How 'Ab Fab'! Edina, Patsy Return

By Stephen M. Silverman

07/13/2001 at 05:03 PM EDT

Break out the champagne and get the vodka chasers ready: Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone are coming back. Comedy Central has announced that the ditzy duo -- who never quite faced the fact that the '60s were over -- will be back with new episodes of "Absolutely Fabulous," the highly popular and deliciously politically incorrect '90s British sitcom. Jennifer Saunders (Edina) and Joanna Lumley (Patsy) will reprise their roles for the first time in five years. "I just decided it had been long enough, and we missed the characters," Saunders told U.S. TV journalists via satellite from London. Roseanne, who had hopes of producing an American version, purchased rights to the show, which for a long time held the record as Comedy Central's highest-rated program -- until "South Park" came along. In the end, however, the unsentimental humor of "Ab Fab" just didn't travel across the Atlantic, and a U.S. version never happened (unless one counts "Cybill," which did its best to mimic "Ab Fab"). BBC executive Jon Plowman, who produces "Ab Fab," was asked if he could explain why Patsy and Edina are so popular among gay males. "I think," he replied, "they're the kind of women that gay men aspire to be."