Dawn French was left 'humiliated' over sketch that ended BBC's French & Saunders
Dawn French says performing a sketch opposite American singer Anastacia left her feeling so ‘humiliated’ she and Jennifer Saunders decided to axe their hit comedy show.
The 66-year-old comedy icon has been friends with 65-year-old Jennifer since they met at Central School of Speech and Drama in 1978 - going on to launch their comedy careers together.
Their hugely successful BBC sketch show French & Saunders was on air from 1987. Throughout the years of French & Saunders being on air, the comedy couple won over fans for their silly sketches, societal observations, and ruthless parodies of hit films. They would also often perform alongside A List stars, and mock major celebs like Madonna and Britney Spears through their comedy.
However, the duo axed the show in 2004 after performing opposite I’m Outta Love singer Anastasia, 55, in a sketch - with only specials and compilation versions of the show airing in the 13 years after that.
In a new BBC documentary exploring the history of the pair, Dawn explains exactly why she felt she was ridiculing herself in the fateful sketch.
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Dawn French has reflected on the end of her comedy sketch show with Jennifer Saunders (FILE)Dawn says dressing up in a scene to wear the same outfit as Anastacia left her feeling “humiliated”. She explained: "I looked in the mirror and I thought: 'Yes, this isn't it, this isn't what Anastacia looks like.' But instead of finding it funny, I just thought: 'Oh I don't like it.' It just felt like I wasn't in control of the comedy. The joke was on me."
Jennifer admitted this was news to her: "I didn't know this was the reason.... I didn't realise it was so traumatic that you decided to end the whole act."
Dawn said after the filming: "I got in my car and just wept all the way home. I hated everything about the day and I'm never going to do it again. I'm never going to feel humiliated like that again."
French & Saunders came to an end - but the pair have gone on to continue their own success with solo projects. As part of the documentary, the origins of the French & Saunders sketch show are revealed to have been inspired by the fact Dawn and Jennifer would get bored when they were living together.
Jennifer recalls: “We'd dress up as punks and go on the tube and see if we could frighten anybody and we'd shout things to people on the street."
Last month, Dawn shocked fans when she revealed she had been in hospital for some major surgery. The comedy star shared a photo of her bandaged leg - telling fans she had endured successful surgery on her knee. She wrote online at the time: "It's done. New knee is in. Now we start the healing..."
Imagine... French & Saunders: Pointed, Bitchy, Bitter is broadcast on Wednesday 27 December at 22:30 on BBC One (23:45 in Scotland and 23:55 in Northern Ireland) - or catch up on BBC iPlayer.
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