Little dried-up trail of cat-hack" never fails to make me smile.

Or Bubbles smugly asserting that the best way to wake up after a party is "in a pool of sick."

The story line of Saffy going to prison for two years while her daughter ends up being raised in Africa by her husband is pure vomit. And the idea of Saffy being one of several wives, and leaving her little daughter in Africa for half the year, to what -- come be abused by Eddie and Patsy? --it's just the worst. Just the shittiest plot ever. Made me question Saffy's intelligence and integrity, which defeats the whole damn point.

Honestly, give it a break. The number of shows or movies that truly "hold up" is small. A LOT of shows and movies I love upon initial viewing, but am "meh" or think their bad when I revisit. [Sopranos when from genius to awful.]

AbFab was wonderful the first go round. Not as good when I watch it now, but not awful.

"went"

I have't eaten since 1972.

Eds - (pressing call button annoyingly) When nurse enters, "Don't you ever go off duty"?

Nurse - What do you want?

Nurse - (turns to Saffy) Is this your daughter?

Eds - Yes!

Nurse - Well maybe there's a God after all..... Calls out; Mary! Mary!

Eds - Don't you dare!

Patsy and Eddie are two stereotypical gay men trapped in women's bodies. Drinking and drugs, whoring around, an utter lack of seriousness and total starfuckers to boot.

The stench, the heat. That's the last time I ever set foot in a toilet bowl in Northern Africa. I mean, how dare they spit at me! A nation that has a pillowcase with a slit in it as a national costume.

"She WAS the slot machine."

Eddie: Right – I, the proposed accused, think that, well, I mean, you know, well the day in question was not a good day for me, all right? But I put it to you that I don’t see how any day could have been good the way this bloody country’s run. Well, you know, I was just trying to do my best, trying to get from A to B, do a little shopping. I was trying to take control of my life, you know, only to find that it’s actually controlled for me by petty bureaucracy and bits of bloody paper – ignorant bloody petty rules and laws that just obstruct every tiny little action until you’ve committed a crime without even knowing it!

I mean, you know, why can’t life just be made a little easier for everybody, eh? Why can’t it be more like the Continent, and then run down the street in front of charging bulls whilst letting fireworks off out of his bloody nostrils without anyone blinking an eye? Uh? Because it’s probably a local holiday and nobody’s at work because they all want to have just a little bit of fun and they’re not intimidated by some outdated work ethic. I mean, there has to be more to life than just being safe…

Judge: Is there a point to all of this?

Eddie: Yes, Yes!… Why, oh why, do we pay taxes, hmmm? I mean, just to have bloody parking restrictions- and BUGGERY-UGLY traffic wardens, and BOLLOCKY-pedestrian-BLOODY-crossings?… and those BASTARD railings outside shops windows, making it so difficult, so you can’t even get in them! I mean, I know they’re there to stop stupid people running into the street and killing themselves! But we’re not all stupid! We don’t all need nurse-maiding. I mean, why not just have a Stupidity Tax? Just tax the stupid people!

Patsy: And let them DIE!

Judge (banging his gravel): Anymore of this ridiculous rant and I'll put you both away.

Mother: Hear Hear!

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

R113 Wow, I had no idea!

This is still comfort tv for me. It produced some great lines that still pop into my head. Saffie in the kitchen with Titicaca who is talking about a boy staying in her room overnight because he got drunk and Eddie mumbling to herself "oh, he chewed through his restraints" were great.

It couldn’t be made today, people would be “offended”.

There were definitely some funny moments; however, when I re-watch it now, I find the two main characters so incredibly unlikable, and not in a fun way. I just think the drug-addicted, sloppy drunk, treat everyone like shit, and struggle to function thing didn't age well.

I still don't find it funny.

One of the funniest episodes was when Patsy and Adina had two escorts come over to Adina's house.

Idris Elba was one of the escorts, he sprayed some 'stiffening spray' on this tongue, he could barely speak. It was hilarious.

50% of DL is horrified by ass eating and 70% recoil at just the SIGHT of an uncut dick. The antics of these degenerate women (with PUSSIES) won't find fans nowadays on DL, I'll tell you that, buster!

