Jen's not so Ab Fab I MISS PATSY & EDINA

The funnywoman laments that there is no place for her beloved characters these days

It’s one of the achievements Jennifer Saunders is most proud of – creating a TV show that became a much-loved classic. But she says she would not get away with making Absolutely Fabulous today because times have changed so much.

Jennifer, 62, came up with the idea, wrote the scripts and played boozy PR guru Edina (Eddie) Monsoon opposite Joanna Lumley’s drink and drug-addled Patsy Stone in the hit series, which first screened in 1992. In 2000, it was ranked 17th in the British Film Institute’s list of greatest British TV shows of all time. It has also been turned into a 2016 movie. However, Ab Fab probably wouldn’t be given the go-ahead – or at least it wouldn’t be the same show – if the idea was put forward now.

“People are so politically correct now, we couldn’t get away with anything,” insists Jennifer. “It’s harder to write what we used to write because there is always someone tutting in the back of your mind, ‘Oh, don’t you think someone will be o”ended?’ It is very tiring.”