Joanna Lumley reveals major threat she made against Jennifer Saunders to get her on Amandaland
With the pair set to share the screen once again for the first time in nine years, Joanna Lumley has revealed she jokingly threatened to "kill" Jennifer Saunders if she didn't sign on to feature in the Amandaland Christmas special.
Joanna Lumley jokingly threatened to “kill” Jennifer Saunders if she didn’t agree to appear on Amandaland.
The 79-year-old actress features in the BBC comedy which sees her reunite with her former Absolutely Fabulous co-star, 67, and Joanna has now revealed she threatened to take extreme action against Jennifer if she passed on the chance to join the Amandaland Christmas special.
Speaking with The Sun newspaper, she said: “When I heard they were hoping for Jennifer, I emailed her and said, ‘If the script comes your way, do it, or I’ll have to kill you.’
“I knew she’d take the pants off it.”
Jennifer - who will be playing Joanna’s sister in the Amandaland Christmas Day special on BBC One - added she was thrilled to board the show.
She said: “It’s an absolute gift. It was really good fun just hanging out.”
The Amandaland festive special - which is a spin-off to Motherland - will mark the first time Joanna and Jennifer have shared the screen since 2016’s Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.
Amandaland star Lucy Punch - who portrays the titular Amanda - shared Joanna and Jennifer “do crosswords all the time” while working on the programme.
In the show, Joanna portrays Amanda’s wicked mother Felicity, while Jennifer will feature as her sister Joan.
The upcoming special will follow Amanda as she spends Christmas at Aunt Joan’s country house, while Mal (Samuel Anderson) and Anne (Philippa Dunne) come along for the ride.
Jennifer previously said reuniting with Joanna on Amandaland was like “riding a bicycle”.
In a statement, Joanna said: “It was pretty special having Jennifer in the show. "We were playing characters as far from Edina and Patsy as can be imagined.
“Everyone adored having her there, especially me, and it all felt empty when the Christmas episode was over and she had gone.”
Asked how it felt being reunited, Jennifer added: “Like riding a bicycle!”
Jennifer described her character as “fairly shabby but terribly kind and probably farts a lot”, admitting she was delighted to be playing the part.
She noted: “The script was just full of great jokes and the kind of character I love playing. Also, I haven’t worked with Joanna for ages so that was a huge part of the appeal as well.”