[quote]I was just trying to do my best, trying to get from A to B, do a little SHOPPING...

I still say this sometimes if a friend asks "How was your day?"

Magda: [on the phone] "No, no, no, mate. I don't even get out of bed and piss for that kinda money!"

One of my best bargaining lines! It's works every time when haggling things up....

Edina: I mean what you two don't seem to realise is that inside of me, inside of me, there is a thin person just screaming to get out.

Mother: Just the one, dear?

Magda was so very vulgar.

Magda like the actress who played her (Kathy Burke) is who she is, and one wasn't far off the mark of other.

Plenty of women and men are just like Mags; they speak as they find and let chips fall where they may.

R125 Kathy Burke freaks me out.

I've seen her do a variety of roles and I never know how much is the role and how much is her. I guess she'd be described as 'Comedy-Griotesque'.

What's that stuff the in "Awakenings"

'El Dopa"

"Two of those on the rocks and bring me a pack of cigarettes"

Inspired by this thread, I am going through and cherry picking episodes. I think they've aged OK. It's even funnier now because their dialogue would be so taboo in 2020, systematically offensive to everyone. Except maybe the gays and that's why I love Eddie!

Magda was my favourite character. I love Kathy Burke, there’s no filter.

In character, she was very authentic because the (unique) working class fash mag hag was absolutely based on Glenda Bailey, then UK editor of Marie Claire magazine and for the last 20 years US Harper’s Bazaar editor.

Patsy, brainstorming the next issue of the magazine:

"The mood for the next edition: Sex, bitch, aristo, sex, punk, whore, bitch, prossie, lezzie, punk, tart, slut.”

"But tasteful"

First three seasons were comic gold. Perfect.

Then it all fell apart and nothing else was wroth watching, except possible the movie, The Last Shout.

But those first three season? Gold, I tell you. Comic gold.

Selling Saffy into slavery in Morocco.

Saffy got lots of action in Morocco...including the hot house boy in the villa they were staying...smelled like yoghurt and honey!

She did have quite nice tits.

[quote]"The mood for the next edition: Sex, bitch, aristo, sex, punk, whore, bitch, prossie, lezzie, punk, tart, slut.”

"Oh, but Alex, with lovely shoes."

Glamour in red square, but not using Russian models. Too bloody ugly.

I wonder what Romanians look like. I'll ask Patsy.

Patsy, what do Romanians look like? Ivan Lendl! Thank you.

You can never have enough hats, gloves, and shoes. Cheers, thanks a lot.

r137 Darling, even Amanda de Cadenet would remember the word "accessories".

DL needs its own Absolutley Fap ulous

The orgy where they hire those 2 gay guys from Eddie's hairdresser.

Did anyone ever tell you you look like Sean Connery? (to a black man)

r140 Soo good! And the black guy was a young Idris Elba.

Idris on Ab Fab. Or, Ab Fab on Idris.

Two of my all-time favorite lines:

Gran: "Espresso? I'm in a hurry too, dear!"

Patsy's sister "Pats, don't you understand? I'M SEVENTY FIVE YEARS OLD!!" (Patsy's sister walks away) Patsy (quietly, to herself) : "Seventy five? (pause) Then how old does that make me?"

They always talked about a different set of celebrities than we have here in the US and who I'd never heard of but thought was fun.

Patsy waking up in the charred kitchen...

Journos with egos, Ohh I don't like them. Bad enough havin to read the crap that's written without having to look at a photo of the bastard that wrote it.

Patsy was based on both Amanda Lear (semi-historically) and Ivana Trump (visually). They even wanted Amanda to play Patsy in the dreadful French film adaption and she refused to saying she had already lived it.

