20th Anniversary Collection: The comic genius of Jennifer Saunders

2025-08-10

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The co-creator of Absolutely Fabulous says her remarkable career as one of the world's funniest women is all down to a series of happy accidents. When she and her great pal Dawn French were making their first series, French & Saunders, they were given complete freedom by the BBC, including the freedom to fail.Despite a few mishaps along the way and a battle with breast cancer, Jennifer now says that early freedom, risk-taking and random opportunities were the best things that could possibly have ...

The co-creator of Absolutely Fabulous says her remarkable career as one of the world's funniest women is all down to a series of happy accidents.

When she and her great pal Dawn French were making their first series, French & Saunders, they were given complete freedom by the BBC, including the freedom to fail.

Despite a few mishaps along the way and a battle with breast cancer, Jennifer now says that early freedom, risk-taking and random opportunities were the best things that could possibly have happened to them.

Further information

First broadcast in April, 2014.

You can hear Sarah's full conversation with Timothy Spall on the ABC Listen App, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also read all about the Conversations origin story on the ABC News website.

This episode of Conversations explores memoir, books, writing, TV comedy, Ab Fab, celebrity memoir, battling cancer, survival stories, breast cancer, British humour, dark humour, Black Books, the Comic Strip, Friends, Roseanne, Adrian Edmondson, Edina Monsoon, Joanna Lumley, Patsy Stone, Muppets, Spice Girls, Top Gear.

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