Joanna Lumley Movies

Adapted from a novel by Rosamunde Pilcher, the two-part British miniseries Coming Home re-created the years between 1936 and 1941 as experienced by a brace of young and impressionable girls. Meeting in a boarding school, Judith Dunbar and Loveday Carey-Lewis became close friends, though they were miles apart in terms of social status. But when Judith's wealthy Aunt Louise perished during the 1940 London Blitz, Judith inherited a fortune, and was thus "acceptable" to Loveday's upper-crust family. Complications ensued when Billy Fawcett, the decadent middle-aged sweetheart of Loveday's married mother Diana, began to lust after the hapless Judith. Boasting a stellar cast of reliable British stage and screen actors including Peter O'Toole, former New Avengers co-stars Joanna Lumley and Patrick Macnee, and onetime Man From U.N.C.L.E regular David McCallum, Coming Home was seen through the facilities of ITV in the autumn of 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Life continues apace for Edina (Jennifer Saunders), Patsy (Joanna Lumley), and Saffron (Julia Sawalha). Eddy has adopted a dolphin as both house pet and PR client; Pats has moved out of Odd Bins to make room for a new liquor aisle; and Saffy has finally found a boyfriend -- the wealthy, condescending Paolo Carlo (Tom Hollander). Mother (June Whitfield), meanwhile, has taken up with a cadre of in-your-face, elderly "snowbirds," while Bubble (Jane Horrocks) is out of the picture, busy with her new job at French Vogue. Pats and Eddy decide to vacation in Val d'sere, which, as with their earlier vacations in Absolutely Fabulous: France and Absolutely Fabulous: Morocco, turns out to be less welcoming than they'd hoped. While Pats takes up with a hunky ski instructor, Eddy has a near-death experience out on the slopes in which God appears to her in the form of Marianne Faithfull. Convinced she has been spared for some larger purpose, Eddy returns home to find that her mother's new friends have taken up residence in their camper van in the front drive. A more pressing concern arrives in the form of Saffy's engagement to Paolo; a meeting between the Monsoon clan and the mega-rich Carlo family goes poorly at first, but when Patsy realizes that Paolo's mother, Kalishia (Carmen Du Sautoy), is actually a former B-movie bimbo, the fearful society matron finds herself de-fanged. Soon life is a blur of wedding preparations, from fittings at Christian Lacroix's designer boutique to involuntary depilatory sessions forced on the hapless bride-to-be. The action climaxes at the ceremony itself, where the guests include a who's who of previous "AbFab" guest stars. Absolutely Fabulous: The Last Shout was originally broadcast as a two-part TV movie on BBC 1 in 1996, a year after the end of the third "AbFab" series. It would be the last installment until series four began in 2001. Former Shakespear's Sister member Marcella Detroit appears as God's angelic sidekick; the singer also contributed several songs to the soundtrack, including a new rendition of the show's unmistakable theme music, "This Wheel's on Fire." Nickey Clarke, Suzy Menkes, Bruce Oldfield, Christopher Biggins, and Lacroix appear as themselves. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Murder and double-dealing among the idle rich sets the stage for this drama. Alan Cross (Adrian Dunbar) is a British detective who travels to a wealthy community along the coast of France in 1938; he's there to attend the funeral of a friend and wants to find out more about the mysterious circumstances behind his friend's death. Cross finds a privileged British family who were close to the deceased and who seem to live by their own set of rules. Helena Graves (Joanna Lumley) was good friends with the deceased, but she claims to know nothing about how he died. Helena's daughter Celia (Gabrielle Anwar) is engaged to a hot-blooded American but has also been involved in an incestuous relationship with her brother Jeremy (Stephen Dorff); Jeremy harbors a dark childhood secret regarding the death of his brother, and he is courting a Jewish woman, much to the chagrin of the anti-Semitic Helena. Cross becomes convinced that someone in the Graves family is to blame for the death, but it's not until someone else dies that the truth begins to bubble to the surface. Innocent Lies was also shown under the title Halcyon Days. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Edina (Jennifer Saunders) moves into a commune but chafes at the paternalistic attitudes of the charlatans who run it; she spends her time impatiently waiting for her turn with "the talking stick," dejected over her separation from best friend Patsy (Joanna Lumley). Pats, meanwhile, finds that her well-worn fashion-world aphorisms don't fly in straight-talking New York. Professional ally Magda (Kathy Burke) sympathizes but offers no help, leaving Pats to the tender mercies of fashion barracudas Candy (Ruby Wax), Gina (Suzanne Bertish), and Sante (Sean Chapman). After chance encounters with a trio of transvestites and with Bo (Mo Gaffney) -- the sometime girlfriend of Eddy's ex-husband, Marshall -- Pats wanders up to the rooftop of the magazine to smoke and think. Suddenly a helicopter flies by, a familiar face waving from the passenger seat, and soon the world doesn't seem so terrible anymore. After the closing credits, a 25-years-later epilogue then provides a glimpse into the future exploits of Pats, Eddy, Gran, and Saffy. Originally broadcast on BBC1 on May 11, 1995, Absolutely Fabulous: The End marked series three, episode six of this popular Brit-com. The next installment would be the 1996 two-part TV movie Absolutely Fabulous: The Last Shout; regular episodes would not appear again until series four in 2001. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

