Line #117 Series/AbsolutelyFabulous


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/abfabqu.png]]
2
3	->''"It is a miracle that I can walk at all.\
4	I bless the wonder of life, and the newness of living."''
5	-->–''[[Characters/AbsolutelyFabulous Patsy Stone]]''
6
7	''Absolutely Fabulous'', often abbreviated as ''[=AbFab=]'', is a British {{sitcom}} about the misadventures of Edina Monsoon (writer Creator/JenniferSaunders) and Patsy Stone (Creator/JoannaLumley), two alcoholic [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist party girls]] who are so far over the hill they've crossed the valley and started up the next hill. Other major characters include Edina's elderly scatter-brained mother (Creator/JuneWhitfield), her level-headed and long-suffering daughter Saffron "Saffy" (Creator/JuliaSawalha), and {{Cloudcuckoolander}} secretary Bubble (Creator/JaneHorrocks).
8
9	It features copious amounts of crude humor, slapstick, alcoholism and drug abuse. The plots generally center around Edina's attempts to jump onto the latest trend or to have a good time, Patsy egging her on and encouraging her bad behavior, and Saffron's futile efforts to rein in the insanity and keep her mother on the straight and narrow. Due to Edina's (oft-neglected) career in public relations, celebrity cameos were common, with some (such as Lulu, Twiggy and [[Music/SpiceGirls Emma Bunton]]) becoming recurring characters.
10
11	The Emmy- and [=BAFTA=]-award winning series grew out of a ''Series/FrenchAndSaunders'' sketch featuring [[WackyParentSeriousChild an obnoxious, partying mother and her sober, responsible daughter]], which became the basis for Edina's and Saffron's characters. It aired on-and-off-again from 1992 to 2016, where it culminated in TheMovie, which Saunders has said is the absolutely final GrandFinale. In October 2023, [[https://www.attitude.co.uk/culture/jennifer-saunders-writing-new-absolutely-fabulous-project-449248/ new reports arose regarding a potential related project]], although the medium is currently unknown.
12
13	A French film adaptation, ''Absolument fabuleux'', starring Creator/JosianeBalasko as "Eddie" (the film's verion of Edina) and Nathalie Baye as Patsy, was released in 2001.
14
15	Came 17th in the 2004 poll ''Britain's Best Sitcom''.
16	----
17	!!''Absolutely Fabulous'' provides examples of the following tropes:
18
19	* AbusiveParents:
20	** Edina's parenting of Saffron, especially as a child, was downright neglectful. Several episodes have Saffy reminding Eddy of various examples: leaving her at the park, allowing Patsy to stub out her cigarettes on her, going off on holiday with Patsy and leaving Saffy home alone, etc.
21	** Flashbacks reveal Patsy being verbally and emotionally abused by her unstable hippie mother.
22	* ActorAllusion: Patsy appeared in a series of Franchise/JamesBond porn parodies as Honey Lovetrap. Lumley was an actual Bond Girl in ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService''.
23	** Jennifer Saunders' character was named after "Eddie Monsoon", one of the stage names her husband Adrian Edmondson used.
24	* AdamWesting: Pop singer Lulu and actress Twiggy are Edina's only celebrity clients.
25	* TheAlcoholic: Both Edina and Patsy. The two do obscene amounts of booze and drugs.
26	* AlliterativeFamily: By chance, the main cast made up one of these: '''J'''ennifer Saunders, '''J'''oanna Lumley, '''J'''ulia Sawalha, '''J'''une Whitfield and '''J'''ane Horrocks.
27	* AllJustADream: "Iso-Tank", which features an actually competent Bubble and ends with Edina accidentally adopting a massive amount of Romanian babies before she wakes up and is told that she only spent 30 seconds inside aformentioned iso-tank.
28	* AndImTheQueenOfSheba: When Saffy downplays Edina's weight issues, Bubble [[ACupAngst glumly]] responds "And I'm Music/DollyParton".
29	* AnticipatoryBreathSpray: Creator/IdrisElba appears in "Sex" and uses one of these. Unfortunately, it's supposed to be a [[RagingStiffie stiffening spray]].
30	* AntiRoleModel: Both Edina and Patsy.
31	* AlwaysCamp: The vast majority of fashion icons Edina and Patsy encounter in their careers.
32	* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: If Saffron is particularly upset, Edina will often attempt to comfort her, although usually hamfistedly. Both Saffron and Patsy are also shown to care for Edina.
