BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH & HIS MUM, WANDA VENTHAM ON FRENCH & SAUNDERS RADIO (including his impersonation of Alan Rickman singing Candle In The Wind)

Absolutely Fabulous... the movie? Joanna Lumley confirms partner in comedy Jennifer Saunders IS penning a screenplay (MAIL ON LINE)

Absolutely Fabulous film due out 'in time for 2014 Oscars'

By DENI KIRKOVA
PUBLISHED: 13:31 EST, 25 January 2013 | UPDATED: 13:31 EST, 25 January 2013

 'Is champers all right with you, Pats?', 'Lovely darling.'

The unmistakeably posh lexicon of hit TV series Absolutely Fabulous, also known as Ab Fab, is set to return to screens as soon as next year, in the form of a feature film, it has been revealed.

The woman behind lead character Patsy Stone - a botox, champagne and drug addicted magazine editor - has confirmed an Ab Fab movie is on the way.

Joanna Lumley, 66, confirming the news reported in the Mail last year that a film was in the pipeline, told the Telegraph: 'We've talked about it, Jennifer [Saunders] is writing the film.

'Although yesterday the press were saying it's a musical now! But whatever it is, I'll be there.'

She also said while she's alive no-one but her will play Patsy, even if that means brushing up on her all but non-existent singing and dancing skills.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2268259/Absolutely-Fabulous--movie-Joanna-Lumley-confirms-Jennifer-Saunders-writing-screenplay.html#ixzz2J5vYKLjI 
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WATCH: 'Judi Dench Was A Police Officer': Will Ferrell And Kristen Wiig Go Crazy At Golden Globes. Comedians leave audience in stitches in joke filled presentation (E.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=c9OxMmVJKFQ#!

BlakeElijah youtube


Read more: http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/101204/WATCH-Judi-Dench-Was-A-Police-Officer-Will-Ferrell-And-Kristen-Wiig-Go-Crazy-At-Golden-Globes-

Ripper Street, Doctor Who, Call the Midwife, Luther.. (BLEEDING COOL).

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/12/28/video-the-bbcs-2013-new-season-trailer-doctor-who-luther-ripper-street-and-more/

Being from the States I have no idea who this woman is from Miranda, but is she mimicking Jennifer Saunder's Edina of ABFAB? Sounds just like her.  Anyway, hope we see half of these shows on PBS or Masterpiece or BBC America!  Are you guys listening at all?

Jennifer Saunders on meeting the Spice Girls for the first time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NpEakE46Kw

British Actors who rejected the Queen's Honors (DIGITAL SPY)

British actor Alan Rickman rejected a CBE from the Queen.

 Alfred Hitchcock rejected a CBE in 1962 but accepted a knighthood from the Queen shortly before his death in 1980.

David Bowie reportedly rejected a CBE in 2000, explaining simply: "I seriously don't know what it's for."

 .John Lennon returned his MBE 1969, along with a letter to Her Majesty which read: "I am returning this in protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam 

BAFTA-winning comedy duo Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French rejected an OBE back in 2001.

Skyfall actor Albert Finney turned down a CBE in 1980 and rejected a knighthood in 2000.

According to official government records, Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave also rejected an honour from the Queen.

Actor Bill Nighy reportedly declined the British Honour of CBE.

READ MORE: http://www.digitalspy.com/celebrity/i515184-8/stars-rejecting-the-queens-honours-bill-nighy.html

Jennifer Saunders: 'I couldn't afford to have an ounce of cynicism' The Ab Fab star on writing her Spice Girls musical, why she loves playing Edina and the joy of being a granny Interview by Tim Adams (GUARDIAN)

‘I cried at the first full run of the show’: Jennifer Saunders at home with her dog, Olive. Photograph: Perou

Jennifer Saunders's first musical, Viva Forever!, based on the songs of the Spice Girls, opens at the Piccadilly Theatre London W1 on 27 November. Saunders started writing the script in 2010 after being treated, successfully, for breast cancer.

You've written a lot of scripts but a full-scale musical is something different. How is Viva Forever! going?

