Absolutely Fabulous - Absolutely, Everything

Fans of Edina and Patsy rejoice! On May 27, BBC America is releasing the definitive Absolutely Fabulous boxed set, a nine-disc collection of all five seasons of the whacky British comedy that has been a favorite of gay audiences everywhere.

The discs are in an eye-catching metallic silver quilted case filled with 20 pages of colorful photos and episode summaries.

Jennifer Saunders plays Edina Monsoon and Joanna Lumley is her vodka-swilling hyper-promiscuous blonde-beehived friend Patsy Stone. Fleshing out the cast are Julia Sawalha as Edina's practical, bookish, serious daughter Saffron, June Whitfield as Edina's disapproving Mother, and Jane Horrocks is Eddy's assistant Bubble.

The entire set takes more than 19 hours to watch, but unlike many American TV comedies, laughs are guaranteed from start to finish. This modern day comic duo is the English version of Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance, albeit with more pill-popping, coke-snorting and outrageous designer fashions.

In addition to the 32 original episodes are the bonus episodes:

"Absolutely Fabulous in New York." When Edina discovers that her long lost son is gay, but unfortunately not gay enough for her tastes. Guest stars in these episodes include Whoopi Goldberg, Graham Norton, Debbie Harry and Rufus Wainwright.

"The Last Shout." The full length TV movie filmed between seasons 3 and 4.

"The White Box." A 43-minute show in which Eddy decides to give her kitchen a sleek and trendy new makeover, Saffron gets married, and Nathan Lane makes a guest appearance as Karl Lagerfeld type interior designer.

The substantial Extras in this set include:

"How To Be Absolutely Fabulous,' a 28-minute behind the scenes look at "Ab Fab," with clips from the show, a few anecdotes from Jennifer Saunders, and a drag queen Edina and Pasty look-alike contest in New York.

"Absolutely Fabulous: A Life." An 80-minute feature that shows scenes from Edina's childhood and life, including her and Patsy as some delinquent teen-aged girls. June Whitfield, who plays Eddy's prim, judgmental and dismissive mother, steals most of her scenes here, with her snide asides and haughty put-downs.

"Modern Mother and Daughter" is an eight-minute skit from the French & Saunders Show, with Jennifer Saunders playing the self-obsessed, whacky-fashioned mother and Dawn French as her more reliable, sensible and unflappable daughter. It was the sketch which provided the inspiration for the series that followed, sans French.

"Before Ab Fab." Two French & Saunders sketches

The pilot episode for the series, "Mirror Ball."

Joanna Lumley on "Modeling."

Audio Commentary by Jennifer Saunders and Jon Plowman for a few episodes.

15 minutes of Rare Outtakes from each of the five seasons, including bloopers, asides and other deleted moments. There are also Photo Galleries from all five seasons as well.

All of the episodes are closed captioned in English, with the odd except of those from Season 5.

If you loved "Ab Fab" or know someone who did, and they don't have the previously released "Ab Fab" episodes on DVD, this collection would be a marvelous gift or a great addition to any summer house's DVD collection.