33	* BeehiveHairdo: Patsy's trademark look.
34	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Mother may seem occasionally like a dotty English grandmum, but look out. For example, when Bo was dismissive of being 40, saying it's alright, Mother inquires about her turning 50, causing Bo to have a near heart attack.
35	** At first, Saffron seems like she willingly puts up with Edina and Patsy with easy snark. As the show progresses, she becomes more fearless and even physically throws Patsy out of the house at the end of "White Box". [[spoiler:"Identity" reveals that Saffron served two years in prison for fraud, and she was very feared and respected there.]]
36	* BigApplesauce: A couple episodes have Patsy and Edina visiting UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity.
37	* BigNo: Saffron lets one loose in "Menopause" as she watches in horror at Patsy prepares to mix her eggs with Music/MickJagger's sperm to have a baby. [[spoiler:[[AllJustaDream Then she wakes up.]]]]
38	* BigYes: In “Fat”, Edina lets out one after Patsy tells her that Penny, an old acquaintance who used to mock her weight, is now blind.
39	* BilingualBonus: The punchline of "France" is that Patsy and Edina have been staying in a run-down French cottage when they were supposed to be in a ritzy chateau. Three times during the episode, a French man tries to explain this to them. Any audience members who speak French will have figured this out about 20 minutes before the characters do.
40	* BlackComedy: Edina's treatment of Saffron constitutes full-on abuse at times and it's ''always'' PlayedForLaughs.
41	* BlackComedyRape: In "Morocco", Saffron being molested by a much older man is played completely for laughs. The same episode has Patsy saying one of the reasons one goes to the titular country is to have sex with underage boys.
42	* BodyHorror: In Edina's nightmare about cosmetic surgery.
43	* BrainyBrunette: Saffron.
44	* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Inverted. Saffron is by far the most moral character. Edina, on the other hand, is what happens when this trope grows up and has children of her own.
45	** The series was at least partly born out of a ''French and Saunders'' sketch of this reversal.
46	* BritishBrevity: On for eight years total, only 36 episodes.
47	* BrokenPedestal: Patsy always looked up to her sister Jackie, who would push the limits of HardDrinkingPartyGirl further than even Patsy did. She is horrified to learn that Jackie is no longer one of these, and wants to start a home for stray cats and dogs.
48	* BumblingSidekick: Bubble, who takes this to new heights of incompetence. Edina keeps her around only because Bubble makes her look good. In a newer episode, "Job", Bubble tells the new intern she keeps her job not because of what she does not know, but because of what she DOES know. Thoroughly averted in the film, in which Bubble is shown to be quite well off as a result of her handling of Edina’s chaotic business over the years.
49	* BuxomBeautyStandard: The only thing Patsy approves of regarding Saffron is that the latter has "quite huge tits".[[note]]When Edina tricks Saffron into exposing them in front of a photographer, she instantly gets a magazine deal offer.[[/note]] Bubble is also jealous of Edina's "great, big, pendulous breasts", while [[DCupDistress they only serve as reminders to Edina that she's fat]].
50	* CampGay: Serge's boyfriend, Martin.
51	* CatchPhrase: "Sweetie, darling."
52	** And Patsy's curt, "Don't question me."
53	** "Yeah, cheers."
54	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: The entire main cast (except Saffron) to various extents, but most obviously Bubble.
55	* CovertPervert: In "Morocco", a much older man offers to cover Saffron's "naked, nubile young body" in honey and goat's cheese and lick it off her, much to her disgust. Later on, Saffron eyes up a handsome young waiter. At the end, she and the waiter exchange a look that suggested something might have happened between them, and a moment later... (which causes Saffron to go crimson with embarrassment and run off.)
56	-->'''Edina:''' What's that smell? What's that smell? Is that you, sweetie? That sort of honey, yoghurty smell? Is that you?
57	* CrossOver:
58	** Eddy and Patsy appear in a 1996 {{Halloween episode}} of ''Series/{{Roseanne}}''. Eddy and Patsy meet Roseanne and Jackie at a high-profile cocktail party in New York. Upon hearing about Roseanne's multi-million dollar lottery winnings, Eddy wastes no time in becoming Roseanne's PR agent and talking her into funding a plan to clone [[UsefulNotes/JacquelineKennedy Jackie Kennedy]] using the method from ''Film/JurassicPark''. ItMakesSenseInContext...[[note]]Roseanne had (at the time of airing) acquired the rights to produce an American adaptation. This also makes the episode look like a PoorlyDisguisedPilot; looking like Roseanne flew over Jennifer and Joanna to play Eddy and Patsy to see if the show's humor would fly in America.[[/note]]
59	** A flashback involves Patsy appearing as her supposed '70s self, which looks remarkably like Lumley's ''[[Series/TheNewAvengers New Avengers]]'' character Purdey.
