“It’ll be naughtier than anything I’ve done”: Dawn French on her “genius” reunion with Jennifer Saunders
There’s nothing we love more than a reunion between two comedy icons, especially when it involves Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. For the first time in 17 years, the pair are taking to the West End stage together – and, in an exclusive interview with Good Housekeeping, Dawn has revealed that the genius reunion is set to be the naughtiest thing she’s ever done.
Unable to contain her excitement about it, she said during the interview: “There’s something I have to tell you. Jennifer and I are going to be doing panto together this Christmas! At the London Palladium. We’re playing the Ugly Sisters in Cinderella!”
Dawn has done the Palladium panto twice before and Jennifer has done it once, but it will mark the first time they’ve done it together. “It will be naughtier than anything I’ve ever done, partly because Julian Clary will be playing the Fairy Godfather and everything he says is loaded with innuendo,” Dawn said.
“It also means that Jennifer and I will be able to spend all that time together. People used to ask us to do panto in the 1980s, but it wasn’t fun back then the way it is now. The script for Cinderella is genius – it will be a kind of festive variety show.’
Dawn, now 68, has spent decades in comedy partnerships and says the most important things she’s learnt are patience and forgiveness. “Everything is forgivable when you work with someone you love”, she said.
Jonty Davies
While her comedy reunion marks an exciting chapter for Dawn, the 68-year-old Vicar of Dibley star has also been hard at work on another project recently: her fifth novel, Enough. The book introduces us to Etta, a mentally and physically fit grandmother who’s gathered her family to announce that it’s her last day on Earth. She has, in fact, made the monumental decision to commit suicide.
“Etta thinks she’s doing her family a favour by removing the crunchy, spiky, possibly ugly last part of her life from her kids,” Dawn explained. “I’ve got a feeling these thoughts are on people’s minds a lot of the time.”
At the same time, as the novel progresses, it becomes apparent that part of Etta’s problem is a sense of pride; once she’s made this life-shattering announcement, she can’t easily sit her kids down again and say, ‘Sorry, I made a mistake; I’m not going to die today after all.’ “Even if she thinks she might have made the wrong decision, it’s a massive mountain to climb down. Massive”, Dawn says.
Jonty Davies
With the book garnering quite the reaction from her friends, Dawn is preparing herself for everyone else’s reaction. “They had plenty to say about it. Some were curious; others said, ‘Absolutely not!’ They couldn’t understand why a healthy grandmother who’s close to her kids might decide to die by suicide,’ she said. “I’m girding my loins for the flak that I will inevitably receive from various quarters.”
Read the full interview in Good Housekeeping UK’s July issue, on sale now. Enough (Penguin Michael Joseph, RRP £22) by Dawn French is out now.
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