* ActingForTwo: Creator/JaneHorrocks played four characters across multiple series, specials, and the film -- playing Bubble, overly cheerful TV star Katy Grin (Bubble's cousin), an American televangelist in "Gay", and a Music/ShirleyBassey impersonator in the film.
* AdoredByTheNetwork: In the U.S., Creator/ComedyCentral was very good to the series in the second half of the '90s.
* CreatorBacklash: Creator/JaneHorrocks eventually grew reluctant to play Bubble and asked Creator/JenniferSaunders to replace the characer with Yitta Hilberstam -- the character she played in Saunders' short-lived ''Mirrorball'' concept. Saunders, instead, created Katy Grin so that Horrocks could play a different type of character and stay on the show.
* DawsonCasting: 16-year-old Saffron is played by 24-year-old Creator/JuliaSawalha. Also inverted with Edina: when Edina turned 40, Creator/JenniferSaunders was actually only 34.
* DeniedParody: Creator/JenniferSaunders denied that Edina was a parody of PR guru Lynne Franks; the character was actually derived from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfNKjINokAY this sketch]] she did with Dawn French in ''Series/FrenchAndSaunders'', where the responsible daughter had to look after her flighty teenager-like mother. Of course, for ''Ab Fab'' both characters needed expanding, so it's still possible.
* IronyAsSheIsCast: While Patsy wouldn't give two shits about most people who aren't herself and thinks the only use for exotic animals is fabulous furs and skins, in reality, Lumley is a massive human rights and animal welfare activist.
* RealSongThemeTune: "This Wheel's on Fire", which was purposely re-recorded by Julie Driscoll for the show. Later series has it performed by [[Music/BlondieBand Debbie Harry]]. TheMovie has a cover by Music/KylieMinogue.
** The 20th Anniversary theme song is Music/{{Eurythmics}}' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)".
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Creator/CharlotteRampling was offered the role of Jackie Stone.
** Creator/JenniferSaunders didn't intend to revisit the show after the third series and even developed a pilot script called ''Mirrorball''[[note]]where she and Creator/JoannaLumley played ageing actresses holding onto the shreds of their limited careers[[/note]] so she could continue working with the ''[=AbFab=]'' cast on something else.
* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: Creator/JenniferSaunders confessed that she often wrote scripts on the way to readthroughs, often enlisting her daughters to take dictation as she came up with lines while driving them to school before heading to the studio.
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