60	* CrossesTheLineTwice: An in-universe example: Saffron writes a serious, autobiographical play that's supposed to be a scathing attack on her mother's neglect, but instead becomes a hit comedy that everyone (including Edina) loves because the characters of Edina and Patsy are as ridiculous as their inspirations. Taking it even further, the Patsy character is [[RunningGag played by]] a DragQueen.
61	* CulturalTranslation:
62	** The sitcom ''Series/{{Cybill}}'' was sort of an unofficial Americanized variation; an official remake never got past the pilot stage.
63	** As stated above, Creator/RoseanneBarr had the US remake rights for almost a decade (she planned to cast Creator/CarrieFisher and Creator/BarbaraCarrera as the leads) but sat on them after ABC told her, point blank, that for them to consider a remake airing on the network, all references to drugs would have to be nixed and that much of the humor [[{{Bowdlerize}} censored]].
64	** There was also Creator/{{CBS}}' ''High Society'', another attempt to adapt the show for American audiences with Creator/MaryMcDonnell as a Edina-{{Expy}} and Creator/JeanSmart as a Patsy-Expy.
65	* CuteButCacophonic: Bubble.
66	* DeadpanSnarker: Saffron and Patsy, although most characters have their moments.
67	* DeathGlare: Patsy has a death sneer.
68	* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: Edina gets a karaoke machine for her forteith birthday, and the episode ends with her and Patsy singing a duet of "This Wheel's on Fire".
69	* DietEpisode: In "Fat", Eddy decides she's fat and try to lose weight before a model friend of hers comes to visit. The episode mostly consists of her trying to take diet pills and failing miserably at exercising.
70	* DoomedNewClothes: Patsy's designer pantsuit in "Birthin'".
71	* DopeSlap: Edina gives Bubble a brutal one in "Menopause".
72	* DoWrongRight: Saffron's reaction to her dormmates trying to smoke a joint.
73	-->'''Saffron:''' Oh for GOD'S SAKE that roach isn't properly rolled tight!
74	* DragQueen: In "Sex".
75	** Also, when Patsy goes to New York City, a group of drag queens mistake her for one.
76	* DreamSequence: Edina has had a couple of these, especially when under anaesthesia for a minor surgery.
77	** Almost the entirety of "Iso Tank" is a dream sequence, as Edina has fallen asleep in her -- you guessed it -- iso tank.
78	* DumbBlonde: Bubble. Became more and more so as the series went on.
79	* EdibleThemeNaming: Both Edina and Claudia Bing have {{Cloudcuckoolander}} assistants; [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_and_squeak Edina has Bubble, and Claudia has Squeak]].
80	* EmbarrassingFirstName: Patsy has a string of them.
81	** To be exact: Eurydice Colette Clytemnestra Dido Bathsheba Rabelais [[OddNameOut Patricia]] Cocteau Stone.
82	** All the Myth/ClassicalMythology makes sense after all the {{flashback}}s about Patsy's mother.
83	** Also, Eddie's real first name Edwina, which she changed to Edina to sound more exotic.
84	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Shortly after her first appearance in the first episode, Patsy reacts to seeing Saffy as though she stepped in something foul, indicating their relationship for most of the rest of the series.
85	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Most episodes are titled appropriately.
86	* FacialHorror: After Patsy's face-lift.
87	* FagHag: Edina claims that all her friends are gay. This isn't true. She is devastated to learn that Saffron ''isn't'' gay. Likewise, she is disappointed that Serge isn't CampGay but StraightGay, and instead adopts Serge's campier boyfriend Martin, who is all too happy to have Edina as a hag.
88	* FashionableEvil: If Patsy has a D&D-style alignment, this is it.
89	* FrothyMugsOfWater: Ginger ale is substituted for champagne. A gag reel, however, shows the side effects of using ''real'' wine over multiple takes...
90	* FrozenFace: Happened to Eddy due to too much of a Botox-like injection.
