We have some absolutely fabulous news for you today! Edina and Patsy have returned in the first photo for Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, stemming from the beloved BBC comedy series. Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley reprise their snarky, chain-smoking, pill-popping, glamorous roles for the film that just kickstarted principal photography.
Fox Searchlight and BBC Films announced filming will take place in the U.K. and the south of France over the course of seven weeks. As Saunders joked in a statement for the press release, “We are all taking our medication and hoping for the best.”
The Absolutely Fabulous series saw Edina (Saunders) as a trend-obsessed PR guru, while Patsy (Lumley), a magazine editor, spent most of her time chasing down younger men. It premiered in 1992 and returned for three specials in 2012.
Here’s the official plot description for the ladies’ film adventure:
Appropriate for their big screen debut, Edina and Patsy are still oozing glitz and glamour, living the high life they are accustomed to; shopping, drinking and clubbing their way around London’s trendiest hotspots. Blamed for a major incident at an uber fashionable launch party, they become entangled in a media storm and are relentlessly pursued by the paparazzi. Fleeing penniless to the glamorous playground of the super-rich, the French Riviera, they hatch a plan to make their escape permanent and live the high life forever more!
The studio also announced the return of original cast members — including Julia Sawalha as Edina’s daughter Saffy, Jane Horrocks as Eddy’s personal assistant Bubble, and June Whitfield as (Edina’s) Mother — and teased “a host of A-list stars from the acting, music and fashion worlds.” After directing parts of the series, Mandie Fletcher returns to helm the film from a script written by Saunders.
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie will be released in 2016. Check out the first look below.
