Joanna Lumley has shared that she firmly believed Jennifer Saunders "didn't like her" when they initially first met. The British actress is best known for her role as Patsy in the long-running BBC sitcom, Absolutely Fabulous. Speaking to Rob Brydon on his podcast , Joanna previously opened up about how she first landed the iconic role.
After recalling her early years as an actress, she then touched upon reading the Ab Fab script and said that Jennifer's husband Ade Edmonson was the one who "suggested" Joanna for the part. "I was on a Ruby Wax show. Jennifer said that she saw me on The Ruby Wax show and thought I'd be good - it doesn't matter.
I saw the script and I thought it was fantastic," she explained. "I was taken to the BBC to meet her [Jennifer] and do a little read-through of a scene. I have to say - either I did it so badly or she was so uncommunicative - that I was certain she didn't like me.
"I went back home and said to my agent, 'I love the script but I have to say you must get me out of this. She's too polite to say that she doesn't like me. And I don't think I can do it.
She doesn't want me'." Absolutely Fabulous centres on Eddy (Jennifer) and her best friend Patsy (Joanna) and follows their wild lifestyles, whilst also pulling their family and loved ones along for the journey. It first aired in 1992 on BBC Two.
Joanna's career has also seen her credited in Martin Scorcese's Wolf of Wall Street and Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. Today, she is recognised mostly for .