Dawn French says French and Saunders will never return

Speaking to comedian Sarah O'Connell on YouTube, French said: "We both have the same tattoo, which we got on the very last night of doing our double act.

“We were on tour in Auckland in New Zealand, and we knew we wouldn’t be touring our double act again. I mean, you know, here I am saying that and that was lots of years ago."

She added: “I’m done with that. Done with the double act part of it – not done with her. There’s lots of things I’d love to do with her, but doing sketches on telly, I think we’ve had our moment with it."

However, there is a silver lining for fans of the pair, with French explaining that Saunders is still "trying to persuade me to do some more".

French and Saunders started working together when they met in their early 20s in 1978, with their eponymous sketch show first airing on BBC Two in 1987.

In total it ran for six full series, in addition to a host of Christmas specials, compilation episodes and retrospectives, the most recent of which was 300 Years of French and Saunders – which aired on Christmas Day in 2017.

In August, the pair revealed to RadioTimes.com that they had been discussing ideas for a new sitcom.

"We had lunch the other week and we were talking about what might be possible," French explained. "But I think nowadays the thing that would be a priority for us is for it to be good fun. There isn’t really another reason for us to do something unless it’s fun.”

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