IT was the hit comedy that centred on two women barely able to hold a drink, let alone a conversation, without chaos unfolding.

But behind the scenes, the stars of Absolutely Fabulous were pushing against the tides of comedy — and beat the backlash to make it one of the most successful female-led shows of all time.

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When Jennifer Saunders, at the height of her French And Saunders fame in the early Nineties, pitched Ab Fab, television producer Jon Plowman was right behind the idea.

The same could not be said for BBC commissioner Robin Ash.

Joanna Lumley, who played maneater Patsy Stone in the sitcom, says: “I remember Robin saying, ‘Sorry, no, this is not going to work, and it’s not funny. Drunk women aren’t funny and that’s that.”

Jennifer, who brought to life PR guru Edina Monsoon, adds: “Robin also said, ‘Beware of the sitcom where the writer takes the main part’ . . . ”

The duo look back over the success of the comedy, which first aired in 1992 and ended with a film in 2016, in a new documentary.

‘They honestly thought that was my t**s’

Absolutely Fabulous: Inside Out sees the pair reunite with Jane Horrocks and Julia Sawalha, who played personal assistant Bubble and Edina’s daughter Saffy, for the trip down memory lane for Gold.

For many, the fact Absolutely Fabulous was an almost entirely female cast was what made it a triumph.

But Tom Hollander, who played Saffy’s boyfriend Paolo, said that took a bit of getting used to.

He reveals: “I went to rehearse, and I remember thinking, ‘This is a matriarchy, this is quite nice, everything is being done by ladies, and there’s Joanna Lumley handing out Rothmans’.

“I remember there being not very much formal rehearsal, just a lot of people being very funny, an intimidating level of people being hilarious and all topping each other.

“I remember thinking, ‘This is all fabulous, they are all rock-star level famous because of this show’.

“During filming, one after the other as they came out, the audience would go, ‘Wah!’ — but Tom Hollander, silence.”

Meera Syal, who played Suzy Menkes, adds: “The fact that it’s from the female gaze is where the magic lies. Jennifer’s voice was authentic.

“There’s a bit of Patsy in every woman. You watch her and think, ‘I wish I had the ovaries to do that’.”

The series, which ran for five series plus specials including a 20th anniversary episode in 2011, was not afraid to push the boundaries of what women could say on screen.

Among the jokes are knitting- needle abortions, women watching porn, plastic surgery, drug abuse and gynaecologists being able to “look you in the vagina but not the eye”.

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In one episode of the series, Joanna sports a tight-fitting black latex outfit and a pair of fake breasts as “Boobarella”, from her character Patsy’s X-rated modelling days.

Joanna reveals she is still sent photographs of the character for her to sign. She says: “Occasionally people have taken screen grabs of it, and sent it to me to sign.

“That was my fear, that they honestly thought that was my ts. So the truth is, I say, ‘Look, it’s not me’ — I turn into a very kind old grandmother and say, ‘This was good fun’, and sign it as Patsy Stone.

“Patsy would have liked that.”

The success of the series attracted stars from all over the world who were keen to get involved.

Stars such as Baby Spice Emma Bunton, Joan Collins, Kate Moss, Lulu and even Elton John all signed up to take part.

Absolutely Fabulous also launched the careers of dozens of others including, Joanna claims, acting hunk Idris Elba.

The then aspiring actor played male escort Hilton in 1995.

Jennifer explains: “We got Emma Bunton on because we needed Eddie to have another client.

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“One time, by chance, we were filming on a bridge in Paris and (French singer) Sacha Distel walked by. We had Whoopi Goldberg, who was fantastic, Elton . . . 

“I like to think that we launched Idris in Absolutely Fabulous but we did give him the worst jokes, poor man, so I’m not surprised he doesn’t advertise it.”

Praise came from less likely sources, including Queen Noor of Jordan, who is mentioned in one episode.

Joanna recalls: “I was at a dinner and sitting opposite Benedict Cumberbatch, who was sitting next to an attractive woman who lent forward to me with her beautiful hair and said, ‘Hello, Joanna’.

“She said, ‘I’m Queen Noor of Jordan, and the kudos I have now in my family, with my children since your programme came out’. I said, ‘I’ll pass that on to Jennifer’.

“It became something people wanted to be associated with, because of Jennifer — she’s wonderful.”

‘I thought it a dead loss, I nearly wasn’t Patsy’

While Joanna had made a name for herself in the modelling and acting world before being cast as Patsy, not all the cast members were household names.

Jane Horrocks originally auditioned for the part of Saffy and although she was not successful, she was too good to let go.

Jennifer says: “Jane wasn’t right, but she was just too good not to have something, so I made Bubble.

“I read a scene with Julia as Saffy and I remember not being able to look at her, because she just got it.

“Then we had June Whitfield, who gave Mother such madness. She was incredible.”

Despite all the success, Joanna reveals she almost turned down the role of Patsy.

She explains: “Patsy Stone came into my life in a script through the door.

“I read it, and it was the funniest thing in the world, so I was invited to the BBC to meet Jennifer.

Because I’d been a model, I’d always been cast as the pretty girlfriend or sad victim

Joanna Lumley

“I remember doing a scene in the back of a car. There was no description as to who or what Patsy was like, and so I didn’t know.

