Joanna Lumley thinks 'Absolutely Fabulous' is unlikely to return.

Joanna Lumley

Joanna Lumley

The 74-year-old TV veteran has revealed Jennifer Saunders doesn't want to write any more episodes of the hit comedy after the loss of June Whitfield - who died in 2018 aged 93.

She told BBC Radio 2: "I do not think there will be any more 'Ab Fab', because Jennifer said she doesn't want to. That is the end of it. Jennifer wrote them. It is her baby. If she says no, it means no.

"Also without our beloved June Whitfield, who we all adored so much, it kind of puts it off balance slightly. We all agreed that was it. It is much better to leave something when people still remember it with affection, than banging on now when I look like what I do now."

The 90s sitcom - which ran from 1992 to 2012 and returned for a film in 2016 - starred Jennifer Saunders as PR agent Eddy Monsoon and Joanna as her glamour puss pal Patsy with June playing her dotty mother.

It comes after Joanna had hoped the show would make another return with fans begging the stars for a 30th-anniversary special which hurts Joanna's "head to think about".

She said at the time: "There is some weird nagging thing, particularly for Patsy and Eddy. They don't seem to have gone back into their boxes so maybe something will come up."

Meanwhile, the award-winning actress has struggled being cut off from her social circles during the coronavirus lockdown.

She added: "The thing that is getting us all down is that we are such chatterboxes in this country and largely we do love to say hello to people - and I am no different. It will come back soon. I always thought strangers are friends you have not met yet. We will all be extra nice and extra darling."