It's going well I think. I saw a full run of the show yesterday for the first time. I didn't sleep a lot last night: a mixture of excitement and sheer terror. It is much more of a massive thing than anything I've done before, really. And there are large parts of it where I realise I have absolutely nothing to offer at all. Like choreography. Moving people around the stage. All that. I'm used to writing scripts that make frequent use of the words "cut to". But of course you can't do that here. I was hoping I might get away with "lights out" or "curtain down" or something but of course it turns out you can't do that because this actor has to be offstage and in the next scene in different clothes. I'm not good at logistics…

READ MORE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2012/nov/18/jennifer-saunders-spice-girls-interview

YOU interview with Joanna Lumley: 'It’s for charity, schweedie!' By LIZ JONES (MAIL ON LINE)

‘I have all these clothes at home… I thought to myself, “Don’t be selfish”,' says Joanna

When you meet Joanna Lumley, it’s disconcerting. She’s so Patsy, the Absolutely Fabulous comic creation surely up there with Inspector Clouseau, Sybil Fawlty and Bridget Jones, and yet at the same time so not.

She arrives at the auction house in South London where her wardrobe – including her Ab Fab outfits – is about to go on sale, all long legs, thigh boots and poncho, and when she smiles hello she almost does that Patsy grimace: bared teeth accompanied by a wild snort.

The enthusiasm is the same, the striding about, the air-kissing of everyone in the room. But of course Joanna Lumley is not Patsy. She tells me she only really becomes the character when her hair is up in that trademark beehive.

‘That’s all my own hair, you know,’ she says. ‘I’ve got good working hair. Backcombed, of course. Jennifer Saunders called it Mr Whippy. I never used a wig or a hairpiece.’ I tell her the key to the character is that she remains just this side of reality, that I know people who have worked in fashion for too long who are just like Patsy, syphoning up dregs from all the near empty wine glasses in a restaurant as they leave, nothing to live for but the next Chanel show.

‘It was Jennifer [Saunders] as Eddy who wore all the extreme stuff, putting on lots of different looks at the same time,’ says Joanna. ‘The Lacroix, the oversize hip-hop medallions, the denim boiler suits: the key was that Jen always wore something either two sizes too big, or too small. Patsy dressed exactly as a fashion editor would: the perfect Chanel jacket no one else has got. She dressed immaculately most of the time, in lovely neutrals – she always looked elegant. The mistake people make when they dress up as her is that they make her quite tarty, which she wasn’t. I was Jennifer’s foil, always plain and simple.’

Joanna is selling 16 lots, including some from Absolutely Fabulous, worn across the series from 1995 to 2011, the films Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther (1982 and 1983), and The New Avengers TV series (late 70s). There are also items from her personal wardrobe, such as the Pucci dress she wore to celebrate her opening night in La Bête on Broadway in 2010, and the ivory and gold lace Tatters dress she wore to collect her Bafta Special Award for The New Avengers in 2000, all to raise money for the Prince’s Trust.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2219050/Joanna-Lumley-Its-charity-schweedie.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Uptown Downstairs Abbey Parts 1 & 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5dMlXentLw

For those of you who haven't seen it yet - the Downton Abbey spoof from 2011 Red Nose Day



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3YYo_5rxFE&feature=relmfu

Benedict Cumberbatch, Matt Smith and co - "What I'll be watching at the 2012 Olympics" A host of celebrities including Rob Brydon, Dawn French and Sir Bruce Forsyth tell us which events they're most looking forward to and why (RADIO TIMES)

Benedict Cumberbatch

Equestrian: “I’ll be watching quite a few things. The sort of short distance track events are always exciting and I’d quite like to watch the horse competitions, because I learnt how to ride a horse for the film War Horse and now I’m a little bit obsessed with all things horsey. Oh and crazy stuff like pole vaulting.”



Matt Smith

Athletics: “I love to see the 400m – that used to be my event. But I’ll watch anything. My favourite Olympic memory is Linford Christie when he was doing well. I loved his intensity. But I’d watch Michael Johnson any day of the week just because he was so electrifying.”


 READ MORE: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-07-31/benedict-cumberbatch-matt-smith-and-co---what-ill-be-watching-at-the-2012-olympics

Ab Fab snub Madonna ACCESS ALL AREAS, The West Australian July 13, 2012, 11:05 am

Jennifer Saunders has banned Madonna from appearing on her smash-hit comedy Absolutely Fabulous. Saunders, who writes and stars in the popular series with Joanna Lumley, has made no secret of her desire for Madonna to appear on the show over the last two decades but has now given up after the Material Girl has continued to snub her requests. "We have had loads of celebrities who have said no to us, but always Madonna. Madonna is the bane of our lives," Saunders said. "In fact even if she said yes now we would have to turn her down. Madonna has always said no - and so are we."