“As Jennifer was not at her most communicative in those days, she gave me no hints but to look sadder and crosser at every word I uttered.

“I thought it was a dead loss, we didn’t know each other and I didn’t know what she wanted.

“I rang my agent and said, ‘I don’t think Jennifer wants me, can you get me out of this?” and they said, ‘It’s just a pilot, just do it, it might not take off’. I nearly wasn’t Patsy.”

It gave Joanna an opportunity, at the very least, to expand herself beyond the roles she had previously taken, which included being a Bond Girl alongside George Lazenby.

She says: “Because I’d been a model, I’d always been cast as the pretty girlfriend or sad victim, or somebody who is not funny.

“So the idea that Patsy probably had most of her organs removed and she smoked a lot and drunk a lot, hung out with The Stones . . . 

“Patsy’s sort of not there a lot of the time. She looks fab and waits for Eddy to do things, then she will be there too as she had a slim grasp of anything going on.

“They egg each other on to do things they wouldn’t do alone, they do them together.”

This would soon become the reality for Jennifer and Joanna, who became firm friends.

Jennifer says: “We just had the best time. Yes, we had to do a bit of filming, I wouldn’t have cared if we’d never even filmed it because just to be in rehearsal was the most fun thing.

“I remember laughing so, so hard and it must’ve been so annoying for other people because we found everything we did funny.

“One of my favourite moments was Patsy eating.

‘People say we couldn’t get away with it today’

“We were so close to her in the shot, Julia and I, and Joanna was eating a crisp. We laughed so hard that by the actual take, we’re not in the shot at all.”

Despite the good times, and the demand from fans all over the world, Jennifer is adamant she has no plans to revive the series or go with another movie.

Show producer Jon is in agreement, telling today’s Radio Times: “Lots of people say we couldn’t get away with Ab Fab today, with its smoking, drinking, drug taking, jokes about weight issues, alcoholism and knitting-needle abortions. I disagree.

“There has been discussion about whether political correctness is killing comedy.

“But that argument is often made by comics who aren’t funny, blaming PC. Some things are never funny, like punching down. Comedy should always punch up.”

• Absolutely Fabulous: Inside Out airs on Gold at 9pm on October 17.

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Jodie Turner-Smith has hit out at Disney for failing to protect Acolyte co-star Amandla Stenberg stars from Star Wars trolls.

The British actor played Mother Aniseya in The Acolyte, a spin-off show that was cancelled after being review bombed by viewers who sent “vitriolic” messages to its lead star Amandla Stenberg.

Stenberg has been vocal about their experience, revealing that they received “hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudiced hatred and hateful language” after being cast in the show. They said the remarks “really affected me when I first got the job”.

In a new interview with Glamour, Turner-Smith called out Disney for staying silent on the abuse Stenberg was subjected to, stating: “They’ve got to stop doing this thing where they don’t say anything when people are getting f***ing dog-piled on the internet with racism and bulls***. It’s just not fair to not say anything. It’s really unfair.”

She jumped to the defence of her co-star, adding: “She put so much care and thought and love into that, and it’s disappointing to feel like your studio is not having your back in a very public-facing way.”

Turner-smith said studios “that have all the money”, like Disney, should say “this is unacceptable” or “you’re not a fan if you do this” as “they might find that it’s actually more lucrative for them”.

She continued: “Make a really big statement and just see if any money leaves. I bet you it won’t, because people of colour, and especially Black people, make up a very large percentage of buying power. They might find that it’s actually more lucrative for them, but everyone’s using ‘woke’ like it’s a dirty word.”

The Independent has contacted Disney for comment.

This isn’t the first time a non-white actor working on a Star Wars project has found themselves at the centre of racist abuse – John Boyega, who played Finn in the rebooted film trilogy (2015-19), has been open about the racism he faced while starring in the franchise while Kelly Marie Tran, his co-star in 2017’s The Last Jedi, was forced to step away from limelight after receiving a flurry of racist and sexist remarks.

Meanwhile, Moses Ingram had a similar expreience while starring in 2022 spin-off series Obi-Wan Kenobi, with the actor telling The Independent that Lucasfilm executives warned her that she would likely face harassment online from racist Star Wars trolls as a Black woman entering the franchise.

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After Ingram’s co-star Ewan McGregor spoke out in support of the actor, Disney shared a statement reading: “We are proud to welcome Moses Ingram to the Star Wars family and excited for Reva’s story to unfold. If anyone intends to make her feel in any way unwelcome, we have only one thing to say: we resist,” the tweet read.

The statement continued: “There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don’t choose to be a racist.”

CRACK out the Stellas – Men Behaving Badly stars Neil Morrissey and Martin Clunes are reuniting.

The comedy duo are back for a new three-part series called Neil & Martin’s Bon Voyage.

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They will be taking on a road trip through France, which has become Neil’s second home, visiting Normandy, the Alps and his own cider apple orchard in the South.

Martin said: “I’ve grown to miss Neil more than ever since he’s absconded to a country which he claims has the best scenery, food and wine on earth.

“I intend to find out by devouring the lot of it and seeing what I can remember afterwards.”

The three-parter will air on Gold in 2025 – 30 years after they last shared their BBC comedy flat.

I’m sure Neil’s French pad is far more hygienic.