Jennifer Saunders
Filmed on the set of their sketch show, much-loved duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders discuss all the crucial and female contributions to the pantheon of comic history across the globe.
A web of secrets sends family man Adam Price on a desperate quest to uncover the truth about the people closest to him.
Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot’s Egyptian vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turns into a terrifying search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple’s idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short.
A double offering of heavy metal madness from The Comic Strip and Bad News.
For a long time, Natalie, an Australian architect living in New York City, had always believed that what she had seen in rom-coms is all fantasy. But after thwarting a mugger at a subway station only to be knocked out while fleeing, Natalie wakes up and discovers that her life has suddenly become her worst nightmare—a romantic comedy—and she is the leading lady.
The day of Lady Windermere’s birthday party, and all is perfectly in order. Until her friend Lord Darlington plants a seed of suspicion. Is her husband having an affair? And will the other woman really attend the party? First performed in 1892, Lady Windermere’s Fan explores the ambiguity of upper class morality and the fragile position of women in society in the late Victorian era in one of Wilde’s most popular and witty plays.
Many years ago, Grandpa was a World War II flying ace, but sadly he is now suffering from Alzheimer's disease. When his family can no longer look after him, he is moved to Twilight Towers, an old people's home. It soon becomes clear that Miss Dandy is running Twilight Towers for her own ulterior motives, and it is up to Grandpa and grandson Jack to make a daring escape. Failure could have the direst of consequences, but success will give Grandpa a final chance to relive his past and take to the sky once again in his beloved Spitfire.
Dragged up all the way from the ocean bed, national treasures Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders are back together this festive season with a special 30th anniversary clip show that's bursting with brand new material, greatest hits, hilarious rarities, and even some never-before-seen footage.
Ab Fab stars Jennifer Saunders & Joanna Lumley share 25 years of friendship. The two funny ladies head to the Champagne region of France to find out how their favourite glass of fizz is made.
Edina and Patsy are still oozing glitz and glamor, living the high life they are accustomed to; shopping, drinking and clubbing their way around London's trendiest hot-spots. Blamed for a major incident at an uber fashionable launch party, they become entangled in a media storm and are relentlessly pursued by the paparazzi. Fleeing penniless to the glamorous playground of the super-rich, the French Riviera, they hatch a plan to make their escape permanent and live the high life forever more!
Documentary celebrating the British sitcom and taking a look at the social and political context from which our favourite sitcoms grew. We enjoy a trip through the comedy archive in the company of the people who made some of the very best British sitcoms. From The Likely Lads to I'm Alan Partridge, we find out the inspiration behind some of the most-loved characters and how they reflect the times they were living in.
Based on David Walliams' best-selling children's book, with an all-star cast including Jennifer Saunders, James Buckley, David Walliams and Kate Moss, The Boy in the Dress is a celebration of creativity, difference, football and fashion. Dennis feels different - an ordinary boy in an ordinary house in an ordinary street, playing football with his mates and living with his dad and brother, but frustrated by the boring grey world he inhabits. Life has never really been the same since his mum left. However, transformation can happen in the most unexpected places. Aided by Lisa, the coolest girl in the school, Dennis creates a whole new persona and puts it to the ultimate test - but can a boy wear a dress, and what will the headmaster, his dad and his friends on the football team think if they find out?
15 years after they first took the world by storm, a new musical about the girls called Viva Forever! is about to hit the West End. The programme looks at the creative process behind the show that is produced by Judy Craymer and written by Jennifer Saunders in collaboration with the Spice Girls themselves.
No topic is off limits to the side-splitting sketch comedy partnership of Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, creators of the groundbreaking British sitcom "Absolutely Fabulous." In this collection of sketches from Series 1 and 2, the dynamic duo takes on James Bond, the Pet Shop Boys, dance trends, Liza Minnelli, Hollywood musicals and more. Guests include Jools Holland, Robbie Coltrane and Rik Mayall.