91	* GaussianGirl: In "Hospital", Patsy has a fantasy of what she'll look like after her face-lift.
92	* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: Subverted in "Identity" (the 2011 Christmas episode) with Sarah, having established she had been unable to visit Saffron in prison due to being sectioned (held for psychiatric care against her will) apparently due to schizophrenia, she makes jokes about prison sex, causing Saffron to slap her. Sarah then runs away screaming "The voices have come back!"
93	* TheGhost: Edina's son Serge for the majority of the series. Whenever some important event occurred, he was "taking lava samples in Sumatra" or some similar scientific activity to explain his absence. Finally appears in the special "Gay", played by Creator/JoshHamilton, in which it's revealed that he's been working in a New York bookstore the entire time, and that the rest of his family had conspired to keep this a secret from Edina.
94	* GranolaGirl: Bo (played by Mo Gaffney).
95	* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Patsy. Edina too, but she doesn't do as many drugs or go to as many parties as Patsy. Patsy's sister Jackie ''used'' to be one of these, and she is distraught that Jackie isn't one anymore.
96	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Edina and Patsy. Patsy in particular seems lost whenever they are apart.
97	* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Saffron had one, which included being abandoned in the park, used to stub out cigarettes by Patsy, and more emotional neglect than seems humanly possible. Now that she's grown and still lives with her mother, she's undergoing a Hilariously Abusive Adulthood (though she has by now learned to fight back).
98	** Edina's first child, Serge, didn't fare much better. He loved his books more than anything in the world...so Eddy and Patsy set them on fire because "we were cold".
99	** Patsy had one as well. Her mother actively ''despised'' her, and the two were enemies right up until her death. From "Magazine".
100	--->'''Edina:''' (''to Patsy'') How did you ever persuade her [Saffron] to do it in the first place, darling?\
101	'''Patsy:''' Oh, I just fed her some old story about my mother not loving me, you know, her being a tyrant, me looking after her in her old age, blah, blah, blah...\
102	'''Edina:''' That's true, isn't it, darling?\
103	'''Patsy:''' (''{{beat}}'') Oh, damn!
104	** Edina's mother restricted Eddy's food intake, regularly made fat jokes at her expense and openly favoured Patsy when she and Edina were young. She was also clueless almost to the point of neglect at times.
105	* HomePornMovie: In "Sex", there's one shot with Patsy and Edina participating in an orgy back in the 60's. It mistakenly gets shown by Saffron in a school lecture hall instead of her own tape on genetics.
106	* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: Saunders' comedy partner Creator/DawnFrench appears in "Magazine".
107	* IWasNeverHere: In "Door Handle", Saffron helps Patsy with a brief breast self-exam. Gran passes by the door, looks wide-eyed at what they're doing and moves on without a word.
108	* ImmuneToDrugs: Patsy should have died ''[[NoOneShouldSurviveThat years]]'' ago. Instead she seems [[NighInvulnerability functionally immortal]].
109	* ImpairmentShot: Sometimes when a character is drunk or stoned.
110	* InsistentTerminology:
111	** Saffron's daugter is named Jane. Edina refuses to call her granddaughter that and instead refers to her as Lola.
112	** Whenever someone asks whether Edina's house is in Shepherd's Bush, Edina would come in and yell "Holland Park! Holland Park!". The two neighborhoods are next to each other, though, separated by Road A3220.
113	* ItsAllAboutMe: Edina is extremely self-centered. Even her PR clients abandon ship to [[SitcomArchNemesis Claudia Bing]] once they've had enough of her.
114	-->'''Twiggy:''' You're one of the most selfish, thoughtless people I've ever met! It's always you, you, you. You orbit planet you! You're your own moon. You moon yourself.
115	* JustTheIntroductionToTheOpposites
116	* LadyDrunk: And ''how''.
117	* LadyLooksLikeADude: Patsy has been repeatedly mistaken for a crossdresser. The fact that she once lived as a man during TheSeventies may be a factor.
118	** Serge's memory of Patsy has her with a mustache.
119	** Averted, and exaggerated in the film. Patsy (posing as a man) marries a wealthy, eccentric, elderly German heiress who subsequently admits that she knew all along, but SHE isn’t a woman either...