I think this show has still held up really well, though I admit, it's a favourite of mine, and that might just be nostalgia too. But the thing is, there is some really clever writing in it too, particularly in the first three seasons. Saunders also does this thing I love in comedies, that not a lot actually do, which is to continue throwing jokes in, some for the big laughs, but some smaller, inside jokes underneath as well, which is fun when you get the references, or hear what is being said (sometimes they are muttered underneath laughter). A lot of the references went over my head, as I'm Australian, but the flow was very good, and when I looked into them later, I could appreciate them ("How's your wife? And how's the new house, dear? We miss you up our end, you know. But I did see your sister the other day. On that Saga tour of Sizewell B. It was very good, dear. They allowed us to push the buttons"). Fawlty Towers did a similar thing.

I don't really see them as being gay men in drag at all - they are women behaving badly, just like there was another sitcom at the same time during the 90s "Men Behaving Badly". It was just funny to see these women be unapologetically horrible, and as others have said, to watch them get into scrape after scrape due to their own fault, snowballing to the end of the episode. And yes, as another poster said, we weren't meant to idealise them, they are awful women, not people to aspire to be.

I wonder if a number of the people who say they thought Eddy and Patsy were too awful to Saffy might be Americans? Because American comedy tends to have redemption put into every episode. If Ab Fab were an American show, you know that every episode would have a moment where, say, Patsy is sitting there telling Saffy she's only so horrible to her because she's jealous and had a bad childhood, while Saffy looks on sympathetically. Only for them to be back at loggerheads at the beginning of the next episode. I personally hate that sort of writing. Much better to create an episode like "Birth" where the three of them are locked in a room and it all comes out in a very funny way, with no need for a group hug at the end. Plus, using subtle lines to get the meaning across is more fun. Anyone notice how Patsy is always saying weird things she thinks are deep or knowledgeable ("it's like winking at a girl in the dark", "is he from Gabon?")? It's clearly because she has issues over her lack of education (see her try and play Trivial Pursuit as well), but we don't have to be beaten over the head with it, it's just funny.

I will admit, I don't love series 4. To me it feels almost like a different show, and like Saunders was shoving in all the ideas she was having for Mirrorball which would've worked better in that show. I would've preferred to see what she did with a series of Mirrorball than Ab Fab series 4. Plus, while I said above that the references I didn't get were part and parcel of the enjoyment of the earlier series, series 4 has stuff I still don't really get, like Katy Grin, Lady Candida Bender etc. But she did claw it back with series 5, somewhat, and I find from then on I'm back into the rhythm of it, even if it's not as good as the earlier stuff.

r148 I agree and like a lot of what you write here except I (slightly) prefer Series 4 over 5.

Series 4 had "Small Opening" which was a really funny episode and Five had Saffy's African husband which was...an awkward mistake.

That's cool R149, in fact, I'm not hugely hung up on John either. I think the only episode of series 4 I really liked though was "Menopause". ("Beth de Woody!" "Stand on the bloody bin bag!") "Small Opening" is definitely fun though for it's references back to the earlier series, and I love the beginning with Eddy and Patsy off their nut: "Is it a bee?" "Bee's on me!" "Oh, it's a small shoe." I liked the idea of showing how Saffy and Eddy get along much better without Patsy around in "Paris", too.

But for me, series 5 has some great moments, like the panic room, the episode where Saffy gives birth, those typical Ab Fab references to old films like "Don't Look Now" etc. And it feels more like Ab Fab, whereas the fourth seasons seems to be trying something new in a way that didn't gel with me. I must admit, I'm not a huge fan of Jane Horrocks either... great as Bubble, but kinda grating as Katy Grin.

But, I always love hearing differing opinions :)

I hate to say it but I was in London when the first episodes aired and we quickly gathered for viewing parties. While some of the humor translates successfully in the US, there is a lot which is lost on American audiences. It really was very specific to early 1990s London. Lynne Franks was notorious - she would do things like chanting for a new car. Prosperity Buddhism.

Some of the dialogue flies by, especially from Mags-

Patsy : Magda!

Magda : Hello, Pats! How are ya? Unlucky business with the M.P. Still the "Hello!" thing should sort that out. I better make this quick I've got a lingerie opening and a feminine wash launch to get to by six, and all this with my working champagne lunch with Anouska bloody Hempel floating about here. This month I want articles about how lovely spending money is. Expensive things, the better cosmetics are great. I want money, money, money. Spend, spend, spend. I don't want to see any more photos of gormless skeletons with no brains, no make-up and no bloody tits.