Gentlemen prefer blondes, but when Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders parody Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe, it's proof enough why comedy fans prefer French And Saunders. And ever wondered what the Queen has for a mid-morning snack? Of course not. But that won't stop breakfawn from hilariously reporting on this and other topics of equal importance. Stunning highlights include the meeting of the minds behind the book Rock Stars and Their Toilet Seats, a special Opera Classics recording session, an outrageous look at the magazine industry with Womanly World and the original Absolutely Fabulous skit.
The Comic Strip team return for a special 50s-style 'fugitive' film noir spoof. The 60-minute film, penned by Peter Richardson and Pete Richens, follows Prime Minister Tony Blair (Stephen Mangan), wanted for murder and on the run. Escaping from Number 10 and leaving behind his adoring wife Cherie (Catherine Shepherd), Tony vows to clear his name no matter what the consequences.
This Is Jinsy is a British comedy series. The pilot first aired on 1 March 2010 on BBC Three. The programme is about the bizarre residents of the fictional island of Jinsy and based on the island of Guernsey, where the two writers are from. The show was written by Chris Bran and Justin Chubb who also play the leading roles. Although the pilot episode was made for the BBC, the full series of eight episodes was picked up by Sky Atlantic. The first series began airing with a double bill on 19 September 2011 and ended on 31 October 2011. A second series was screened in January 2014.
When Coraline moves to an old house, she feels bored and neglected by her parents. She finds a hidden door with a bricked up passage. During the night, she crosses the passage and finds a parallel world where everybody has buttons instead of eyes, with caring parents and all her dreams coming true. When the Other Mother invites Coraline to stay in her world forever, the girl refuses and finds that the alternate reality where she is trapped is only a trick to lure her.
French and Saunders, Britain’s most celebrated female comedians, bring their final ever sell-out Still Alive tour to DVD! Catch the last chance to watch the infectious duo in their side-splitting comedy tour featuring the best of their characters and sketches from the past three decades, together with brand new material written by the first ladies of comedy. Filmed at Cardiff, the Still Alive tour is a lively, fun and celebratory farewell from French and Saunders to their fans and to each other after 30 years of comedy genius – don’t miss it!
Revolving around the life of Vivienne Vyle, a daytime TV presenter/agony aunt in the mold of Trisha, the show focuses on not only the problems of her guests but the problems Vivienne faces herself in regards to her love and home life.
Twenty years of the French and Saunders sketch show are celebrated in a selection of new and vintage sketches from the popular comedy double act. Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders raid their back catalogue and present favourite sketches and new material. It's another chance to visit the country home of the Fat Men, watch Britney Spears take on Madonna and no series would be complete without the famed movie pastiches. Alan Sugar, Simon Cowell and Amy Winehouse are some of the new faces who are tackled in a fresh batch of sketches. Take a good look as it may be the last we see of the French and Saunders sketch show as we know it.
The upper-class secret agent teaming up accidentally with an easily-corrupted, sly interpreter...
Jam & Jerusalem is a British sit-com that aired on BBC One from 2006 to 2009. Written by Jennifer Saunders and Abigail Wilson, it starred Sue Johnston, Jennifer Saunders, Pauline McLynn, Dawn French, Maggie Steed, David Mitchell, and Sally Phillips. Earlier episodes also starred Joanna Lumley and Doreen Mantle. On BBC America the first series was aired as Clatterford. The show centres on a Women's Guild in a fictional small West Country town called Clatterford St. Mary. It first aired on 24 November 2006. The second series began airing on 1 January 2008 with a 40-minute special and finished on 1 February 2008. The third series was filmed from April 2009. It consists of three one-hour specials, and began its broadcast on BBC One on 9 August 2009. In November 2009, on her blog, Pauline McLynn announced that Jam & Jerusalem would not be returning for a fourth series. She later stated that it was the decision of the BBC and not Jennifer Saunders.