120	* LanguageBarrier: The girls decide to check out a chateau in France, only to be dropped off at a rustic cottage. They spend a week in miserable conditions with a strange man coming around constantly, speaking French and scaring them. Saffy finally picks them up with Bubble as the man returns, and [[HiddenDepths Bubble speaks French]]. She tells a stunned Patsy that the man is wondering why the girls are waiting in this crummy shack when the staff of the upscale chateau down the road has been waiting for them all week. Patsy warns Bubble to never mention this to anyone.
121	* LargeHam: Edina. ''So much.'' Moreso in the early seasons, wherein a shocking reveal would result in [[Series/{{Seinfeld}} Kramer]]-esque flailing and collapsing to the floor.
122	* LoveMartyr: Saffron. Any sane, rational person would have run as far as humanly possible from her mother, but she largely stays by her side out of maternal devotion and a firm belief that if she were to turn her back on her mother, Edina would be dead due to her stupidity.
123	* MagicalDefibrillator: In "Cold Turkey", a doctor not only uses one to restart Patsy's heart, but applies it on top of both her clothing and a blanket.
124	* MaliciousMisnaming: Edina relentlessly calls Sarah "Titicaca".
125	* MamaBear: When Edina finds out the professor flirting with Saffron is married and has four kids, she punches him in the face.
126	* {{Manchild}}: Both Patsy and Edina.
127	* MarshmallowHell: Edina has a habit of smothering Serge in her bosom.
128	* MoodSwinger: Edina. So often it's a primary source of comedy.
129	* MustHaveNicotine: Patsy spends "Poor" secretly sticking nicotine patches on (non-smoker) Saffron, who spends the rest of the episode craving cigarettes and not knowing why.
130	* MyBelovedSmother: The reason Serge moved out is because Edina was one of these. Quite literally, as she often would [[MarshmallowHell hold Serge so tightly to herself he would almost suffocate]].
131	%%How and where is this trope used?* MyLifeFlashedBeforeMyEyes
132	* NewAgeRetroHippie: Edina, who will jump on any fad known to man, but is especially fond of anything that reminds her of her teenaged years in the '60s.
133	* NotSoDifferentRemark: A shared look rather than a verbal remark, but in "Happy New Year", Eddy and Saffy make the same snarky comment about Patsy at once, and then stare at each other in a sort of surprise.
134	-->'''Patsy:''' I promise you, darling. On my honour.\
135	'''Saffy:''' Patsy's honour?\
136	'''Eddy and Saffy:''' (''in unison'') Send out the search party.
137	* OldShame: InUniverse. In "Sex", a trip into Serge's room has Edina, Patsy and Saffron finding a men's magazine among Serge's belongings. It leads to this.
138	-->'''Saffy:''' ...''Razzle''.\
139	'''Eddy:''' Oh, ''Razzle''?\
140	'''Patsy:''' ''(alert)'' ''Razzle''?\
141	'''Saffy:''' I never knew he...\
142	'''Patsy:''' ''Razzle''? What year?\
143	'''Saffy:''' 1972.\
144	'''Patsy:''' Month?\
145	'''Saffy:''' January.\
146	'''Patsy:''' ''(relaxes)'' That's fine.
147	* OlderThanTheyLook: "Happy New Year" features Patsy's estranged sister Jackie (Creator/KateOMara), who claims to be the younger of the two. At the end, she reveals that she is actually 72. Patsy is horrified: "Then how old does that make me?!" In the audio commentary for one episode, Saunders theorises that Patsy has so many chemicals in her body that she is somehow preserved like a mummy. Eddy lampshaded it InUniverse, too.
148	-->'''Eddy:''' She's a testament to the power of prescription drugs!
149	** "Identity" establishes that Patsy is well over 60, as she has thousands in back payments on her pension. The two went to school together because Patsy didn't start attending school until she was much older.
150	* OnlySaneMan: Saffron is the only responsible person in her household. It always falls on her to clean up after Eddy and Patsy's antics, as well as the problems caused by [[CloudCuckooLander Bubble, Marshall and Bo]].
151	** Bubble unexpectedly steps into this role in TheMovie, being shown as having handled Edina’s chaotic business astutely for a long time, and handling the fall-out from the supposed drowning of Kate Moss about as well as possible
152	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: In "Cold Turkey", everyone is shocked and flabbergasted when ''Patsy'' (who exists on a diet of drugs and booze, and hasn't eaten since TheSeventies) actually asks for a little slice of turkey at Christmas. They pass it over in silence and watch as she actually eats it. Then promptly chokes.
