An Absolutely Fabulous new generation as Saffy gets a stroppy teenage daughter
Producers are casting for a teenage girl for the big screen return of Jennifer Saunders' fashion lush Edina and Joanna Lumley's hedonistic Patsy
Jennifer Saunders’ raucous fashionista Edina Monsoon and best pal, Joanna Lumley’s Patsy, will be back in the Absolutely Fabulous film next year. And there will be a whole new set of other characters – including a daughter for Edina's daughter Saffy (Julia Sawalha).
RadioTimes.com can reveal that the production team are casting for a mixed-race 13-year-old girl for a pivotal role. According to sources, they want someone who is “self assured and cool and naturally finds her mother embarrassing but her Granny amuses her.”
Absolutely Fabulous followed the exploits of PR guru Edina 'Eddy' Monsoon and drink and drug-addled magazine editor Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley). It ran for five series between 1992 and 2003, subsequently returning for special episodes – the last of which was an Olympics episode in July 2012.
Recently Saunders revealed that she finished the script on time following a bet with former comedy partner Dawn French.
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"Did I tell you that I'd had a bet with Dawn that I would have to pay her £10,000 if I didn't produce [the film] by the end of the year?," she told the Jonathan Ross show.
"We had a live radio show at the end of [last] year so I produced a first draft by [then]. I literally vomited it out. On New Year's Eve it came out."
She confirmed that French will also have a role in the new film, which will be called Edina and Patsy after the two central characters. Australian comic and actress Rebel Wilson will also star and, like French, is said to have asked for a role.
A host of people from the fashion world are tipped to appear, with supermodel Cara Delevingne said to be interested in a role.
The movie will begin filming in October for an expected release next year.
