Dawn French & Jennifer Saunders

These undisputed queens of British female comedy are just as popular today as when they burst onto our screens in the 1980s. “She made me laugh so much, she was bright, and leagues and layers deep,” Dawn said about first meeting Jennifer (who she calls Fatty!) as students. After graduating, their fantastic comedy chemistry earned them appearances on the likes of The ComicStripPresents… and TheTube. In the mid 80s they wrote and starred in GirlsonTop with fellow funny women Ruby Wax and Tracey Ullman. Then in 1987 they signed a long-term contract with the BBC and the sketch comedy series Frenchand Saunders was born. In 2001, they famously turned down OBEs, with Dawn telling Source magazine they were being well paid to have fun and “didn’t deserve a pat on the back”.

The firm friends are also very successful in their solo projects. Dawn, 62, spent four years playing unlikely vicar Geraldine Grainger in TheVicarofDibley, and has starred in a huge number of recent television dramas and films, including ITV’s TheTroublewithMaggie Cole and Delicious on Sky One alongside Sheila Hancock and Emilia Fox.

Meanwhile, Jennifer, 61, who wrote and starred in the hugely successful AbsolutelyFabulous recently appeared in thriller TheStranger on Netflix. Dawn has said it’s only a matter a time before the pair are back together in front of the camera, so watch this space…

❋ The BBC added all 51 episodes of FrenchandSaunders to iPlayer