Joanna Lumley Joanna Lumley Joanna Lamond Lumley, (born 1 May 1946) is an English actress, former model, author and activist. She won two BAFTA TV Awards for her role as Patsy Stone in the BBC sitcom "Absolutely Fabulous" (1992–2012), and was nominated for the 2011 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for the Broadway revival of "La Bête". In 2013, she received the Special Recognition Award at the National Television Awards and in 2017, she was honoured with the BAFTA Fellowship award. Lumley's other television credits include "The New Avengers" (1976–77), "Sapphire & Steel" (1979–82), "Sensitive Skin" (2005–07), and
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'