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*Absolutely Fabulous: 20th Anniversary*
Absolutely Fabulous: 20th Anniversary
Season 20
	Region 2 DVD cover
Starring	Jennifer Saunders; Joanna Lumley; Julia Sawalha; Jane Horrocks; June Whitfield;
No. of episodes	3
Release
Original network	BBC One
Original release	25 December 2011 –; 23 July 2012
Season chronology
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	List of episodes

Absolutely Fabulous: 20th Anniversary (also known as Ab Fab at 20) is a set of three special episodes of the British television sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. It was broadcast on BBC One between 25 December 2011 and 23 July 2012 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the series, which debuted in 1992.

Cast and characters

Main

Guest

Christopher Malcolm as Justin
Lucy Montgomery as Baron
Naoko Mori as Sarah
Sofie Gråbøl as Sarah Lund
Llewella Gideon as beautician
Harriet Thorpe as Fleur
Helen Lederer as Catriona
Rose Johnson as Patsy's intern
Camille Ucan as Bubble's intern
Hannah Dodd as Saffy's do gooder
Femi Oyeniran as agent
Amy Yamazaki as agent
Patricia Potter as Royal Albert Hall manager
Richard Sisson as pianist
Mo Gaffney as Bo
Christopher Ryan as Marshall
Eleanor Thom as Olympic party hostess
Beattie Edmondson as Olympic party waitress
James O'Driscoll as blind paralympian

Special guests

La Roux as herself
Emma Bunton as herself
Lulu as herself
Kirsty Wark as herself
Mark Kermode as himself
Lindsay Duncan as Jeanne Durand
Kelly Holmes as herself
Tanni Grey Thompson as herself
Stella McCartney as herself

Episodes

No. overall	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	UK viewers (millions)
37	"Identity"	Mandie Fletcher	Jennifer Saunders	25 December 2011 (2011-12-25)	9.07^[1]
Edina collects Saffron from prison, where she served two years for (unknowingly) providing asylum seekers with forged passports. Saffron later invites a former cellmate, Baron, to the house, but it is soon revealed that Baron was once Patsy's drug dealer and Patsy still owes her £50,000; Baron refuses to leave until the debt is repaid. In order to obtain the money, Saffron convinces Patsy to claim her pension, forcing her to own up to her actual age. Realising she has no official documents, Patsy begins to question her own existence—until Mother presents Patsy's old Post Office savings book. After going to the benefits office with Edina, Patsy finally pays off her debt to Baron.
38	"Job"	Mandie Fletcher	Jennifer Saunders	1 January 2012 (2012-01-01)	7.97^[2]
When Saffron berates Edina for being lazy and incompetent, Edina and Patsy decide to impress her by booking her favourite French film star, Jeanne Durand, to perform at the Royal Albert Hall. However, they are dismayed when Jeanne refuses to sing aloud and instead merely mouths the lyrics. As a solution, Jeanne lip-syncs to Bubble's vocals on the night of the concert.
39	"Olympics"	Mandie Fletcher	Jennifer Saunders	23 July 2012 (2012-07-23)^[3]^[4]	6.38^[2]
Edina decides to rent out her house to Michael Douglas during the Summer Olympics, hoping it will lead to prestigious A-list parties, even though Patsy—who now needs incontinence pants—no longer shares Edina's penchant for partying. However, Bo and Marshall arrive instead, after Michael gave the couple his party invitations. Frustrated with her dwindling social life, Edina happens upon one of Michael's invitations, allowing her and Patsy to attend a pre-Olympics party. The pair are eventually escorted out after Edina harasses Stella McCartney. Note: This episode stands as the final episode of Absolutely Fabulous, as it was announced by Jennifer Saunders in 2016 that no more series or specials will be produced, with the 2016 film concluding the franchise.

International broadcast

Absolutely Fabulous: 20th Anniversary was broadcast in the United States simultaneously on BBC America and Logo, and in Australia on ABC1.

No.	Title	Broadcast date
No.	Title	Logo (U.S.)	BBC America (U.S.)	ABC1 (AUS)
1	Identity	8 January 2012^[5]		8 February 2012^[6]
2	Job	6 February 2012	12 February 2012	15 February 2012
3	Olympics	25 July 2012^[7]^[8]

Reception

Ratings

Episode	UK viewers		AUS viewers
Episode	Rating	Rank	Rating	Rank
1	9.070,000^[9]	8^[9]	654,000^[10]	13^[10]
2	7.970,000^[11]	10^[11]	584,000^[12]	17^[12]
3	6.380,000^[13]	8^[13]	—	—

Critical reception

Michael Hogan of The Daily Telegraph gave the specials a negative review; following the "Olympics" episode, he commented, "The special Olympic edition of Absolutely Fabulous [...] would have won no medals for comedy." He added, "This was the last of three 20th anniversary specials, the first pair of which were shown over Christmas. Every single one of those 20 years showed on-screen during this torturous half-hour."^[14]

In a more favourable review, Meredith Blake of The A.V. Club stated, "While longtime AbFab fans will enjoy this latest incarnation of the series, which has been reprised multiple times since its official end in 1995, 'Identity' most definitely isn't for AbFab neophytes, who will most likely be confused by the broad performances, the outré costumes, and the disembodied canned laughter."^[15]

Accolades

In 2012, Jennifer Saunders received the BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance^[16] for her portrayal as Edina Monsoon following the first two specials.

Home media

The 20th Anniversary specials have been released on DVD, first in the United Kingdom on 30 July 2012,^[17] and then in Australia on 16 August 2012,^[18] and in the United States on 11 September 2012.^[19]

Additionally, the specials are available as part of complete collection sets including "Absolutely Fabulous: Absolutely All of It!", released 5 November 2013 in the United States,^[20] and "Absolutely Fabulous: Absolutely Everything − The Definitive Edition", released in both the United Kingdom, on 17 March 2014,^[21] and in Australia on 30 April 2014.^[22]