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Joanna Lumley says Absolutely Fabulous reboot 'won't work'
Joanna Lumley has shared that she firmly believed Jennifer Saunders "didn't like her" when they initially first met. The British actress is best known for her role as Patsy in the long-running BBC sitcom, Absolutely Fabulous.
Speaking to Rob Brydon on his podcast, Joanna previously opened up about how she first landed the iconic role. After recalling her early years as an actress, she then touched upon reading the Ab Fab script and said that Jennifer's husband Ade Edmonson was the one who "suggested" Joanna for the part.
"I was on a Ruby Wax show. Jennifer said that she saw me on The Ruby Wax show and thought I'd be good - it doesn't matter. I saw the script and I thought it was fantastic," she explained.
"I was taken to the BBC to meet her [Jennifer] and do a little read-through of a scene. I have to say - either I did it so badly or she was so uncommunicative - that I was certain she didn't like me.
"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'."
Joanna and Jennifer first starred in the show in 1992 (Image: Getty)
Absolutely Fabulous centres on Eddy (Jennifer) and her best friend Patsy (Joanna) and follows their wild lifestyles, whilst also pulling their family and loved ones along for the journey. It first aired in 1992 on BBC Two.
Joanna's career has also seen her credited in Martin Scorcese's Wolf of Wall Street and Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. Today, she is recognised mostly for her numerous travel documentaries and has become a voice for the UK to tackle climate change.
Jennifer and Joanna reunited in the 2016 film adaptation of Absolutely Fabulous, which featured a wide array of famous cameos from the likes of Kate Moss, Emma Bunton, Alesha Dixon, Dawn French, Joan Collins and Graham Norton.
Jennifer Saunders and Helen Lederer (Image: Getty)
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One of their co-stars Helen Lederer recently admitted in an interview that Absolutely Fabulous "wouldn't be received in the same way today" by viewers. Speaking exclusively with Express.co.uk, Helen opened up about how we live in "totally different times" and said 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 started.
"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."
You can listen to Joanna's full interview here.
English (US) ·