Jennifer Saunders (born on the 6^th July, 1958 in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, UK) is a British comedienne, actress and comedy writer. She is widely known as the writer and star of “Absolutely Fabulous”, and recently the voice of the villainous Fairy Godmother, in the animated family comedy “Shrek 2.”

 

In 1977, Jennifer Saunders attended the Central School of Speech and Drama in London to train as a drama teacher. There she met Dawn French, they later became friends and shared a flat together and started writing and performing comedy together. Jennifer came across an advertisement placed by the Comic Strip in a club called The Comic Store which asked for two comediennes. They answered this advertisement and soon they were performing in festival, cabaret and standup circuits. They became a central part of alternative comedy in the early 1980’s and paved the way for many other female comediennes. During their work at the nightclub they met some other comedians who were to become some of the greatest comedy performers of their time and together they formed a comedy troupe called “The Comic Strip”.  In 1987, Jennifer and Dawn created their own comedy sketch show called, “French & Saunders.”

 

“In terms of her writing and performance, Jennifer Saunders may be considered to have had some influence on raising the profile of female comedians in television, leading the way for others such as Jo Brand and Dawn French in her solo series, Murder Most Horrid. Saunders took on her first non-comedy role for a BBC drama, Heroes and Villains (1995), a period piece based on the true life of Lady Hester Stanhope, an eccentric 19th century traveller. As well as revealing a further talent for dramatic acting, the show crystallizes Saunders TV persona, and arguably her role in British television, as an independent and powerful woman.”

(Nicola Foster)

 

Jennifer Saunders has appeared in many films and on several television series’ including: Happy Families, Girls on Top, and The Comic Strip Presents. She has also written “Mirror Ball” which is a spin-off from “Absolutely Fabulous.”

 

She lives in Devon with her husband, fellow comedian Adrian Edmonson, and their daughters: Ella (18), Beatrice (17) and Freya (14).

 

 

Joanna Lumley ("Eurydice Collette Clytemnestra Dido Bathsheba Rabelais Patricia Cocteau Stone")

 

Joanna Lumley (born on the 1st May 1946 in Kashmir,m India) is a British actress and former model and Bond Girl. She is best know as Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous and her tireless support and aid of the Animal Rights Movement. She is a commited vegetarian and is married to Stephen Barlow who is an orchestral conductor.

 

Joanna spent her young life in India, and then attended army school in Hong Kong and Malaya before she moved to England, where she took up Ballet as a teenager.  When she failed her RADA at age 16 she became a model. In 1971, Joanna married her first husband, comedy writer Jeremy Lloyd but the marriage didn't last very long.

 

Joanna Lumley is famous for her roles in On Her Majesty’s Service, the Satanic Rites of Dracula, New Avengers. She has also appeared in many theatre productions including Hedda Garbler and Blithe Spirit she is also known for her role in the television series’ Sapphire and Steel and Dr Willoughby. She has recently starred in Mirror ball (2000) which was written by Jennifer Saunders, and Ella Enchanted.

 

Joanna made her comeback in 1992, in Jennifer Saunders’ Absolutely Fabulous. In which she stars as the hedonistic, alcoholic and drug-addict, Patsy who has slept her way into the Executive Fashion Director’s chair of a popular fashion magazine. Patsy tries to hold on to her youth by tidying her beehive and going after younger men. Since then she has starred in many television series including Class Act and Cold Comfort Farm. In 1994, she was ‘cast away’ on a desert island for the filming of Girl Friday, in which she lived alone on an island for nine days making do with rations and her own common sense. Joanna has also written a book called Girl Friday, based on her experiences on the island.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.jlmatrix.co.uk/joanna/biography.htm

 

 

 

Character: Patsy Stone

‘A sex-crazed, morally corrupt, drunken high-class prostitute’

 

Patsy has always done everything and had everyone. At a young age she was estranged and neglected by her eccentric mother, so she went to live with Edina and her family. Every since Edina and Patsy (donkey and racehorse) have been inseparable.Patsy has slept her way into the the top ranks of a fashion magazine called Ella. She uses Edina constantly, and while Patsy has the looks, Edina has the money and Patsy does whatever she can to get some.