153	** And the episode where Patsy is found to have serious osteoporosis (related to the above diet), and only grasps how serious it's going to be when Saffron not only says she's going to take Patsy to the hospital - Saffron and Patsy do not get on well - but Saffron drinks some alcohol before setting off to stiffen her resolve, at which point Patsy is dumbstruck.
154	* OutdatedOutfit: Everything Edina owns, although she is convinced it's the height of fashion.
155	* PetTheDog: Eddy has a few moments, like when she buys Saffron a kitten to replace the one she lost years ago, or when she tries to comfort Saffron for feeling like a bad mother by telling her that "everything is [Edina's] fault, darling!"
156	* PsychopathicManchild: ''Seriously'' played with Patsy.
157	* RagingStiffie: Except what's stiff is someone's tongue.
158	* RichBitch: Edina may qualify, although she also tends to hate this sort of character.
159	* RichInDollarsPoorInSense: Edina. Her ex-husbands cut her off in "Poor" when they find out she has been scamming them for years, and she fears becoming poor. But it turns out that even without them she's still wealthy — Saffron just lets her think she'll be poor to teach her a lesson. Doesn't work.
160	* RoadTripAcrossTheStreet: Edina and Patsy get into a car to go to a spa, which is only on the other side of the road.
161	* RummageSaleReject: Edina. Much of what she wears is [[ShownTheirWork genuine designer clothing]], she just tends to pile it on thoughtlessly with no sense of proportion or restraint.
162	* RunningGag: Edina falling out of her car. And down the stairs to the kitchen.
163	* ScreamingAtSquick: In "Menopause", Saffron and Edina run screaming to the other end of the kitchen when Patsy casually breaks her wrist. Their squick continues when she jabs herself with one of the syringes of whatever cocktail of drugs she always carries around in her purse.
164	* ScreamingBirth: When Saffron finally gives birth to Jane.
165	* ShockCollar: Edina has one on Bubble at the beginning of "Gay".
166	* ShoutOut: The show routinely name-drops celebrities, including, but not limited to, Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter (who also guest stars in the second series premiere), Music/RogerDaltrey, Music/BarbraStreisand, UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher, Creator/CharlesDance, Music/{{Madonna}} and Creator/GuyRitchie, Music/TheBeatles, Music/SpiceGirls, Creator/SeanConnery, Creator/DavidLean, Creator/BradPitt, Creator/MichaelDouglas and Creator/CatherineZetaJones...
167	* SitcomArchnemesis: Claudia Bing for Edina.
168	* SkewedPriorities: Saffron is the ''only'' one mourning Edina's father's death in [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Death"]]. Eddy, meanwhile, is more obsessed with her weight.
169	* SkywardScream: After getting locked out of a Stella [=McCartney=] shop (being unable to figure out which way the door opens), Edina faces the sky, thrusts out her arms and yells [[Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire "Stellaaaaaaaaa!"]]
170	* TheSnarkKnight: Saffron, and how!
171	* SpecialGuest: Among those who made guest appearances were Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter, [[Music/TheSpiceGirls Emma Bunton]], Creator/MinnieDriver, Creator/AdrianEdmondson, Creator/BrittEkland, Creator/WhoopiGoldberg, Creator/RichardEGrant, [[Music/{{Blondie\|Band}} Debbie Harry]], Music/EltonJohn, Creator/MarkKermode, Creator/NathanLane, Creator/RobertLindsay, Creator/MirandaRichardson and Creator/KristinScottThomas.
172	* {{Spinoff}}: Almost. A series based on the popular recurring character Bo (girlfriend and later wife to Edina's ex-husband, Marshall) has been proposed on several occasions. Although new rumors surfaced occasionally, it never quite happened.
173	* TheStinger: Many episodes come with an additional scene after the end credits.
174	* StraightGay: Edina's son, Serge. Much to her dismay, as she wanted him to turn out to be a CampGay.
175	** Edina's ex-husband Justin also qualifies.
176	* StudioAudience: Most episodes were filmed in front of a live audience, save for the various on location shoots.
177	* SympathyForTheDevil: In "Magazine", Patsy spins a sob story about her miserable childhood to persuade Saffron to do her a favor. It worked and Patsy was quite smug, until Edina reminded her that [[AccidentalTruth the story was true]].
178	* TakeThat: Marshall and Bo's fraudulent televangelism is reminiscent of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and the PTL Club scandal.
