Jennifer Saunders hints at “age-appropriate” Absolutely Fabulous return
But could it be a prequel?
While iconic comedy series Absolutely Fabulous had a triumphant big-screen return in 2016, fans have never stopped hoping that the TV series itself could make some sort of comeback – and now creator and star Jennifer Saunders might have given them some new hope.
Telling the crowd at the Cheltenham Literature Festival that an Ab Fab return was “always on my mind, always,” Saunders suggested that she might have a new version of the series in the pipeline, albeit in a very early stage.
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“I am thinking at the moment of writing a little something,” she said.
“It has to be age-appropriate otherwise we’d have to be in wheelchairs basically. I think Julia [Sawalha who plays daughter Saffy] is old enough to be my mother now.”
Her comments lend fuel to the rumours that an Absolutely Fabulous prequel – which would tell the stories of the younger Edina and Patsy (Joanna Lumley before viewers met them in all their fashion-chasing, pill-popping glory – could be in the works, though at this early stage it’s hard to say if or when we’d actually see the Ab Fab return on screens.
“We have talked for a few minutes about doing a prequel – how did they all meet and get together when they were much much younger," Producer Jon Plowman previously told RadioTimes.com.
“It hasn’t got anywhere yet and indeed may never get anywhere. It may be the worst idea anybody has ever had.
“So we could do that. We could equally do them in very old age like we did in a very earlier episode [of the TV show]."
It also goes against previous comments made by the writer and actor that she was happy to leave the characters behind forever.
“I’m not doing anything more with Ab Fab. That’s it,” Saunders told the Daily Mail. “That. Is. It. I can’t see the point of doing anything else with it, really.
“It just takes so long. There’s lots of other stuff I’d like to do. Plus I’d like to spend time with my grandchildren. So, if I did Ab Fab as well that would just stop me doing anything new, or thinking of any other ideas or having a different job or whatever.”
Clearly, something changed her mind....
