TV Rewind: Edina and Patsy Will Always Be Absolutely Fabulous
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our TV Rewind column! The Paste writers are diving into the streaming catalogue to discuss some of our favorite classic series as well as great shows we’re watching for the first time. Come relive your TV past with us, or discover what should be your next binge watch below:
If you were around in the 1990s, you were undoubtedly privy to another British invasion we had here in America: this one on our television screens. There was a veritable flood of shows from across the Atlantic that became smash hits in this country, going as far back as the late ‘60s (Monty Python’s Flying Circus) and early ‘70s (Are You Being Served?), not to mention those that were adapted into classic American sitcoms (Sanford and Son, All in the Family ). Witty, whimsical, naughty, with a certain je ne c’est quoi that attracted so many of us here in the States to begin with, they were unlike what most domestic television was at the time. For those of us in Generation X, such phenomenal shows produced in the United Kingdom during that period, including Keeping Up Appearances, Mr. Bean, Blackadder and Prime Suspect, remain staples and continue to attract new viewers.
This certainly rang true when it came to my teenage television habits in the early part of that same decade; however, one specific Britcom surpassed anything else for me back then. Sweetie darlings, I’m talking about Absolutely Fabulous (or AbFab if you’re in the know). Premiering in 1992 on the BBC, this bawdy buddy comedy set in a posh London neighborhood was anything but typical. The series was based on a sketch created by Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French for their own show, French and Saunders (French would strike sitcom gold herself a couple of years later with the wildly funny The Vicar of Dibley). But thanks to Comedy Central importing it to the US, Americans were able to be enamored by two characters that I feel were England’s answer to Lucy and Ethel. No small feat, that’s for sure.
In Absolutely Fabulous, Edina Monsoon (Saunders) is the head of a moderately successful public relations firm, even though she only has a handful of clients. She lives in a lovely, multi-floor home in the Holland Park section of London, firmly and loudly insisting as to its location whenever someone questions if it’s in the less tony section of Shepherd’s Bush. She receives a decent amount of financial assistance for its upkeep thanks to two ex-husbands. A lover of excess, particularly food and booze, the constant joke throughout the run of the series is her weight problem, which the show has always inflated as her being “two stone” overweight (around 28 pounds in our customary units). Her passion for fashion is just as strong, but less than keen. Truthfully, the style of clothing during that decade wasn’t exactly something to fondly look back on, but Edina was a slave to fashion. Wearing a lot of bright prints, giant gold Venus symbol necklaces, and hats galore, she went gaga over Christian Lacroix ensembles and showed off her acquisitions whenever possible.
Then there’s one Eurydice Colette Clytemnestra Dido Bathsheba Rabelais Patricia Cocteau Stone, commonly known as Patsy (Joanna Lumley). She’s a fashion editor for a magazine (largely in name only after having a tryst with the publisher), whose teased-up blonde French twist, cool attitude, cleanly tailored outfits, ability to stay alive on a diet of cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol (she has barely eaten since 1973) and vocal disdain for her best friend’s daughter make her the perfect foil to Edina’s frenzied energy. As for Patsy’s age, no one really knows! She either routinely lies about it or has truly forgotten how old she is, therefore, she sticks to between 39 and 43 in the series. While she is equally as madcap as Edina, Patsy does have a slightly clearer head about matters. Don’t let that fool you, though.
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