179	* ThemeNaming: A real life example - all five of the show's main cast members had forenames beginning with the letter J.
180	* ThoughtYouWereDead: In "Cold Turkey", [[spoiler:it looks like Jackie does Patsy in, and when Eddy and Saffy go to pick Patsy up, they are informed that she died. They enter the room to find a covered body...]] [[spoiler:then Patsy emerges from another room and reveals that Jackie overdosed on heroin the night before.]]
181	* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Marshall and Bo.
182	* TookALevelInJerkass: Edina's first husband Marshall and Marshall's current wife, Bo, go from being annoying drop-in characters to Edina's household to religious televangelist scammers and full-on baby kidnappers (though, in fairness, this is after both of them got drunk and drugged and the one time we see them trying to kidnap a baby, they grabbed the placenta by mistake instead).
183	** Saffron, for some reason, to her best friend since childhood, Sarah, after Sarah becomes mentally ill due to Edina purposefully burning Sarah's hair and scarring her head and neck. It was a significant enough event for Saffron to chew her mother out about it and make it more than a one-off joke, but then every time we see Sarah onscreen with Saffron from there, Saffron has about one minute of tolerance for Sarah's new annoying illness-and-meds-driven personality before smacking the shit out of her and causing her to run away in distress. Making it worse is that Saffron puts up with much, much worse from her mom and her mom's friends without this reaction, she knows Sarah isn't really responsible for her annoying outbursts, she knows Sarah is actively trying to get back to normal with meds, and she knows that smacking Sarah immediately starts a new schizophrenic episode that undoes the progress she made. Saffron even calls the police on Sarah (for stalking Emma Bunton, so not without good reason) and only reacts to not want to look guilty for making the call. It's really a pretty surprising change for Saffron's usual demeanor and one of the darker recurring jokes that come up in the series.
184	* {{Troll}}: Gran often does this verbally. Since she's the epitome of matronly British granny, it's often a shock.
185	* TropaholicsAnonymous: Saffron sets up a Menopausals Anonymous meeting for Edina and Patsy. Naturally, neither want any part of it.
186	* UltimateJobSecurity: Patsy got her job as the editor of a fashion magazine by sleeping with the publisher, and the position requires so little of her that she shows up there only a couple of times a year, and even then only to claim free clothes and other giveaways. It takes the magazine going out of business to dislodge her from it, and she immediately gets another job at a high-fashion store which requires even less work on her part, as it actively discourages customers.
187	* TheUnfavourite: Edina seems at times to actively hate Saffron, while pining for her son Serge. Subverted when he finally makes an appearance and it turns out he may have had an even more HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood than Saffron, and fled to the other side of the globe to escape her, having the rest of the family lie about his whereabouts for years.
188	* UnlimitedWardrobe: Edina has a seemingly endless series of fashion atrocities.
189	** As does Bubble.
190	* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Edina and Patsy.
191	* VisitByDivorcedDad: Edina has two ex-husbands, and a child by each of them. Both became recurring characters and visited frequently.
192	* WhamLine: Saffron announces "I'm pregnant!" to both Edina and her boyfriend John. Hilariously, they both act the same way, at first being very stunned then [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike advising Saffron to tell people beforehand just so they won't think she's fat]].
193	* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Patsy, and ''how''. She thinks of herself as a model - when asked to model, she's horrified to learn she's supposed to represent a late middle-aged model (ranking just below one of the elderly models.)
194	* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent: Edina wishes Saffron would drink, do drugs, and have tons of sex. Or, failing that, be gay. She gets a HopeSpot when she learns Serge ''is'' gay, but he turns out to be just as plain as Saffron.
195	** She's startled and delighted when Saffron speaks fluent French. (Saffron points out that she put her in those classes in the ''first'' place - what did she think would happen?).
196	* WorthyOpponent: In "Identity", Patsy shows Saffron respect [[spoiler:after learning that Saffy was 'top dog' in prison]].
197	* YouAreFat:
198	** Despite having a relatively average body, Eddy often feels like she's fat at times and tries to lose it. Almost always to no avail.
199	** When Patsy was working at Jeremy's in "Panickin'", a customer is unable to fit through the doorway, with Patsy saying she's too fat and scolds her to leave.
200	* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: In "Hospital", when Edina finds a can of alcoholic cider in Saffron's bag, Saffron says, "Look, don't be happy or pleased or anything!"
201

Context Series / AbsolutelyFabulous