Book Review – Absolutely Fabulous: The Scripts by Jennifer Saunders
First published, 1993
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
I was always asked to read aloud at school. I hated it. No matter what I did, whether I stared straight at the teacher in an effort to unsettle them, if I glared into the book or flipped the pages, clearly lost, if I glanced out of the window or searched for something in my bag, I was always, but always, asked to read to the class. I still get crazy-nervous reading in public. I know, I know, I’ll deal with it in therapy.
Anyway, one day, around the age of fourteen, one of my pals brought this book out during a quiet spell in a food tech class. I suppose we were meant to be working out recipe ideas for the next lesson. We picked spag bol or lasagne pretty consistently, so we had some free time, and suddenly this book. We all loved AbFab. We loved the characters, we loved the writing, we loved the cast, the story and everything about it. I don’t say we were all irresponsible, naughty, sweary teenage-types who saw ourselves reflected in Eddie and Patsy. I think most of us wanted to see ourselves that way, but we were still too young and rather too aware of consequences. Frankly, we were all Saffy. Nothing against Saffy. True, she was drably dressed and put-upon, but she was self-reliant, clever, and far more accomplished than she was given credit for (when we were fourteen). Everybody wanted to be Patsy.
One of the other girls asked me to read for Eddie, who had always been my favourite. It was the only time I have relished public speaking. As I recall, I was demoted to Narration of Stage Directions when I started giggling and couldn’t get to the end of a sentence. And here we are. Not quite thirty years later, and I’m reading it again, and laughing enough to generate looks from my dogs. These days, I own my rasp-laugh. I think that’s called growth.
Petrina Binney - Author 