Absolutely Fabulous: Series 4

Parralox - Conscious that ?one job is so last Millennium?, Edina has added yoga and TV production to her business portfolio. Patsy has decided to grow old disgracefully with the help of Parralox* injections to freeze her wrinkles, and Saffy is praying that her New Labour job interview goes well so that she can finally escape them both. In between trying to align her chakras and blag her way into London?s trendiest drinking dens, Edina manages to land herself and client Twiggy guest appearances on the popular Richard and Judy daytime show, much to the annoyance of her new partner, ruthless TV presenter Katy Grin. But as her TV appearance draws near, Edina?s vanity and Patsy?s bullying get the better of her and she succumbs to the power of Parralox ? with the inevitable disastrous results.

Parralox also features Naoko Mori, Bob Barrett, Tilly Blackwood and, as themselves, Twiggy, Lady Victoria Hervey, Michael Greco (EastEnders? Beppe di Marco), Stephen Gately (Boyzone), Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan.

* a Botox substitute, used in chemical warfare: ?If it?s good enough for Saddam, it?s good enough for us.?

Fish Farm - Patsy and Edina have been moshing at a Marilyn Manson concert. "Rock stars with a needle in their arm, not a hook in a trout. No gentleman farmer ex-rockers. No fish farms!? proclaims Edina on her return.

The following morning Eddy finds an attractive young man in her garden. Tousled haired Jago (Crispin Bonham-Carter ? Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights) turns out to be the landscape gardener hired by Saffy, but Patsy recognises him at the younger brother of a well-known aristocrat who inherited a huge estate in Hertfordshire ? in other words, he is rich. Egged on by Patsy, Eddy turns on the charm. Amazingly, Jago returns the simpering stares and soon they are in the midst of a passionate clinch. Will Edina get her dream ? a life in a huge house with servants ? or is there more to Jago's fortune than meets the eye?

Mother is also flirting for Britain, competing with her friend Dolly (Dora Bryan) for the attentions of agent Brice (Tim Wylton), the smoothy who has got her a job as an extra on the new Harry Potter film.

Paris - A photoshoot in Paris gives Patsy the chance to re-live her modelling days and spend time with new best friend, supermodel Erin O?Connor. The Monsoon household accompany her across the channel, as Edina drags Saffy along for a mother-and-daughter ?Generation Flex? feature. But Eddy has trouble persuading her mild-mannered child- daughter to the swing ? and out of her frumpy outfit; ?Darling, just so it doesn?t look like that blouse is trying to strangle you,? she pleads attempting to undo Saffy?s top button. ?I?m not asking you to get your ta-tas out.?

Patsy finds the shoot is not quite the glamorous trip down memory lane she expected and struggles to cope with fresh-faced models, hideously unflattering clothes and Rimmer (Dave Gorman ? The Dave Gorman Collection), the photographer from hell. Edina and Saffy, however, spend an unusually pleasant day together hitting the shops and bars. But what is Edina plotting? And will Patsy crack under the pressure?

Paris also stars Daphne Selfe as Daphne and 1960s model Annegret Tree as Annegret, with a guest appearance by Sacha Distel. Also in this episode, watch out for a cameo appearance by designer Christian Lacroix, who generously allowed the crew to film in his Paris boutique.

Donkey - Despite having tried every fad diet, Edina is still desperate to be thin, do thin things, feel thin things and to be able to take her clothes off and not be marked by them. The answer is a detox. Spurred on after a Sex And The City-style lunch with her bitchy girlfriends, Edina embarks on a strict regime of water and meat and enrols herself in a gruelling British Military fitness programme.

Despite Patsy?s best efforts, Eddy eschews champagne begins to shed the pounds.... But her nights are plagued with dreams of visits from God (Marianne Faithfull) and the Devil (Anita Pallenberg) who have their own agendas.

