Dawn French reveals plans for anti-woke sitcom following the success of French And Saunders and The Vicar of Dibley and says ‘I will fight for people to be as offensive as they want to be’
Dawn French has revealed that she has plans for a new anti-woke sitcom.
The 66-year-old actress is best known for her roles in beloved soaps French and Saunders and The Vicar of Dibley and is now planning a return to the small screen.
Speaking on LBC’s Tonight With Andrew Marr, Dawn revealed how she hopes the show will air in late 2024 or early 2025 and vowed she will “fight to stop people being so offensive… as much as they want.”
She said: “There are plans. I can’t tell you too much about it at the moment. But there will be a sitcom coming out late or early next year and I’ll be in it.”
Dawn spoke about the state of comedy today and recalled how difficult it was for her close friend Jennifer Saunders to get an appearance on Absolutely Fabulous.
Dawn French reveals she has plans for a new sitcom
The actress is best known for her role as Geraldine Granger in the beloved sitcom The Vicar of Dibley.
She gained wide fame in the sketch show French And Saunders along with her close friend Jennifer Saunders.
She said: “I remember Jennifer (Saunders) telling me how difficult it was to get Absolutely Fabulous off the ground because her characters smoked, drank, fell over and were complete idiots.
“But you know, it all seems so soft right now… Let’s be inappropriate, let’s wear purple, let’s just push the edges a little and laugh at ourselves when we get it a little wrong.”
Asked if comedy has become “too vanilla” these days, Dawn responded, “No, because it’s got everything.” There’s something for everyone here. I would fight tooth and nail to get people to be as offensive as they want.
‘Hatred? No. I think we know when something escalates into completely unacceptable hate speech. I think we all know when this is the case.
“And, of course, it’s just not funny. These are the facts. It’s just not funny to anyone except the one person who thinks that way and who usually loses his marbles.”
Dawn is currently recovering from a partial knee replacement after she was injured while re-enacting the Vicar of Dibley stunt on The Paul O’Grady Show in 2009.
Until now, the star has used steroids to cope with the pain.
She said: “It was during a recreation of (the Vicar of Dibley) on the Paul O’Grady show many, many years later and I went along with this idiocy because I’m British and because I’m not a girl. That’s what my brother called me if I refused to accept a challenge.
She said: “There are plans. I can’t tell you too much about it at the moment. But there’s a sitcom coming out late next year or early next year and I’ll be in it.”
Dawn is currently recovering from a partial knee replacement after she was injured while re-enacting the Vicar of Dibley stunt on The Paul O’Grady Show in 2009.
“So I agreed to take the jump, but my left leg gave way under me and has been giving me trouble ever since. And I have very severe arthritis in this leg.
“And recently, unfortunately, 10 shows before the end of my tour, my leg just gave up and I couldn’t walk anymore. And although I could perform sitting down, I felt that this was deceiving the audience.
“So we rescheduled these 10 shows for next year and I rushed off and had the surgery I really wanted and had been putting off a little bit out of fear.
“So I had my knee replaced three weeks ago, I’m hobbling around on crutches and trying to get through physical therapy… and I need to keep faith that things will get better.” And this is a partial knee replacement.
“I was a little offended when they told me I also had a fracture in the back of my knee, which is called an insufficiency fracture. So my knees are missing.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Dawn detailed her modest Christmas plans.
The actress is married to Mark Bignell and has 32-year-old daughter Billie with ex-husband Lenny Henry.
She said: “I love the Muppet Christmas movie and I love the old-fashioned It’s a Wonderful Life movies, but you have to find a time when you’re alone with the fire and no one is doing anything.” What. And at Christmas our house is full of people.
“I’ll be hobbling around this year, so we’ll go to the pub for lunch rather than cook at home. This is our first time doing this and I’m very happy about it.
“But there will be a lot of people around so it’s hard to find that moment, isn’t it, when you’re alone and you’ve got Baileys and you’re enjoying an old-fashioned black and white film?” .’