Comedic actress Dawn French has been a familiar face on our TV screens for more than 30 years
The 64-year-old - who is probably best known for her role in the BBC sitcom The Vicar of Dibley playing Reverend Geraldine Granger from 1994 to 2007 - will be joining Graham Norton in his celebrity red chairs on Friday, February 18 on BBC One.
Dawn has reprised her role as Rev Granger on a couple of occasions for charity specials such as Comic Relief and more recently in 2020 a mini series of short 'lockdown' episodes.
She is also known for her marriage to fellow comic Lenny Henry from 1984 to 2010 when they announced their split, however the pair still remain friends.
Many may also know her for being one half of the double act French and Saunders, alongside her pal Jennifer.
The British comic is now set to go back out on the road later in September and October this year with her new live show 'Dawn French is a Huge Twat'.
Dawn French's split from ex Lenny Henry and their 'lasting friendship'
Dawn French and Lenny Henry had been dating for 25 years when they announced their split in 2010 and in an interview with The Mirror not long after they split, Dawn spoke of how they both went to therapy.
"We went to therapy for a few months," she explained: "We went separately - it gives you a way to come together with new ideas of how to deal with it."
They both remain good friends and share a daughter Billie - who they adopted in 1991 after going through several rounds of IVF and struggling with infertility - in an interview four years later with The Mirror she added how she was "amazed" with their friendship.
"Remarkably, we seem to have shifted with relative ease from a 25-year marriage to a lasting friendship," Dawn said: "I am amazed by us – there is no war, we’ve turned out to be the best of friends. There were lots of good years but one tricky last year."
Dawn remarried in 2013 to her now-husband Mark Bignell a charity executive and the pair live together in Cornwall.
She has previously spoken about her new family which consists of her adopted daughter, Billie, who is now in her late 20s, and her stepchildren Lily and Olly.
She said in an interview with The Mirror: “Family is everything to me. That’s where I know I belong. I am a mother to three kids who are not kids any more and that is my greatest challenge and also my greatest pleasure.”
Connections to Wales
If you didn't already know, Dawn French was actually born in Holyhead in 1957 in the former Y Gors maternity hospital. Her dad was stationed on Anglesey at RAF Valley.
She returned to Wales in 2020 to film the Roald Dahl film Roald & Beatrix alongside fellow Welsh comedian Rob Brydon in Cardiff.
Career and friendship with Jennifer Saunders
Aside from her role on The Vicar of Dibley, Dawn has had a number of acting roles from appearing on Little Britain to playing The Fat Lady in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
More recently, in 2020 Dawn took on the title role of Maggie Cole in ITV's The Trouble with Maggie Cole which was set in Cornwall.
But she is probably best known for her work with long-time pal, fellow comedic actress and Absolutely Fabulous star Jennifer Saunders.
The pair have been working together since they first met in the 1970s at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and had a TV show called French and Saunders which first aired in 1987 up until 2005.
They now have an audible podcast titled French and Saunders: Titting About where they talk about everything from their hobbies to bucket lists and their holidays.
Dawn has previously said she will do anything to make her best friend laugh. In a report from The Mirror, Dawn said of Jennifer: “I will do anything to make Fatty laugh. It is like being a kid in a dressing up box and you can’t wait to make your mate laugh, so why not? I probably would be teaching if I had not met Jennifer. That is what I would be doing.”
Will Dawn French be on Strictly Come Dancing in 2022?
Earlier this week, Dawn sparked rumours she could be in the line up for the 2022 BBC TV show Strictly Come Dancing.
The 64-year-old shared a photograph on her Instagram of her hugging Strictly pro dancer Johannes Radebe during filming of The Graham Norton Show.
The caption on her post read: "So… THIS HAPPENED tonight. Am in love with @johannesradebe. On @thegrahamnortonshowofficial on Fri to talk about somethin exciting…"
Fans instantly commented on the picture quizzing the comic as to whether she was going to announce an appearance on Strictly 2022.
In the past, Dawn has spoken of how she's been approached by the BBC show but how she didn't want to be a comedy act and wanted to do it properly.
She spoke about it on the French & Saunders: Titting Around podcast and The Mirror reported in 2020 that Dawn had said: "They’ve approached me in a circling way before. The problem is if I did it, I’d want to do it and properly dance.
"At this age, you’re not taken seriously. Also if you’re from comedy, they want to shoot you out of a cannon like Ann Widdecombe and I don’t want that.
"I want the nicest dress, the most elegant other dancer and to take it seriously and nobody would want that."
Dawn French will be a guest on The Graham Norton Show alongside Strictly dance pro Johannes Radebe, Oscar-nominated Brit Andrew Garfield, Magic Mike star andcomic Rob Beckett on BBC One on Friday, February 18 from 10:35pm.
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