Absolutely Fabulous is a British series that aired on the BBC starting in 1992. The show stars Jennifer Saunders as Edina, who is a fashion-world publicist whom with her best friend Patsy, played by Joanna Lumley, tries to re-live their younger days by consuming large amounts of alcohol and drugs. Gotta love those crazy Brits! This formula worked well enough for 4 seasons of the show, which are now available on DVD. Apparently Rosanne Barr tried to convince the networks in the US to make an American version but they…wouldn’t touch the idea due to the excessive drug and alcohol content.
Adding to the cast of characters is Edina’s daughter Saffron who is much opposed to her mother’s intoxicating lifestyle and Edina’s long lost gay son that we meet in “Absolutely fabulous in New York (one of the stories on this disc).” He has been hiding out from his family and is surprised when his mother finds him. What is surprising is that she doesn’t think he is gay enough. Wow. You don’t see this kind of stuff on NBC regularly. There is a special guest star appearance by Whoopi Goldberg as a gay relationship counselor.
Absolutely Fabulous: The Last Shout follows the marriage of Saffron to Paolo Carlo, a wealthy socialite who comes from a family steeped in tradition and culture. Their wedding was to be the social event of the year – and thanks to Patsy and Edina it is unforgettable – but not in a good way!
Video
This is a decent transfer in 1.33:1. Due to the source material being video rather than film there is some picture quality drop off when the camera pans from close in shot to subjects in the distance. In addition the shots of objects in the distance often appear grainy. But considering it is a transfer from TV it is not too bad.
Audio
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Audio soundtrack is good enough for a dialogue driven show. There is little background music and little or no special effects. The dialogue is crisp and clear and for the purposes of watching the shows is good enough.
Special Features
The extras consist of extended and deleted scenes as well as bloopers. The outtakes are pretty funny and run for about 14 minutes. Outside of this there are no other extras. Fans of the series on DVD will be disappointed that there is no commentary track.
Final Thoughts
British comedy is not for everyone and honestly I had a tough time getting into this. Maybe it’s just too different from the type of sit-coms that I’m used to watching on TV, but if you are in the mood for something different give Absolutely Famous a shot. You may get a kick out of it.
Special Features List
- Extended and deleted scenes
- Bloopers
Screenshots