At a posh public-relations awards show, Edina (Jennifer Saunders) guzzles champagne with Patsy (Joanna Lumley), bosses Bubble (Jane Horrocks) around, chats up supermodel Naomi Campbell, and prepares to take home a prize. She's beaten to the punch, however, by Claudia (Celia Imrie), her pretentious, politically correct professional arch nemesis. Commiserating later at home with Saffy (Julia Sawalha), Mother (June Whitfield), and Pats, Eddy reveals that she had rigged the awards in her own favor, thus rendering her defeat even more ignominious. Terrified that she'll lose her tenuous hold on her career, Edina creeps into Claudia's celebrity liposuction-a-thon in hopes of bagging Campbell for one of her own celebrity events. Later, at an industry luncheon, she loses her prepared remarks but gives a drunken speech anyway, slagging off the PR industry's parasitical piggy-backing on noble causes such as environmentalism. Eddy's rallying cry against doom-and-gloom marketing -- "Cheer up, because it might not bloody happen!" -- becomes a sensation, and soon she's bagging new clients right and left. Meanwhile, Saffy gets hot and heavy -- for her, anyway -- with Gerard (Simon Stokes), her college psychology lecturer. Originally broadcast on BBC 1 on April 27, 1995, Absolutely Fabulous: Jealous marked series three, episode four of this popular Brit-com. Campbell guest-stars as herself in a send-up of the inane schemes to which hangers-on constantly subject the supermodel elite. Although she doesn't appear on camera, real-life singer Lulu, who is supposedly Edina's biggest client, can be heard announcing one of the PR awards. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Stella Gibbons' popular novel was published in 1932, and it has been adapted twice for British television, first as a miniseries in 1971, then by director John Schlesinger in 1995. That version proved so popular that it was released to theaters in the U.S. The heroine of Gibbons' story, Flora Poste (Kate Beckinsale), is an aspiring young writer with two needs: material for her first novel, and a cheap place to live and work. A wealthy friend encourages her to take advantage of her country cousins and impose upon them for lodgings. Flora finds Cold Comfort Farm to be a ramshackle affair populated by eccentrics including the imperious Ada Doom (Sheila Burrell), her daughter Judith (Eileen Atkins), Judith's rough but handsome son Seth (Rufus Sewell), and Amos (Ian McKellen), an amateur preacher whose sermonizing seems to release some kind of demons within him. Undaunted by this menagerie, Flora gets to work organizing the household, and she comes to realize that the material for her book is right in front of her. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide

After Patsy (Joanna Lumley) manages to incinerate the Monsoons' kitchen, she and Edina (Jennifer Saunders) take to hanging out in the living room. The only problem is that Saffy (Julia Sawalha) has a rare, though clandestine, date planned for that very room. As Eddy and her monstrous friend torture Saffy by staying put, Gran (June Whitfield) accidentally locks the three women in the living room on her way to the chemist's, leaving Saffy inconsolable and Pats and Eddy bored. Talk turns to sex as Edina tortures Saffy with questions, resorting to a Cosmopolitan sex quiz to elicit information from the girl. Saffy and Patsy fight bitterly, the gaunt fashion plate jealous of the privileges her young rival has enjoyed. In flashbacks, we see the births of all three characters -- including an over-the-top sequence in which Patsy's pretentious mother compares her daughter to a tumor and gives birth to the accompaniment of bad Beat poetry. Eventually, Gran returns home, freeing the trio from the displeasure of each other's forcible company. Originally broadcast on BBC 1 on March 10, 1994, Absolutely Fabulous: Birth marked series two, episode six of this popular Brit-com. Eleanor Bron, originally seen in Absolutely Fabulous: Magazine during series one, reprises her role as Patsy's mom. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Eddy (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy (Joanna Lumley) head to Marrakesh to team up for a photo shoot. It seems Patsy's magazine is going to run a spread featuring Pop-Specs, a trashy little product represented by Eddy's PR firm. When Saffy (Julia Sawalha) tags along, she quickly learns her mum has little on her mind but buying dirt-cheap housewares and hitting the hookah as hard as she can. During a decadent party with Uncle Humphrey (John Wells) -- a dirty-old-man friend of Eddy and Patsy who wants to perform sexual perversions on Saffy -- the girl learns that for a brief time many years ago, Patsy was a little confused about her gender identity. The next day, after a dip in the pool, the ladies go shopping and get separated from Saffy in an outdoor bazaar. Without her guidance, Eddy and Pats end up stranded in the wrong part of town, but as usual, Saffy saves the day. Back at their resort, the women resume their decadence -- even Saffy, who ironically gets the most out of her trip to Morocco. Originally broadcast on BBC 1 on February 10, 1994, Absolutely Fabulous: Morocco marked series two, episode three of this popular Brit-com. The more over-the-top plot threads of episodes such as Absolutely Fabulous: Morocco divided fan opinion about the second series of "AbFab," with some viewers decrying the less naturalistic comedy and others embracing the show's new, more extreme brand of slapstick. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

