What's Funny About... Absolutely Fabulous

TV veterans Peter Fincham and Jon Plowman talk to the writers, producers, and performers behind Britain’s biggest TV comedy hits, and hear the inside story of how they brought their programmes to the screen. In this episode, Peter and Jon talk to Jennifer Saunders about her BAFTA and Emmy award winning hit Absolutely Fabulous. They discuss the inspiration for Edina Monsoon, why recordings of the show were always finished by 930pm (clue: the BBC bar closed at 10), and what might charitably be described as Jennifer’s “last minute” approach to script delivery! With Peter and Jon as our guides, we’ll take the opportunity to ask quite how our guests went about making a great bit of TV comedy? Who came up with it? How did it get written? We’ll talk about the commissioning, the casting, and the reception the show received when it first aired. We’ll do our very best to winkle out some backstage secrets straight from the horse’s mouth, as we hear the unvarnished truth from the people who were there, and who put these iconic shows on the telly. Original Absolutely Fabulous clips written by: Jennifer Saunders Based on an original idea by: Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders Producer: Owen Braben An Expectation production made for BBC Radio 4 Extra.