Patsy : Promoting bored teenagers won't sell a Chanel suit.

Magda : Naw, they're too thin!

Patsy : Too young!

Magda : If the models get any younger, Pats, they'll be chucking foetuses down the catwalk!

It took me several rewinds of a vintage VHS to get that dialogue.

Jennifer Saunders is a much underrated writer and Joanna Lumley is a much underrated comedic actress, her delivery and characterization is brilliant.

[quote]watching now makes it unbearable because it was such an amazing time that I get depressed missing the 90s and the fun we had without the woke PC shit or social media

I've seen this sentiment before and I don't understand what it means. The 90s were more fun because you could use slurs more easily? You miss the heady fun of "The Man Show" and Rush Limbaugh and the American cinematic classic PCU starring Jeremy Piven?

Also, I'm not sure what they are going on about, because as someone who lived through the 90s, PC was a HUGE thing then. As was people complaining about it incessantly.

[quote] "it's like winking at a girl in the dark", "is he from Gabon?"

I'm not sure I understand this.

Patsy once butted in to a conversation: "A business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know you're doing it but nobody else does." It was a quote she had heard and repeated. Saunders mentioned in an interview that when Patsy comes out with something like this it's only because she's read it somewhere and brings it out to sound smart.

Patsy keeps asking if John is from Gabon, not because she knows anything about the world or is interested, but as an attempt to try and contribute to the conversation and sound more knowledgeable than she really is. She's reading a travel magazine at the time and gets stuck saying: "Gabon?"

The reason it fell apart is that Jen was done with it, but the BBC wanted more and rejected pretty much everything else she pitched. So she was kind of forced to comply and do more AbFab, and she did it more or less poorly.

I like to watch it with subtitles so I can understand what Eddy and Patsy are saying.

I still don't get all the slang, though.

Nurse: Have you recently had or are you due for your PERIOD?

a : Well, yes, both. Why? Is that important?

Nurse: No, I'm just making conversation.

Carmen : It's taken me all bloody day to do a journey that takes a couple of hours. How many bastards need to look at my ticket and then stare inexplicably at a crap computer screen for hours on end? What is the point of asking me if I packed my bag myself? 'Oh, no, I let some total bastard of Middle Eastern origins pack it for me.

Hamish: Where have you been?

Carmen: Spain

Hamish: Ah, off the beaten track ... Andalusia, forgotten Catalania. My own secret Majorca.

Carmen: More like my own secret arsehole. It was a shitty bit of coastline ruined by patronizing English gits. 'Oh you must come over and share a rather fine local Rioja. Oh, piss of you sad twats!'

Hamish: Oh, dear. Mr Dictionary seems to have deserted us again.

Hamish: Listen, you old tart. Can we not think of a nicer way of putting this? How about 'We gazed on canapes and feasted on roasted suckling pig and juicy carciofi beneath a bewildering array of stars beside a pool brimming with azure blue...' You can't put 'We all sat around and ate free foreign crap then vomited.'

Carmen: I'm a journalist!

Hamish: Fair enough

Edina: I could have been a student.

Mother: Oh-ho-ho. Thick as two short planks, her reports said.

R153 you sound tedious and just don't get it.

I don't miss the days when gay jokes were more socially acceptable.

What was politically incorrect about it?

The wine tasting in France is one of my favorite scenes.

“We didn’t WANT that one! ... the empty one ...”

I wish AbFab had been around back when I took my first trip to Europe and caught a Paris to Madrid flight on Air France. Got attitude from the stewardess and wish I could have said a variation of Eddy's line to the shop girl. "you're only a waitress you know, you can drop the attitude".

r160, thanks for that! One of my favorite scenes in the series. Jo Brand as Carmen was perfection.

R160, I had forgotten the line: "Oh dear, Mr Dictionary seems to have deserted us again." That always cracks me up, love the way he says it. That whole scene is a lot of fun.