After struggling unsuccessfully to fit into a variety of unflattering outfits, Edina (Jennifer Saunders) tries to cook up yet another quick weight-loss plan, much to the annoyance of Saffy (Julia Sawalha), who points out that her mother eats, drinks, and smokes incessantly and takes no exercise, therefore guaranteeing a continued weight problem. The issue takes on a degree of urgency when Bubble (Jane Horrocks) reveals that Penny Casper-Morse (Alexandra Bastedo) -- a rail-thin old nemesis of Eddy's from the old days -- will arrive in a few days to talk about a possible business deal. Patsy (Joanna Lumley) advises emergency liposuction (with a bit of collagen injection for good measure), but a nightmare in which her body is vacuumed away to a wisp convinces Eddy that exercise is the real answer. However, after a workout session with Patsy's new beau, the fit and fabulous Georgy (Anthony Asbury), Eddy is ready to go under the knife -- especially when she learns that Penny will be arriving early. Originally broadcast on BBC 1 on November 19, 1992, Absolutely Fabulous: Fat marked series one, episode two of this popular Brit-com. June Whitfield makes her first non-flashback appearance as Mother/Gran, while Christopher Malcolm provides his first of many guest spots as Justin -- Edina's gay ex-husband and Saffy's father. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

On the morning of her 40th birthday, a sullen Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders) resists daughter Saffron's every attempt to cheer her up. Lashing out monstrously at Saffy (Julia Sawalha), Eddy is disappointed to learn that instead of a star-studded surprise party, the girl has planned a quiet lunch with family members. Both of Eddy's ex-husbands will be there, but long-lost son Serge, of course, is busy in a Hawaiian volcano. After grudgingly accepting a pair of Christian Lacroix earrings and abusing Saffy to the point of domestic violence, Eddy retires sullenly to her room, where she remains even as the guests arrive. When sidekick Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley) fails to return from a champagne-foraging mission, however, Eddy makes an accidental splash entrance into her own 'do. As she grows increasingly drunk and belligerent, Eddy insults her gay ex-husband, Justin (Christopher Malcolm); his lover, Oliver (Gary Beadle); her recovering alcoholic ex-husband, Marshall (Christopher Ryan); Bo (Mo Gaffney), his controlling, New Age girlfriend; and perennial targets Saffy and Mother (June Whitfield). Along the way, the party guests learn the long-hidden secret that Edina is receiving double alimony from her exes -- a revelation that will come back to haunt her during the second-series episode Absolutely Fabulous: Poor. In the meantime, Patsy and Eddy get down with the help of Justin's gift: a karaoke machine programmed with the most obvious '60s hits. Originally broadcast on BBC 1 on December 17, 1992, Absolutely Fabulous: Birthday marked series one, episode six of this popular Brit-com. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Saffron (Julia Sawalha) meets at home with her fellow students to plan a school report while her mother, Edina (Jennifer Saunders), floats upstairs in the new aquatic isolation tank she's ordered from Los Angeles. This being Edina, of course, she doesn't brave the iso tank alone; best pal Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley) is also there, chain smoking as usual. After the gruesome twosome crash Saffy's study session to coo lasciviously at Danny (James Lance), an uncharacteristically cute new addition to the girl's nerdy social circle, Patsy heads off after the young lad. Edina then throws a typical tantrum in order to elicit an invitation to attend Saffy's presentation at the school. Threatening to adopt a Romanian baby if she doesn't get her way, Edina even goes so far as to phone her usually empty-headed personal assistant, Bubble (Jane Horrocks), who has become a crisp, efficient force of nature ever since meeting with an occupational hypnotist. When Bubble vanishes, leaving word that "the goods" from Romania are on their way, Eddy shrugs it off and heads for the school, which Saffy has graciously allowed her to visit. Whisked off for a school tour with the headmaster, Patsy and Eddy flash back to their own school days, when Eddy got Pats in trouble for getting it on with a male student named Tony (Tim Woodward). When the headmaster of Saffy's school turns out to be the very same Tony, the old flames get hot and heavy -- right in the classroom where Saffy is giving her presentation. Meanwhile, a woman from the adoption agency arrives, several dark-haired orphans in tow. But with all of this going on, who could that be floating in Eddy's isolation tank? Originally broadcast on BBC 1 on December 3, 1992, Absolutely Fabulous: Iso Tank marked series one, episode four of this popular Brit-com. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide