French & Saunders

1987

Seasons & Episodes

  • 6
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
  • 0
7.6| NA| en| More Info
Released: 09 March 1987 Ended
Producted By:
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

French and Saunders is a British sketch comedy television series written by and starring comic duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. It is also the name by which the performers are known on the occasions when they appear elsewhere as a double act.

Genre

Comedy

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French & Saunders Audience Reviews

Karry Best movie of this year hands down!
Jeanskynebu the audience applauded
Ensofter Overrated and overhyped
Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
RaspberryLucozade Comedy double acts over the decades have usually consisted of two men - Little & Large, Cannon & Ball, Morecambe & Wise, Laurel & Hardy and The Two Ronnies to name but many. French & Saunders however were a female double act, and probably the first female double act to be seen on British television since Victoria Wood and Julie Walters. Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders first made it big at the Comic Strip Club in Soho before joining 'The Comic Strip Presents' and 'Saturday Live', as well as appearing on 'The Young Ones' and 'Happy Families'. It therefore seemed only natural to give the two their own show. In 1987, the BBC snapped the duo up. Dawn was the heavy set, over-excitable one whereas Jennifer was the slimmer, more laid back one. One certainly could not deny how popular the show was, as well as influential, but personally I just did not care much for the show. Whilst there was the very, very occasional funny moment, overall the shows were largely hit and miss, with more misses than hits.Various stock characters were born, such as two filthy old men named Jim and Jim ( Dawn and Jennifer in drag ). Also included were sketches of Dawn and Jen as themselves sitting in a bare living room which would not have looked out of place on 'Alas Smith & Jones'. Spoofs were a regular source of humour too, these included 'Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?' ( or as it was called here 'Whatever happened To Baby Dawn?' ), 'The Exorcist', 'Misery', 'The Silence Of The Lambs' and 'Titanic'.Many talented people worked on the show such as Robbie Coltrane, Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson ( husband of Jennifer Saunders ), Lenny Henry ( Dawn's then husband ), June Whitfield, Harry Enfield, Joanna Lumley and Helen Lederer. Musical guests included Kirsty MacColl, Lulu, Jools Holland, Alison Moyet, Toyah Wilcox and The Proclaimers.'French & Saunders' ran for a total of six seasons, spawning the sitcom which Saunders would become famous for, the atrocious 'Absolutely Fabulous'. Fortunately, Dawn moved on to do the sublime 'The Vicar Of Dibley'.
xsnowangelx French and Saunders marks one of the greatest comedic pairings of all time. Jennifer and Dawn are completely hilarious. They both have very funny projects they each do alone, but when they come together for their 'French and Saunders' specials, the results are brilliant. They are hilarious as young school girls in several different skits. Jennifer Saunders is hilarious spoofing Mel C from the Spice Girls and Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. Dawn French is great as Barbara Streisand, and ALL of "the Coors" sisters. Together, their Thelma and Louise, Boyzone, and Titanic impressions, among many more are priceless. Definitely my favorite British comedy of all time.
palahniuk15 There is no doubt that French and Saunders is by far one of the best sketch comedy shows in the history of television. Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders- formerly the Tampon Sisters- are considered comedy royalty in Britian and recently received a well deserved Lifetime Achievement Award at the British Comedy Awards.Although not what it used to be in the 80s and (especially) the 90s, French and Saunders are still near the top of the food-chain of comedy. The magic of earlier episodes is you didn't need to know what they were spoofing to bust a gut. In later episodes, you almost need to know what they're spoofing and watch it forwards and back. For example, a Kill Bill sketch featuring decapitation made five viewers send off letters of complaint. Had they seen the Kill Bill movies, it is more than likely they would have understood the joke.French and Saunders will probably be around until the end of time and even then, there will still be new episodes.
budikavlan This show has provided years of belly laughs, satirizing television, films, the arts, pretentious society types....if something's ripe for parody, they pounce on it. In the earlier series, the motif was a VERY low-rent variety show, complete with weekly guest stars, WAY past-their-prime dancers, and the cheesy 2-man band Raw Sex. The pathetic show-within-a-show was interspersed with comedy sketches, the funniest of which depicted a pair of extras in various show business locales (a war hospital film, a production of Carmen, the background of a Sports News show); regardless of their importance (or lack thereof) to the show, the two managed to get in the way and disrupt the production (always with the "props bahsket" in tow). Later series were more straightforward random collections of sketches. Film and TV parodies combined with skewering of pretension are their specialty; it's these later seasons you can see on the videos available for purchase, including the skit that spawned "Absolutely Fabulous." In any case, fans of anarchic British comedy should love this show.