I have to say, on rewatching some of the very last episodes, both "Identity" and "Job" are actually really enjoyable.

Clip from the pilot of the ill-fated US version, with Kathryn Hahn as Eddie and Kristen Johnston as Patsy

r170 That was pathetic. I see why it was ill- fated. American's are too ill informed and stupid to get the original so they have to make up their own.

Oh god, thank GOD that didn't happen! What a waste of Kristen Johnson too!

R171

It goes both ways.... UK tried to do a version of "Golden Girls" and it bombed very badly.

Bit of hit or miss really, somethings cross the Atlantic and do well, others don't. American version of "The Office" did well enough, as did "House of Cards". But the US version of "Coupling" was a disaster.

[quote]American's are too ill informed and stupid

Stop abusing apostrophes and maybe then we'll start listening to your opinion on who is stupid and who isn't.

the clip at r18 is great

Jennifer Saunders was the executive producer of the Fox remake, which got scrapped after the pilot was shot. Zosia Mamet was cast as Saffy. (The planned remake with Carrie Fisher and Roseanne as co-producers never got off the ground.)

Those two in the American version are so abrasive.

[quote] UK tried to do a version of "Golden Girls" and it bombed very badly.

Our local PBS station showed it, and it was indeed terrible.

I'm one of the few homosexuals in the world who liked the Christmas specials of about ten years ago better than the originals - the ones with Saffy's friend from prison and all that getting a car to drive them to the beauty spa on the next corner. Laugh-wise they did it for me much better.

I never found the stupid mother funny. Nor the silly secretary, Bubbles. Though Bubbles was better in these later episodes as well.

[quote]Bit of hit or miss really, somethings cross the Atlantic and do well, others don't. American version of "The Office" did well enough, as did "House of Cards". But the US version of "Coupling" was a disaster.

The US version of [italic]Kath and Kim[/italic] was another notable stinker. Bogan "culture" is too specific to Australia to try to emulate here (although it might could have worked if it had been set in Florida or maybe the South).

Wow! I was a young gayling in NYC the 90’s and this show meant the world to me. I’m amazed I never heard all those details from Franks’ son in the article at R113, or seen the clip of the bizarre American version pilot at R170! Great thread, thanks OP.

“A row of skeletons with Jackie O. hair-dos.”

[quote] She's reading a travel magazine at the time and gets stuck saying: "Gabon?"

It's also the first selection for the letter G that shows up in those automated pop ups when you enter your personal data in an online registration form and you have to scroll down a bit to pick Great Britain.

[quote]I’m amazed I never heard all those details from Franks’ son in the article at [R113], or seen the clip of the bizarre American version pilot at [R170]!

I don't think anything from the remake has been seen before Kristen Johnston shared the clip on YouTube.

That clip is wretched, good thing it never got past the pilot stage.

The chemistry between Jennifer and Joanna was just one of those one in one thousand occurrences and can't be replicated. J & J are not best friends in real life, but their incredible chemistry on that stage took everyone by surprise.

[quote] The chemistry between Jennifer and Joanna

Jennifer admired Joanna because she was slim and beautiful

Joanna was grateful to Jennifer because she was a has-been model.

They might not be "best" friends, but I'm pretty sure from what they've said, they're very close. I think Jennifer mostly enjoyed writing those later Ab Fab episodes just because it was a chance to get everyone back together again, as they are so busy doing other stuff most of the time.

I loved Bubble when I first started watching back in the ‘90s, but rewatching it I like Catriona and Fleur.

As an American I’m pretty up on a lot of their celebrity references, but I’m not sure of a few. Is Amanda de Cadanet related to Alain de Cadanet? And who is Dale Winton? He sings with Katy Grin in that one episode and is HOT!

You could see in the original show both lead actresses easily became the part. They were playing characters based on people they had observed, known, and probably laughed about behind their backs, for a large part of their lives. Now finally a chance to mock them! They both had many details and memories to work with. They relished playing them and it showed.

