Absolutely Fabulous (series 1) Absolutely Fabulous (series 1) The first series of "Absolutely Fabulous", a BBC sitcom, was created and written by Jennifer Saunders who starred in the title role of Edina Monsoon, a heavy-drinking, smoking, and drug-abusing PR agent who has dedicated most of her life to looking "fabulous" and desperately attempts to stay young. Edina is known as 'Eddy' to her best friend, Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley), a magazine editor who constantly takes advantage of Eddy by living the life of luxury in Eddy's extravagant home. Edina is a twice-divorced mother of two. Her eldest child, a son, Serge, left home many
British sitcom consciously avoids traditional situation comedy themes and storylines to branch out into more unusual topics or narrative methods. "Blackadder" (1983–1989) and "Yes Minister" (1980–1988, 2013) moved what is often a domestic or workplace genre into the corridors of power. A later development was the mockumentary in such series as "The Office" (2001–2003). The first British television sitcom was "Pinwright's Progress", broadcast by the BBC from 1946 to 1947, but the form did not take off until the transfer of "Hancock's Half Hour" from BBC radio in 1956. Hancock biographer John Fisher dates the first use of the term 'situation comedy'