Shrek, Fiona and Donkey set off to Far, Far Away to meet Fiona's mother and father. But not everyone is happy. Shrek and the King find it hard to get along, and there's tension in the marriage. The fairy godmother discovers that Shrek has married Fiona instead of her Son Prince Charming and sets about destroying their marriage.
The Secret Policeman benefit shows for Amnesty International brought together comedy grand masters - from Python and Beyond the Fringe - and performers then relatively unknown, like Rowan Atkinson. Narrated by Dawn French, the programme includes interviews with many of the comedians and musicians who took part: John Cleese, Stephen Fry, Michael Palin, Sting, Lenny Henry and many more. The shows and their stars had a huge effect on modern British comedy. There are few comics today whose careers have not been heavily influenced by the anarchic and surreal humour of these events.
The wildly popular British television show Absolutely Fabulous gets a Francophonic makeover with this film version directed by Gabriel Aghion. In this go around, Josiane Balasko and Nathalie Baye play the incorrigible Eddie and Patsy, who leave no impulse unenacted and no lust unsated -- be it for sex or the latest in designer clothing. Waking up from a night of drunken debauchery, the two dip right into a feast of champagne and caviar, much to the irritation of Eddie's elegant mother and her resentful daughter. As Eddie stretches an appalling pair of leopard-print leotards (complete with matching shoes, purse, and hat) over her massive rear end, she and Patsy learn of a handsome young Rollerblading delivery boy who quickly becomes the object of their lust. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival.
A documentary tribute to the singer/songwriter who died on 18th December, 2000.
The main cast from "Absolutely Fabulous" appear as aspiring, out-of-work actresses.
For the first time in 10 years, see Britain's funniest double act French & Saunders at their hilarious LIVE best... Together they perform their unique brand of humour to standing ovations and critical acclaim in this theatrical comedy spectacular.
Yorkshire writer Kate finds out her biological clock is ticking down the same day that her husband leaves her. To get over the financial crisis this creates she takes in car-dealer Dave. He's homeless as Kate's husband has moved in with his wife. This leaves the problem of how to get promptly pregnant. Surely not with increasingly interesting Dave. They can't even agree on a baby's name - he thinks Fanny is silly and she finds Elvis, well, inconceivable.
Let Them Eat Cake is a British sitcom starring Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders set in France, 1782, just seven years before the French Revolution. It is one of the few programmes in which French and Saunders have appeared which they did not create themselves.
The Magician's House is a quartet of children's fantasy books by William Corlett. Two mini-series were produced in 1999 for British television, which were directed by Paul Lynch. The series featured Jennifer Saunders and Stephen Fry voicing some of the animal characters. The books were published in the early 1990s, and named as follows: ⁕The Steps up the Chimney ⁕The Door in the Tree ⁕The Tunnel behind the Waterfall ⁕The Bridge in the Clouds Although in a rural setting, this series' focus on subjects such as industrial development and the combining of present-day and past settings in the plotline gives it a feeling tending more towards urban fantasy than simply contemporary fantasy. In addition, though there is no specific mention of Welsh myths and legends, the strong part nature plays in the stories and the settings bring to mind other British children's authors. Authors like Alan Garner, who is perhaps best known for The Owl Service and Elidor, and Susan Cooper, famous for The Dark Is Rising sequence of books, who allude more specifically to British myth and legend in their writings.
Zany adventure that follows The Spice Girls and their entourage (mostly fictional characters) - manager Clifford, his assistant Deborah, and filmmaker Piers (who is trying to shoot a documentary on "the real Spice Girls").
After telling the story of Flint's last journey to young Jim Hawkins, Billy Bones has a heart attack and dies just as Jim and his friends are attacked by pirates. The gang escapes into the town where they hire out a boat and crew to find the hidden treasure, which was revealed by Bones before he died. On their voyage across the seas, they soon find out that not everyone on board can be trusted.