Initial acting talent, strong screen presence, and inherent comic timing didn’t hurt either.

Plus, because it was such a perfect fit the audience also instantly connected. You KNEW people like this!

There was a show I saw once on the making of Ab Fab and they were interviewing Ruby Wax and she spoke about how they (she, Jennifer, Dawn, Joanna too perhaps) would be out and see this awful PR woman (Lynne Franks perhaps?) screaming into her phone: "Tell the bitch if she does that one more time... hold on!" and then put her hand over the phone and started chanting: "om ra ma na na na" etc and then went back to screaming: "... she is SO FIRED!" It was so funny seeing the way she told it.

R189 Dale Winton was a TV presenter known for being camp, Amanda de Cadenet was also a TV presenter but she was known for not being very good at it, and fucking footballers. Yes she's Alain de Cadanet's daughter.

I used to be under the impression Amanda de Cadenet was in "Justify My Love" but that turns out to be the model Amanda Cazalet haha. The one who claims Madonna stalked her.

However, they were both in Four Rooms, which may be why I got it mixed up.

R190 I'm not sure I'd call either of them as 'actresses'.

Jennifer was part of that university, hippie. irreverent 'New-comedy" team* which became extremely popular and successful in the 1980s to the 2010s.

But Joanna's world was quite different. She's TWELVE years older. A different generation. No comedy training. No real actor-training because she was a James Bond-type 'sexy-bird' model in the very conventional 1960s.

* (even though it included the tiresome Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson)

The show was never perfect or hilarious all the time, but fans didn't care. Also it was just as deliberately offensive then, I don't understand why people have become less sophisticated, instead of more? And they don't get when something is a put-on, or satire? It's sad. Very sad.

I still remember when I was young there was the episode where Patsy has the hots for the handsome classmate of Saffie, in the leather jacket. I watched it with my mom. I tried not to show how hot I thought he was.

I fancied this Saffie classmate.

I found out afterwards it was Tom Hollander. Very short, heterosexual, a clever choice of roles and unusual personal politics

[quote]I don't understand why people have become less sophisticated

This is something that I have wondered myself, though you put it better than I could've. Does it tie in to the whole thing now where people strongly identify with the characters they see on TV? "She is my spirit animal", "he is a mood" etc? I dunno, it's interesting, and I could go into a long discussion of it, but it'd be way off topic.

Speaking of Jennifer and Joanna being untrained actresses, it's actually really interesting to me how good they are. I know Jennifer went to drama school to train to be a teacher, but it sounds like she slept through most of it. Some people just have an innate sense of how to do it, and how to work towards their strengths, most importantly. As for me, I'd be way too self-conscious to be able to act.

[quote] As for me, I'd be way too self-conscious to be able to act.

Alec Guinness looks PAINFULLY shy in some of his interviews

[quote]I fancied this Saffie classmate. I found out afterwards it was Tom Hollander. Very short, heterosexual, a clever choice of roles and unusual personal pol

Sorry, that's not who I'm talking about. This kid had shorter, dark hair, brown eyes and a pompadour. He was only in one episode.

R196. Too small, I expect sex with him would be a rather [italic]localised[/italic] experience.

R 196 - sorry I meant to tag you in the above post.

R199 James Lance.

^ he looks interesting.

He's done a lot of stuff in the ensuing 28 years.

One of the little moments that always cracks me up in that Iso Tank episode is when Eddy is being all flirty with Danny and offering him beer, and then realises there's another boy there (a really nerdy one with greasy hair and glasses) and she goes from flirty to aggressive: "You?" and hisses at him. Then, after getting the beers for the boys, to the girls: "Sisters Grimm, can I tempt you?"

I was disappointed that Titicaca wasn't in the movie.

R202 Thank you!

TITICACA TO THE SINK CUPBOARD

OMG yes R207. That never fails to make me laugh. I'm laughing now.

R206, me too! I loved her. She was the only regular/semi-regular character who didn't come back wasn't she (where the actor was still alive, I mean, as both Christopher Malcolm and Kate O'Mara had died.)? Oh, I suppose Oliver didn't either, but without Justin, it'd be hard to fit him in too. He hadn't appeared since The Last Shout either.