Meanwhile, budding playwright Saffy bumps into a pretentious old school friend, Taylor Johns (Julian Rhind-Tutt) who attempts to use her in a bid to further his acting career, and Patsy decides to see what life would be like without her trademark Sixties forelock. Donkey also stars Helen Lederer as Catriona, Harriet Hope (The Brittas Empire) as Fleur, Tilly Blackwod as Lady Candy, Andrea Gillie as Patsy?s PA and Jessica Wilcocks as Minge.

Small Opening - Saffy?s first play Self-Raising Flower, based on her young life, is opening at the local fringe theatre. Afraid that the play could bring her public humiliation, Edina plots with Bubble to get the run cancelled. But they fail and the show goes on.

Saffy?s father, Justin (Christopher Malcolm), turns up to support his daughter on the opening night, as does Edina?s first husband, Marshall (Christopher Ryan ? The Young Ones), and his loud, American girlfriend Bo (Mo Gaffney).

After misbehaving and heavily under the influence of banned substances, Edina and Patsy reluctantly turn up to the performance. Patsy adds her own ad libs from the stalls, while Edina sits through the performance in a state of shock.

Small Opening also stars Naoko Mori as Sarah, Melanie Jessop as the policewoman and Tilly Blackwood as Lady Candy. The cast for Self Raising Flower includes Josh Neale, Miles Western, Emma Pierson aand Lill Roughley (My Hero).

Menopause - Edina is facing a crisis. ?I?ve a PR company with no clients and a TV company with no shows!? she cries. Bubble has emailed Edina?s personal address book and correspondence to rival PR person, Claudia Bing (Celia Imrie ? dinnerladies, Bridget Jones's Diary, Love In A Cold Climate, Gormenghast) and the only client left on Edina?s books is Twiggy.

?I?ve been in worse trouble before. I shall rise again like the Phoenix!? Eddy declares. Twiggy, however, has other ideas. With her empire crumbling before her eyes, Edina knows that something has to give.

Saffy arranges an MA (Menopause Anonymous) meeting to give a reluctant Patsy and Eddy the chance to share their feelings and learn to love their hormone patches with an array of weird and wonderful women. After a visit to her gynaecologist, going through ?the change? begins to have a dramatic effect on Patsy. A new, altogether fluffier Patsy ? a domestic goddess, no less ? begins to emerge through the hardened veneer. Will she ever be the same again?

Menopause also stars Helen Lederer as Catriona, Harriet Hope as Fleur, Mo Gaffney as Bo, Christopher Ryan as Marshall, Ruby Wax as Beth, Jeillo Edwards as Jeillo, Joanna Bowen as Jobo, and Twiggy, Leigh Lawson and Dale Winton as themselves.

?One of the sharpest sitcoms around, that still lives up to its title.? -Guardian Guide
?Jennifer Saunders has taken a five-year break, cast her Prada-sharp wit over the Noughties, and now it?s handbags at dawn. Nothing is sacred: chakras, microscooters, plastic surgery, webcams, Burberry, ME, New Labour ? all feel the acid nib of her top-of-the-range Mont Blanc. Her swipes at today?s celebs are spot-on, whether she?s Jamie Oliver-ing the kitchen ... or copying Madonna?s yoga ... Kylie [Minogue] and her microshorts also get the treatment (un-ber-leevably rude) as do Tony and Cherie [Blair].?- Observer TV
?The highlight of the week is the return of Edina, Patsy and Saffy in the new, updated Ab Fab. Jennifer Saunders's script is stuffed with crisp send-ups of a veritable mail order catalogue of new fads and fashions, laced with broad slapstick such as "Mr. Pastry" on designer drugs ... This is as brilliant as before, but even more savage.? -The Times
?From the outset, it's clear that Jennifer Saunders has lost none of her enthusiasm for Edina ... The show has lost none of its pace, gags or satire. Indeed, in taking on the world of television as it now does, it could run and run.? -Express On Sunday
?It was just as good as before and mercifully much the same: same cast, same relationships, same tone. There were plenty of gags that made me laugh out loud...? -Sunday Telegraph
?June Whitfield was on hilarious form as Edina's increasingly bonkers mum, while Joanna Lumley made a storming entrance as Patsy.?- Sunday Mirror
?Joanna Lumley and June Whitfield are still sublime.?- Sunday Times
?This homage to the joys of shopping and drinking and falling down has aged well, even if Pats and Eds haven?t ... the writing is still as savage as ever, making this one of the few mainstream sitcoms that actually bothers to acknowledge that it?s not 1975 ... The micro-celebs that pepper the background are all spot on, and the addition of Jane Horrocks? Katie Grin should have Anthea Turner suing. Finally a show to challenge C4?s status as the Friday night provider of comedy.?- Guardian Guide
?...good performances and some great lines...?- People
?That old mix of manic fadwatching and exuberant idiocy sprang out like a stripper from a cake. Edina messing up her surfaces like Jamie Oliver, crossing the kitchen on a micro-scooter and phoning her "life-coach" for her "daily aim" ? new stupidities whizzed by so rapidly that it didn't matter if one fell flat; you were already two more down the line.?- The Times

