Joanna Lumley, the British actress famed for her role as Patsy in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, previously revealed that she initially thought Jennifer Saunders "didn't like her" when they first met. Speaking on Rob Brydon's podcast, Joanna shared how she landed the iconic role, explaining that Jennifer's husband, Ade Edmonson, suggested her for the part after seeing her on The Ruby Wax show.
However, after a read-through at the BBC, Joanna felt certain that Jennifer didn't like her. She said: "I went back home and said to my agent, 'I love the script but I have to say you must get me out of this. She's too polite to say that she doesn't like me. And I don't think I can do it. She doesn't want me'."
Absolutely Fabulous, which first aired in 1992 on BBC Two, follows the wild lifestyles of Eddy (Jennifer) and her best friend Patsy (Joanna).
Joanna Lumley's illustrious career includes credits in Martin Scorcese's Wolf of Wall Street and Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. Today, she is best known for her numerous travel documentaries and has emerged as a prominent voice urging the UK to address climate change.
Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley reunited for the 2016 film adaptation of Absolutely Fabulous, which boasted a star-studded line-up of cameos including Kate Moss, Emma Bunton, Alesha Dixon, Dawn French, Joan Collins and Graham Norton.
Their co-star Helen Lederer recently confessed in an interview that Absolutely Fabulous "wouldn't be received in the same way today" by audiences. In an exclusive chat with Express Online, Helen discussed how we now live in "totally different times" and noted that "targets are not the same.
"I think people we just live as you rightly say, in totally different times. I should observe that there are many, many more women comics out there, doing what comes naturally to them, and what is naturally received by an audience," she began.
"But comedy - it is in your time. So I would say that it wouldn't be. I think there would be...yeah, would not be received in the same way. The flamboyance, the archetypes, characterizations, the lampooning of the business of PR, that was an 80s and 90s thing."
