Claudia Byatt
TV

Why Absolutely Fabulous would not work today

Jennifer Saunders has long been gracing the screens in movies, on television and on the stage, entertaining audiences with her wit for over four decades. 

The comedy veteran is perhaps best known for starring and co-creating the hit ‘90s series Absolutely Fabulous.

The series follows a dysfunctional relationship between a self-obsessed PR boss and her daughter, and it has been brought back with new episodes various times over the years, even spawning a movie in 2016.

The show, which covered several risqué topics, would likely not get the green light if it were pitched today, Saunders told Today

"It is not because of cancel culture, it's just you have to jump through so many hoops," she said.

"There's lots more people to make a decision - 20 or 30 years ago people would commission it and you wrote it and it went on telly - I don't think it was the content, the content would seem dated nowadays.

"It is not the cancel culture or the wokeness, there is just an age where you turn into the old farts and you back the old establishment and the new people come up and take over.”

Although we might not see Saunders’ witty Edina Monsoon or Jennifer Lumley’s Patsy stone return to the screens, Saunders shows no signs of leaving the entertainment industry.

The comedy queen has continued to make audiences laugh, working on a number of projects over the recent years and will be starring in a new drama Allelujah with Dame Judy Dench, which will be released on April 6.  

Image credit: Getty 

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Jennifer Saunders, Absolutely Fabulous, TV