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhwDGU4FNAY&feature=player_embedded

French and Saunders to reunite (HELLO!)

 Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders are to reunite for a comedy special - set in rehab.

The Bafta-winning comic duo, who have not performed together since a Comic Relief sketch in 2009, are to star in a new instalment of The Comic Strip Presents, titled Five Go To Rehab.

"It's great that Dawn and Jennifer are back together again. Viewers have really missed them," an insider told the Sun.

Jennifer's husband Ade Emondson will also appear in the upcoming show - a spoof of Enid Blyton's Famous Five books - which will be filmed this month in Devon before being aired later this year on comedy channel Gold.


READ MORE: http://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities-news-in-pics/02-07-2012/59667/

Saffy’s back and Absolutely Fabulous By Rob Salem (TORONTO.COM)

Ignored, insulted, breastfed by strangers, sold into white slavery, exposed from atop the Eiffel Tower . . .

Julia Sawalha had finally had enough.

“When I was asked to do the 20th anniversary special, I was reticent about it,” confides the actress who has, as Safflower “Saffy” Monsoon, barely tolerated the antics of her fictional mom Edwina (Jennifer Saunders) and chain-smoking nemesis Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley) in several seasons and specials of Absolutely Fabulous, the cult-hit Britcom about the rich and toasted.

“I felt I had put Saffy to ‘sleep’ and wasn’t sure if I could resurrect her,” she says. “It was kind of like she had turned into a ventriloquist’s dummy that was lying in a dusty old box, and if I got her out I would just be working her like a puppet.

“But as Jennifer emailed me a couple of ideas she had planned for Saffy, I immediately roared with laughter and everything sprang to life.”

The first of those ideas, and the starting point for the first of two half-hour AbFab specials airing on Vision TV this Thursday and July 5: Saffy has just spent two years in prison on fraud charges.

Sawalha, like Saffy, takes these things in stride. “I don’t have a reaction to storylines, as we have quite a thin grasp of the text/plot when we first start,” she says. “I never get attached to certain lines or plots, as things get cut and changed right up to the last minute.

“Though you can get a recurring joke that pops up in the next script, then gets cut again, that always makes me laugh.”

Laughter sets the tone on the AbFab set. “There is an awful lot of laughing that goes on during rehearsals . . . what I really love is seeing Jennifer laugh; it is very infectious. Also, when she is laughing, of course it is going to be at something very funny.”

Memories of those days made the decision to come back a no-brainer. “Jennifer’s enthusiasm to work with us all came across very clearly,” she says.

“I thought, ‘Are you crazy, Julia? You love working with the girls, Go have some fun.’

READ MORE:http://www.toronto.com/article/734561--saffy-s-back-and-absolutely-fabulous

'Downton Abbey' parodies, tributes inspire series creator 'Downton Abbey' creator Julian Fellowes has seen some of the tributes to his series, and he's fond of one of them. Arby's, anyone?By Glenn Whipp, Special to the Los Angeles Times June 14, 2012 (LA TIMES)

JULIAN FELLOWES, "Downton Abbey's" creator, had his hands full at the Emmy Awards last year. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

"Downton Abbey"creator Julian Fellowes has watched all the parodies of his show — Jimmy Fallon's "Downton Sixbey," the "Saturday Night Live" skit re-imagining "Downton" as an obnoxious SpikeTV series, the dog website that pairs the program's characters with canine counterparts.

But one sketch has captured Fellowes' fancy more than any other.

"That fast-food chain you have with the name something like Arbus," Fellowes says, calling from his home in Dorset, England. Arby's? "That's it. 'Downton Arby's.' That one gave me so much pleasure. The gags display such an understanding of the characters. I loved watching [problem middle daughter] Edith getting it all wrong, being depressed and ripping open those packets of horseradish sauce with her teeth."

The ubiquity of the "Downton" tributes and parodies owes as much to Fellowes' well-defined characters as fan fervor. The stoic Mr. Bates, the sour-faced schemers O'Brien and Thomas, the bumbling Edith, the haughty Dowager Countess are all ripe for roasting, and the estate's heated rivalries and backbiting translate nicely into almost any workplace environment.




