Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley are, obviously, fabulous. Absolutely Fabulous, in fact. They're also a whole lot of fun – as heat's very own Boyd Hilton found out when he went to meet them ahead of Ab Fab: The Movie's release. Line up the Bolly, sweetie darhlings…
Now you've finished the movie, how do you feel?
Jennifer: Good. This is the fun bit. Of course I worry about the reviews which I'm sure will be stinkingly horrible. And I worry about stuff we had to lose in the edit. But I think it's very satisfying in the end.
Film is so different to TV. In TV you can have no story at all and just sit there, do a load of gags and then the titles roll and everyone's happy! [laughs] But in a film you can't just have scenes where people are just sitting around for no reason! You have to hit strict plot points and stuff.
Joanna: It's an interesting situation because almost everyone coming to see the film knows the characters in it so there will be a lot of people saying, 'Why oh why didn't she do this?' People feel they own Ab Fab.
Jen: And the film can only be one thing and not everything that everyone expects it to be. That's probably what stopped me writing it for so long – the massive weight of expectation. And you just can't live up to people's dreams of what it will be.
You once said you didn't remember much about the original series because you were drunk most of the time. Is that true?
Jen: No I wasn't really drunk! I remember everything about the series. I was generally pregnant through most of the filming so I couldn't have been that drunk.
Were you ever drinking real champagne?
Jen: No –
Jo: Alas!
Jen: Although maybe once we did get drunk…
Jo: Did we? Where?
Jen: The only time we were drunk was when we used to film the exteriors at an actual house in Holland Park and the people who owned it were a lovely couple and they used to ply us with enormous gin and tonics…
Jo: [remembering] Oh my god… yes they did. It didn't seem like drinking... it was only just a gin and tonic.
Jen: Yes we did used to get a little bit merry on those days. But generally it's sad ginger ale that you have to gulp back. It's very disappointing...
When you came up with plot idea of killing Kate Moss did you get her permission?
Jen: Well do you know I'd actually gone an awful long way down the road before I'd even considered asking her if it would be OK. And then someone said to me, 'Do you think Kate would be all right with this?" So I thought, 'I guess we'd better ask her'. And she was just like, 'Yeah fine...' Which is what she says about most things.
How was Kate to work with?
Jen: She is such a pro. It's sort of amazing how she turns up, does it and doesn't moan.
Jo: She sits down in the make-up chair and lets anybody make her up, puts on the clothes and just does it...
Jen: On the film she was standing in the Thames freezing cold, shivering and people were covering her in blankets and coats and bringing her tea, and she went, 'Oh God this would never happen on a modeling shoot, they'd say "Stay out there, get cold and stop shivering! Come on!"' She's used to working really hard and doing a job and she was fantastic. She knew her lines, came in and did it.
Jo: She's such a lovely person... She's a darling girl.
Jon Hamm also pops up. How sexy is he?
Jen: [almost whispering] Oh god... [looks wistful]
Jo: Oh please, it was in my contract that I'd have a scene with him and get to kiss him. I don't really get to kiss him but I obviously have a damn good go.
Jen: He just moves his face and she comes in.
Jo: It was the sweetest thing. I had lashings of lipstick on as Patsy and I had to attack him. He was amazing. Really lovely.
Read the rest of our Ab Fab interview in this week's special collector's edition of heat magazine, out today!
Ab Fab: The Movie is out in cinemas on Friday 1 July 2016