Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley to film three new epsiodes of sitcom later this year

Crack open the Bolly and set the Sky+, sweetie – Absolutely Fabulous is set to return to BBC1 after an absence of six years.

Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley will reprise their roles as Patsy and Edina in three new episodes of the sitcom expected to begin filming later this year. The BBC said it was "putting the finishing touches to the deal" and is expected to confirm it imminently.

Lumley is reported to have told Hello! magazine that shooting will begin in the summer, but she said Saunders had not yet started on the script.

"In late August I start filming on three episodes of Absolutely Fabulous, which we are all ecstatic about," added Lumley. "Miss Saunders has been so busy writing Uptown Downstairs Abbey for Comic Relief and also Spice Girls: The Musical, I don't think she's started [the script]."

Lumley sparked speculation about a possible return for the show last November when she said Saunders had written to her about bringing the sitcom back.

"Jen wrote to me and said, 'Let's talk through it. What do you think?'. And I said, 'Bring it on'. Because we're all still here. Mother's still alive, the wonderful June Whitfield. Julia Sawalha [and] Jane Horrocks [are] all still alive and available ... and I think we just have to do it," she said at the time.

"The great thing is that because ... we fast-forwarded to where they're very old and nearly dead and practically plugged into vodka machines, it doesn't matter how beyond [the original series] we do it," she added.

Absolutely Fabulous was first broadcast in 1992 and ran for three series and a two-part special until 1996. It returned for two more series and another two specials between 2001 and 2004, with a Comic Relief edition on BBC1 in 2005.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "We're putting the finishing touches to the deal to bring it back and as soon as we're in a position to confirm it we will."

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