Happy Birthday Jennifer Saunders

There are those of us who'll always think of her as the emotional trainwreck that was (and is) Edina Monsoon; maybe we're being small-minded about it, but when a show like the legendary sitcom Absolutely Fabulous is that good, its legacy tends to crowd out everything else...

Yet prior to walking a mile in Edina's pumps, Jennifer Saunders had made a pretty good go of it goofing around with Dawn French - first as part of The Comic Strip* and then latterly on the pivotal sketch show French & Saunders...  And she's not done too badly since Patsy Stone snorted her way into perpetual syndication either, if we do say so ourselves!

Not content to rest on her laurels (not even if they'd been designed by Lacroix, sweetie!) Saunders has been madly scribbling - in between high-profile appearances on American sitcoms like Roseanne and Friends and lending her silky voice to Fairy Godmother in Shrek 2, that is - producing such varied works as Jam & Jerusalem and The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle.

*The seminal comedy troupe which launched all of its members' television careers and Saunders' own marriage - to fellow member Adrian Edmondson - as well!

*