Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Having a Bolly good time
JOANNA & JENNIFER ABSOLUTELY CHAMPERS
BOLLY darling! Champagne defined the Absolutely Fabulous era, fuelling the friendship of Eddy Monsoon and Patsy Stone.
The booze-addled pair were rarely seen without a glass in their hand and, off-screen, dear friends Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley love sharing a bottle of something chilled and bubbly.
So it’s only right and fitting that the pair, 25 years on from the start of Ab Fab and in honour of
Eddy and Patsy, visit the Champagne region in search of the good stuff.
And they have questions. “Is it expensive because it’s special?” asks Jennifer. “Or special because it’s expensive? And what makes it so expensive anyway?”
As they venture through vineyards in France, they find out how their favourite tipple is made, join in with the grape harvest, and do a fair bit of the all-important taste testing.
In fact, they get stuck in at St Pancras station before they’ve even left London, at Europe’s longest Champagne bar. “Cheers, thanks a lot sweetie,” drawls Joanna in perfect Patsy mode.
But the best bits are the anecdotes, as the actresses reminisce about old times and we see some classic clips.
There is a lot of giggling, drinking and larking about, leaving Joanna to insist, rather weakly: “We’re not Eddy and Patsy... we’re not.”