Cast
Edina Monsoon....................................Jennifer Saunders
Patsy Stone.........................................Joanna Lumley
Saffron Monsoon..................................Julia Sawalha
Mother Monsoon...................................June Whitfield
Bubble................................................Jane Horrocks
Catriona..............................................Helen Lederer
Fleur..................................................Harriet Thorpe
Sarah..................................................Naoko Mori
Bo......................................................Mo Gaffney
Production Credits
Written by??????????????Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders
Produced by?????????????..Jon Plowman, Jo Sergeant, Jonathan Paul-Llewellyn
Directed by??????????????Bob Spiers, Dewi Humphreys, Christine Gernon

Patsy's full name is Eurydice Colette Clytemnestra Dido Bathsheba Rabelais Patricia Cocteau Stone. Edina's is shorter but just as tempestuous: Edwina Margrette Rose Monsoon.

International Emmy Awards ?
1994 - Best Popular Arts Programme (Joint Winner with Red Dwarf) 1993 - Best Popular Arts Programme (Joint Winner with Drop the Dead Donkey) BAFTA? Awards
1994 - Best Comedy Performance - Joanna Lumley 1992 - Best Comedy (Programme or Series) 1992 - Best Light Entertainment Performance - Joanna Lumley 2001/2 - Nomination: Best Comedy Performance ? Joanna Lumley British Comedy Awards?
1993 - Top Television Comedy Actress: - Joanna Lumley 1993 - Top Television Comedy Personality: - Joanna Lumley 1993 - Best New Television Comedy

Edina has moved with the times, expanding her business interests from the world of fashion PR into the interactive medium of television production. Patsy has somehow managed to gain promotion to managing editor of her glossy magazine - despite her obvious over-indulgence in any substance or liquid that comes to hand. Saffy, Edina's daughter, continues her attempts to move out of her mother's house while Mother has taken up salsa dancing and internet shopping.



Includes the following episodes:

Parralox: Fame at last darling! Edina's due to appear on Richard and Judy in the morning and an invitation to Trudi and Sting's can't be far behind. She'd better iron out those wrinkles - luckily, Patsy has just the thing...

Fish Farm: Surprise, surprise! Eddy has a garden and there's a sexy aristocratic gardener in it! Time for her to crank up the old va va voom and set about finding his country seat.

Paris: Move over Gisele, Patsy's back in front of the camera, as Eddy, Saffy and Bubble join her for a magazine photo shoot in Paris. A mother and daughter spread beckons - that is, if Saffy manages to survive Edina's idea of sight seeing.

Donkey: Two weeks into her detox diet and Eddy's found a muscle in her arm for the first time. Meanwhile, Patsy's undergoing a transformation of her own - by losing her trademark '60s bangs...

Small Opening: The shame of it all! Saffy's written a play about her life which will make "Mommie Dearest look like Winnie the bloody Pooh." Edina is horrified - just how fat is the actress playing her going to be?

Menopause: Womb prayers echo all around the house as Eddy and Patsy join Menopausal Anonymous. While Edina rails against the group hugs, a new, altogether fluffier, Patsy is about to emerge...