Eddy and Patsy prepare to go on a skiing holiday to hopefully indulge in the jet-setting lifestyle of the international celebrity elite when Saffy is proposed to by her stuffy, upper-class boyfriend, Paolo. Eddy hits the slopes and has a near death experience where God appears to her and tells her it's not yet her time. When Eddy comes to, she waits for a sign that she should get involved in Saffy's wedding. As she returns to the house, it appears all hell has broken loose- relatives piling up, practically squatting, and Saffy about to lose her mind. Eddy calms her by throwing money at her as they bond together, planning Saffy's dream wedding. What could go wrong?
Out of work actor Joe volunteers to help try and save his sister's local church for the community by putting on a Christmas production of Hamlet, somewhat against the advice of his agent Margaretta. As the cast he assembles are still available even at Christmas and are prepared to do it on a 'profit sharing' basis (that is, they may not get paid anything) he cannot expect - and does not get - the cream of the cream. But although they all bring their own problems and foibles along, something bigger starts to emerge in the perhaps aptly named village of Hope.
A craft full of Space Rats,glamorous extra-terrestrials from the planet Sex,arrive on Earth desperate to find men with whom they can procreate in order to ensure the continuity of their race and whom they imprison in their sex factory. Fortunately for the world the secret agent James Blond,a decidedly non-feminist secret agent,sets out to rescue the men and see off the Space Rats in his own inimitable way.
Set in the world of fashion and PR, immature fun-loving mother Edina Monsoon and her best friend Patsy drive Eddie's sensible daughter, Saffron, up the wall with their constant drug abuse and outrageous selfishness. Numerous in-jokes and heavy doses of cruel humour have made this series a cult hit in the UK and abroad.
The Greater London Council fight to save the capital against the wicked Ice Maiden.
Adapted from the Beatrix Potter story tells the story of the pignap of Little Pig Robinson by Captain Barnabus Butcher who fools Robinson into believing he is being taken on a trip to visit the land of the Bong tree; the truth of the matter is more sinister.
Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders perform a live comedy show in London's West End at the world famous Shaftesbury Theatre, in front of a hugely appreciative sell-out audience. Over an hour of hilarious sketches and gags, with support provided by Raw Sex (Simon Brint and Rowland Rivron as Ken and Duane Bishop).
After the criticisms of the 1987 show’s disproportionate focus on music - and the financial disaster of its music-only Festival Of Youth weekend concert in 1988, Amnesty returned to the original formula that had been so successful in the 1976-1981 era with a primary focus on comedy. Pat Duffy was dropped from organising any further benefit events for Amnesty and for the 1989 show, Amnesty hired producer Judith Holder.
The Strike is a film from The Comic Strip Presents that received a limited theatrical release, and won the Golden Rose of Montreux for the same year. The film concerns Paul (Alexei Sayle), a Welsh former miner and aspiring screenwriter, who writes a hard-hitting filmscript about his own experiences of the 1984 Miners' Strike. However, the Hollywood production company that gets hold of his script turns it into a ludicrously sensationalist and anachronistic action film, starring Al Pacino (played by Richardson) as Arthur Scargill, and Meryl Streep (Jennifer Saunders) as his wife.
Four years after they were last the subject of a documentary, Bad News get back together again for another film of their exploits, beginning with a reunion gig at the Flying Horse.
A couple of bored escorts find themselves suddenly involved with a hit-gang and an ax-murderer - Mr. Jolly. Gratuitous violence, rivers of blood and maximum hilarity, all rolled into one.
French and Saunders is a British sketch comedy television series written by and starring comic duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. It is also the name by which the performers are known on the occasions when they appear elsewhere as a double act.
Alex is a disgruntled waiter at a snobby exclusive restaurant who falls on hard times. Forced to deal with the contempt and disgust of the upper class, Alex & cohorts attempt to go on a rampage. Meanwhile, General Karprov and Spider plot to involve the inept anarchists into their plans to derail the prime-minister-to-be's campaign.
