20/10/2015 - Film version of hit British television show stars Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley

Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders in first picture from Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie

Director Mandie Fletcher (television’s Absolutely Fabulous) has commenced a seven-week shoot at UK and France locations for Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, the film version of the beloved British television series. The film will reunite television cast member Jennifer Saunders, who also wrote the script, as Edina, with Joanna Lumley as Patsy, Julia Sawalha as Saffy, Jane Horrocks as Bubble and June Whitfield as Mother. The film follows Edina and Patsy who are blamed for a major incident at a fashionable launch party, get entangled in a media storm and are pursued by the paparazzi. They flee penniless to the French Riviera where they hatch a plan to make their escape permanent.

Saunders said, “I am thrilled and excited to finally start filming. We are all taking our medication and hoping for the best.”

The film is a Fox Searchlight Pictures and BBC Films production. Jon Plowman (television’s Absolutely Fabulous) and Damian Jones (Belle [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) are producing, with Steve Milne (Moon [+see also:
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trailer
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interview: Andy Harries
interview: Stephen Frears
film profile]), Nichola Martin (Powder Room), Dawn French (television’s Roger & Val Have Just Got In), and Maureen Vincent (television’s Absolutely Fabulous) serving as executive producers. 

The film will be released in 2016.