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French and Saunders officially bowed out in 2009 with a farewell tour that followed the end of their eponymous show in 2007.
Nonetheless, if Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders look relatively unlikely to come back as a sketch comedy act, retirement only goes so far, and they’re still comedy megastars who are still friends, and have sporadically teamed up on the odd charity sketch, compilation show and a pandemic-era podcast.
Among their various projects, they’ve both starred in the West End’s megabudget London Palladium pantomime, sharing a stage with their alternative comedy peer Julian Clary. However, they’ve never starred in it together, but in what amounts to a serious comedy power move, they’ll play the Ugly Sisters in this year’s Cinderella. It’ll be their first stage performances together in 17 years.
This is naturally very exciting, and while some might say starring in a pantomime is a bit of an anticlimactic way to get the band back together for what might be the very last time, it’s worth saying that aside from being the biggest panto in the country, the Palladium’s annual shindig is notorious for letting its stars simply do their own thing and you can certainly expect a very French and Saunders take on the roles. Expect them to have a lot of fun with being officially deemed Ugly (a term that has drifted out of fashion in panto of late) and to generally mount the first serious challenge to Clary’s status as Main Source of Attention since the panto’s inception over a decade ago.
It also seems to be the fulfilment of a longstanding dream for the duo, who comment: ‘We have wished to play the Ugly Sisters for so many years, it feels this is the fulfilment of a dream - a dream our hearts made. Watch out. It won’t be pretty.’
Cinderella is at the London Palladium, Dec 5-Jan 10 2027. Tickets go on sale April 2 at 10am.
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