Kate O'Mara was killed off. Heroin overdose.

I really didn't like how Jackie was brought back for the Christmas episode. Why would Patsy hate her for the past all of a sudden? She had stars in her eyes about her older sister in the Happy New Year episode, and only turned on her at the end because of the cat hotel and the fact Eddy reminded her that Patsy had no morals.

Another shot of James Lance. He just seemed very cute to young teen me in that episode

As for people reacting to this show now, I think people have become like Saffy now. She's probably their heroine when they watch the show.

La Croix darling. La Croix . . .

I’ve quoted lines from this show for so many years I forget where they originally came from. When someone corrects my pronunciation of something I sometimes (in the right company) imitate Edina pronouncing “cappuccino.” Someone recently asked me, “What’s that from?” And I had to think for a moment.

I love Mo Gaffney, she was great.

"Steady, Bo!" - another line that always makes me laugh.

Sometimes I find myself quoting lines from the show that aren’t famous, or exactly zingers, just little detailed moments in the scripts that stick in my head for some reason.

Like Dawn French as the talk show host saying to Patsy, “Am I right in thinking you took two ordinary members of the public and made their dreams come true?”

I say this constantly, and find it fits many situations!

^Haha, I do that kind of thing too. Also from that scene: "Up next we'll be talking to our sports personality of the year..." Patsy: "Contradiction in terms."

Tiny little wasp breaths.

"Well it may not be all great and good but it ain't that bad, so cheer up world it may never bloody happen!"

^Got me the Prozac campaign!

I can’t remember the lines exactly, but I always loved that little monologue Edina confesses to Saffy about the passenger across from her on the airplane she thought was watching her but was only asleep.

Your truth, your little twisted asswipe truth!

It's a small shoe.

I’m not good with quotes, so bear with me, but two of my favorites are:

-when Bubble is working with the intern and she’s writing on the iPad and the intern tells her how she’s stupid and knows nothing and doesn’t know why Edina keeps her and Bubble says, “She keeps me because I know too much”

-the other is the one with the gardener and Eddie says to Saffy something about”Two jugs and a watering can. Charlie Dimmock”

When we first got BBC America back in the ‘90s my dad used to watch Ground Force like crazy and comment on Charlie. When I told my mom how gross I thought she was and asked why my dad liked her she said it was because Charlie didn’t wear a bra and “left nothing to the imagination”.

Tom Hollander was in AB Fab "The Last Shout".... He played Paolo son of a very wealthy man and his former airline hostess (and soft porn actress) wife.

Paolo is terrible, awful and often went about shirtless. “Sex with him would be a rather localised experience,” Patsy decided.

[quote]I was a gayling when this came out on Comedy Central in the mid 90's. Because Eddie loved gays, I loved the show even though I didn't get all the humor in the beginning.

Major dollface gayling. Alert!!

Serge and Sarah should have both been in the movie. Also instead of accidentally "killing" Kate Moss, it should've been an actual well known A-List celeb that was famous worldwide at the time.

R227 Yeah because absolutely no-one has ever heard of Kate Moss.

R204

Eds wasn't being flirty with Danny per se; she just was over joyed at thought Saffy finally had a boyfriend, and a very attractive one at that. She tells him later "whole house is at your disposal... anything you want...".

Good point R229, flirty was the wrong word to use, I guess I was just thinking of how excited Eddy was that Danny was so attractive. Patsy was definitely flirty of course, haha! Danny always came across as gay to me though as a kid, the way he lisped around the room: "Mathive houthe!" But I believe the actor is completely straight, so it just goes to show re: stereotyping people.

R227, I honestly think showing Serge was a mistake. Perhaps that's just due to my belief that all the best comedies have the often spoken of, but never seen character. Serge in this, Sheridan in Keeping Up Appearances, etc. Also, I think "Gay" was probably my least favourite of all the episodes... actually, no I don't think it can be as long as "Donkey" exists, come to think of it.

Titicaca to the cupboard.