Absolutely Fabulous's Joanna Lumley: 'We didn't even know if it would get made'

"You can't tell anything until it hits the audience," Lumley said, referencing how Amandaland would be receieved.

"It's the same with plays, when you rehearse them. That's why the dread of the first night [exists]. You don't know how it's going to go. You know that you've done the best you can.

"You've rehearsed it, you've got it right, you've done it. And in this case, you've filmed it right. You've done it to the best of our ability.

"You don't know how it's going to work until it works, and then the great heat of iconography comes blazing back, and then that becomes an iconic figure. But until that happens, you don't know."

She continued: "And on the very first episode of, well, the pilot episode of Ab Fab, we didn't even know if it would even be commissioned.

"How could you tell? You couldn't tell until the audience laughed, because that's what we've got to wait for with this. No pressure or anything."

Read more:

• Jennifer Saunders recalls Absolutely Fabulous scenes male execs didn't approve of
• Daisy May Cooper on reuniting with brother Charlie in Am I Being Unreasonable?

Amandaland is arriving on screens just over two years after Motherland came to an end with its final Christmas special, and sees Lumley, Lucy Punch and Philippa Dunne reprising their roles from the original show.

Co-writer Holly Walsh recently explained why Punch's Amanda was "the obvious candidate" for a spin-off, saying that it came down to where they left the character at the end of Motherland.

She explained: "To see somebody who thinks they’ve made it in life fall is a fun story to write. South Harlesden is only about five miles away from Chiswick, but for Amanda that’s huge, as she’s so postcode-obsessed."

Absolutely Fabulous is available to stream on ITVX Premium. Amandaland is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.

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