Jennifer Saunders was going to kill off ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ characters until Joanna Lumley stopped her

Joanna Lumley has revealed Jennifer Saunders once tried to kill off their Absolutely Fabulous characters, before she managed to convince her otherwise.

The two comic actors starred as the leads in the ‘90s sitcom on the BBC, with Lumley playing Patsy Stone alongside Saunders’ Edina Monsoon.

The show, which was created and written by Saunders, ran for five seasons from 1992 to 2003, before returning in 2004 for a Christmas special, a three-part series in 2012 and a feature film in 2016.

The show revolves around Edina, a heavy-drinking PR mogul who is desperate to stay young and on top of fashion trends, and her best friend and fashion director Patsy, whose excesses eclipse Edina’s.

In a new interview with My Weekly, Lumley, 78, has disclosed details about a conversation she had with Saunders in which they discussed bringing about the demise of the characters.

Lumley said that Saunders wrote to her, asking: “Shall we just kill them off and bury them?”

She continued: “I wrote back the fastest email return I’ve ever written. I said, ‘No, we’ve promised the world we will never die! And to be honest, if all that vodka and champagne they’ve necked over the years hasn’t done the job, then why on earth would their creator be able to do it?’”

Although there has been no new update from the world of the show since the 2016 film, Saunders did say on her podcast with comedy partner Dawn French, Titting About, in October last year that she would write an Ab Fab-related project by the end of the year.

She said it would contain “some Ab Fab-ness, but not totally Ab Fab”, but did not clarify whether it would be a film or a television series. “I want to do something related,” she added.

Saunders also responded to French asking her whether Lumley would have a part to play in the new project. “Possibly,” she replied.