Absolutely Fabulous

Absolutely Fabulous
Title card (2011–2012)
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Jennifer Saunders
Based on	"Modern Mother and Daughter" from French and Saunders by Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders
Written by	Jennifer Saunders
Starring	Jennifer Saunders Joanna Lumley Julia Sawalha June Whitfield Jane Horrocks
Theme music composer	Bob Dylan Rick Danko
Opening theme	"This Wheel's on Fire", performed by Julie Driscoll and Adrian Edmondson[a]
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	5
No. of episodes	39 (list of episodes)
Production
Camera setup	Video (1992–2012) Multiple camera
Running time	30–60 minutes
Production companies	Saunders & French Productions BBC Productions Oxygen (2003) BBC America (2011–2012) Logo (2011–2012)
Original release
Network	BBC2 (1992) BBC One (1994–2012)
Release	12 November 1992 (1992-11-12) – 7 November 1996 (1996-11-07)
Release	31 August 2001 (2001-08-31) – 25 December 2004 (2004-12-25)
Release	25 December 2011 (2011-12-25) – 23 July 2012 (2012-07-23)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Absolutely Fabulous (often shortened to Ab Fab) is a British television sitcom created and written by Jennifer Saunders, which premiered in 1992. It is based on the 1990 French and Saunders sketch "Modern Mother and Daughter", created by Dawn French and Saunders.

Saunders stars as Edina Monsoon, a heavy-drinking, drug-abusing PR mogul who spends her time failing to lose weight and chasing bizarre fads in a desperate attempt to stay young and "hip". Edina's best friend is ex-model and magazine fashion director Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley), whose drug abuse, alcohol consumption and desperate promiscuity far eclipse Edina's. Edina relies upon the support of her daughter Saffron (Julia Sawalha), a student and aspiring writer whose constant care of her immature mother has left her a bitter cynic. Ab Fab also stars June Whitfield in a supporting role as Edina's dotty, sarcastic and often thieving mother, who appears in nearly every episode. Jane Horrocks as Edina's utterly brainless personal assistant Bubble also features frequently.

The first three series of Absolutely Fabulous were broadcast on the BBC from 1992 to 1995, followed by a series finale in the form of a two-part special entitled The Last Shout, in 1996. In 2000, the show was ranked number 17 on the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes by the British Film Institute. It was revived for two more series and two one-hour specials from 2001 to 2004. Three new episodes, collectively titled Absolutely Fabulous: 20th Anniversary, were released in 2011–2012. Two sketches for charity specials were also released, for Comic Relief in 2005 and Sport Relief in 2012.

A film continuation, Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, was theatrically released in 2016. Saunders then confirmed that she is "not doing anything more with Ab Fab", as she wanted to focus on new projects.^[1] However, in October 2024, Saunders, Lumley, Sawalha and Horrocks appeared in a retrospective, titled Absolutely Fabulous: Inside Out, which broadcast on Gold.^[2]

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