The Dangerous Brothers was a stage and TV act by anarchic comedy duo Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson, performing respectively as "Richard Dangerous" and "Sir (or occasionally Lady) Adrian Dangerous". Although originating before the show, they appeared in a number of brief sketches in the 1980s TV programme Saturday Live. Eventually being banned for being "too sexy and too violent", they staged a protest by returning as 'The Ben Elton Brothers', and blowing up the car park at LWT Studios. One of the final sketches prepared for Saturday Live was entitled 'Kinky Sex'. This fell foul of Channel 4 censors who banned it. The duo responded in the sketch Dangervision by apparently hijacking the programme and blowing up the wall on which the show's logo was painted in graffiti art. The banned sketch, which by modern standards seems fairly tame, was finally released on a compilation video The Dangerous Brothers present: World of Danger.
The comedy event of the year took place in April 1986 at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London. All those taking part gave their services free in order to support the famine relief camp in Umbala in the west of Sudan. Tonight Omnibus, in collaboration with Charity Projects, presents the best comic talents in Britain today. Among those appearing: Rowan Atkinson, Frank Bruno, Kate Bush, Graham Chapman, Billy Connolly, Ronnie Corbett, Paul Eddington, Ben Elton, French and Saunders, Stephen Fry, Bob Geldof, Terry Gilliam, Lenny Henry, Howard Jones, Terry Jones, Hugh Laurie, Hank Marvin, Rik Mayall, Michael Palin, Cliff Richard, Pamela Stephenson, Spitting Image, Midge Ure, The Young Ones.
Happy Families was a rural comedy drama written by Ben Elton which appeared on the BBC in 1985 and told the story of the dysfunctional Fuddle family. It starred Jennifer Saunders as Granny Fuddle, Dawn French as the Cook and Adrian Edmondson as her imbecilic grandson Guy. The plot centred around Guy's attempts to find his four sisters - also played by Saunders - for a family reunion.
While taking a holiday in the country with his mother, Dennis hits on a scheme to impress a girl so that she'll go away on a trip with him as his girlfriend. Although he fails to gain any interest from the girl, the police take a great interest in his story. From this point on, Dennis digs a deeper hole for himself at every turn
Girls On Top is a British sitcom that was shown on ITV from 1985 to 1986. It starred French & Saunders, Ruby Wax and Tracey Ullman, and was written by French, Saunders and Wax with additional material from Tracey Ullman. Despite a low budget and poor critical reception, the series was a ratings success. It was made for the ITV network by Central Independent Television. The show focused on four female flatmates and their landlady. The characters were stereotypes with little depth and the comedy focused on conflicts from their personalities. It was an attempt at a female version of The Young Ones, two series of which were made in 1982 and 1984. Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders had both appeared on it and, like most of its stars, were members of The Comic Strip group. The theme tune was written and performed by Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford from the British band Squeeze.
A documentary crew films heavy metal band Bad News as they have trouble starting their van, pick up a schoolgirl groupie, and meet up with rock journalist Sally at a motorway service station where they argue about the cost of sausage and chips.
The Comic Strip is a group of British comedians, who came to prominence in the 1980s. They are known for their television series The Comic Strip Presents... which was labelled as an example of alternative comedy. The core members are Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson, Jennifer Saunders and Alexei Sayle with frequent appearances by Keith Allen, Robbie Coltrane and others.
A tongue-in-cheek "behind the scenes" look at the Comic Strip comedy club in the early 1980s, which gave rise to 'The Comic Strip Presents'
Set in a geriatric ward within a small hospital, when news of its closure begins to reach the community, the hospital invites a local news crew to document their planning of a concert in honor of the hospital's most celebrated nurse. But there might be something more threatening to the hospital itself, more deadly than the politicians ready to shut down the place at a moment's notice.
Two students calling themselves Carlos and Miguel arrive in Spain dressed as gunslingers to live out their dream of being in a spaghetti Western. At a cafe in a remote town they meet two Australian girls who have picked up a scruffy hitch-hiker and a would-be rapist dressed as a matador.
