Dawn French has admitted that she didn’t like Jennifer Saunders at first because she was “posh”.
Originally meeting at drama school in the 1970s, the duo went on to create the much loved sketch show French and Saunders which aired on the BBC from 1987 to 2007.
Appearing on the Finding the Funny podcast, French revealed that she wasn’t keen on Saunders at first: “I didn’t really like Jen that much at the very beginning because she’s quite posh, or I thought she was but she’s not really.”
The Vicar of Dibley star went on to say: “As soon as I got rid of my prejudice about her, which I still have to this day – prejudice against posh people, they have to prove their worth to me – I thought, ‘She’s actually great.’”
The two eventually moved in together and quickly established themselves on the alternative comedy scene alongside the likes of Rik Mayall, Alexei Sayle and Adrian Edmondson, who married Saunders in 1985.
French also met her future husband Lenny Henry on the same circuit.
Since the last episode of French and Saunders aired in 2007, the two have continued to collaborate on various projects including a radio show and a podcast.
Gold also commissioned a one-off special that aired in 2021 entitled French and Saunders: Funny Women, which saw the two discussing the history of women in comedy.