READ MORE:  http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/emmys/la-en-downton-side-20120614,0,5115308.story

Jennifer Saunders wins Best Female Comedy Performance for the amazingly wonderful Absolutely Fabulous

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2CMU_ULk-0&feature=relmfu

BAFTA Red Carpet Streaming SUNDAY MAY 27: The 2012 British Academy Television Awards

The show kicks off with glamour from the red carpet as the stars arrive for one of the most prestigious TV awards ceremonies of the year.

Nominees include Dominic West, Jennifer Saunders, Benedict Cumberbatch, Miranda Hart, Hugh Bonneville and Dame Maggie Smith. Along with programmes including Sherlock, Spooks, Misfits, Fresh Meat, Mrs Brown’s Boys and Harry Hill’s TV Burp.

The show will be shown on BBC One from 8pm tonight!

CLICK HERE FOR LIVE, RED CARPET STREAM FROM 2012 BAFTA TELEVISION AWARDS ON CELEBRITY GOSSIP.NET




http://tvnewsroom.co.uk/tv-talk/news/the-2012-british-academy-television-awards-on-bbc-one-tonight-8pm-41671/

BBC America to show raft of Brit shows for Summer of London (TELEVISUAL)

BBC America is running a season of British programming this Summer, from The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in June through the London Olympics in August, live event coverage will be accompanied by a raft of comedies, documentaries, dramas and special features across all of BBC America’s branded platforms under the umbrella - BBC America’s Summer of London.

Programming will include live coverage of both the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant for Her Majesty The Queen and Jubilee Day, including Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

As a tribute to the London Olympics, the channel will air the long-awaited Olympic themed Absolutely Fabulous special starring Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley and Doctor Who’s Matt Smith stars in the drama Going for Gold – The ’48 Games.

The channel will premiere The Brit List, a series of specials hosted by BBC America’s pop culture correspondent Asha Leo, as well as a series of Asha Leo hosted short-form pieces featuring insider highlights of the upcoming summer activities.

The last great British culture invasion will be celebrated with a slate of Beatles programming, including the premiere of the documentary Discovering Lennon and the entire series of The Tudors.

Perry Simon, general manager of BBC America, said, “It feels like we’re in the midst of a new British cultural invasion and this coming summer offers a non-stop series of events and stories that will put London front and centre on the world stage.  If you can’t experience it in person, we want to make BBC America the next best place for Americans to celebrate this historic Summer of London.”

On Sunday, June 3, in recognition of the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign on the throne, BBC America will present an entire day of specials and documentaries including the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant live. The channel will show the US premiere of The Diamond Queen, written and presented by Andrew Marr and executive produced by Nick Vaughn-Barratt.

On June 5th, the celebration carries on with live Jubilee Day coverage including the Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, together with other members of the Royal family, will attend a service of thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral, which will be followed by a formal carriage procession.

READ MORE:  http://www.televisual.com/news-detail/BBC-America-to-show-raft-of-Brit-shows-for-Summer-of-London_nid-1611.html

Hugh Grant kisses Dawn French, w/Jennifer Saunders (They are all sooooo young)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3vmblOSGto

BBC’s very own “Downton Abbey” - Fermanagh-filmed “Nick Nickleby” set for big success - VIDEOS North's attracting top flight projects due to pristine locations and talented film crews By ANTOINETTE KELLY, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Crom Castle

It's already being dubbed the new Downton Abbey, but the fact is that the BBC's new period comedy Blandings has a better writer: P.G. Wodehouse.

It's the latest top flight project that will be filmed in the north or Ireland, with a cast that includes Absolutely Fabulous' Jennifer Saunder and Harry Potter star Timothy Spall. Blandings will be filmed in the imposing surroundings of Crom Castle, in County Fermanagh, and is sure to highlight the north's pristine landscapes and the talent of their world class film crews.

Tourism Minister Arlene Foster told the Belfast Telegraph: 'The fact that Crom Castle was selected as the venue to film the PG Wodehouse Blandings stories is a real coup for Fermanagh. It was great to meet the cast and crew, and to see at first hand the program being filmed.' 


Read more:  http://www.irishcentral.com/ent/BBCs-very-own-Downton-Abbey---Fermanagh-filmed-Nick-Nickleby-set-for-big-success---VIDEOS-146528595.html

Benedict Cumberbatch and his mother, Wanda Ventham on the Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French BBC radio show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH5QW_qF76Q&feature=related

Romangirl88