Dawn French quit TV show with Jennifer Saunders after ‘humiliating’ Anastacia skit
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Dawn French has revealed that she quit her TV show with Jennifer Saunders after a skit she performed with US pop star Anastacia left her “humiliated”.
The comedy duo retired their sketch show French & Saunders in 2008 after French performed a skit with Anastacia she was dressed in the I’m Outta Love singer’s signature cowgirl look.
Speaking on a new BBC documentary with Saunders, she said: “I came off-stage, said bye to everyone…got into my car and just wept all the way home.
“I hated that, I hated everything about the day and I said I’m never going to do that again. I’m never going to feel humiliated like that again.
“I could’ve just been hormonal, but I just hated it, and I hadn’t ever hated it.”
‘The joke was on me’
The comedian and presenter, 66, explained that the costume designer “fell on her back laughing” at the cowgirl-style costume French was wearing before she went on-stage.
“I looked in the mirror and I thought: ‘Yes, this isn’t it, this isn’t what Anastacia looks like.’ But instead of finding it funny, I just thought: ‘Oh I don’t like it.’
“It just felt like I wasn’t in control of the comedy. The joke was on me. I hadn’t controlled it in any way,” she added.
Saunders said that she “didn’t realise it was so dramatic that you decided to end the whole act”.
The pair discussed the ending to their famous comedy double act in a new BBC documentary about their partnership titled “French & Saunders: Pointed, Bitchy, Bitter”.
They had become famous on their BBC sketch shows for their Hollywood parodies, during which they spoofed popular films such as Titanic, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Kill Bill.
Saunders insisted that their show had “ended on TV long before” the Anastacia sketch, saying that commissioning teams had “started to cancel everything”.
She said: “We sort of thought well, nobody really wants us anymore and the truth is you need a break.”
Sketch shows are ‘young person’s game’
French explained that “sketch shows are a young person’s game”, saying that to be able to do a good skit one needs to be able to be an old person and a young person, and that older people are “limited” in that sense.
Saunders added: “When you’re old and famous and taking the piss out of other famous people, it starts to look bitchy. It starts to look pointed, bitchy and bitter.”
Meanwhile, French – who had been criticised for her body – insisted that she never disliked herself and said that her father had instilled confidence in her at a young age.
“My dad noticed that if you are a little fat girl, you could trip into a great big crack of low self-esteem,” she said, adding: “I think he just knew instinctively that he needed to make sure that I had armour.”
“We live in a world where people would love you to have some shame about whatever shape you are – and I just have never understood why I should.
“It’s who I am, and I’m going to inhabit it right to the very ends of my fingers, because it’s what I’ve got to work with.”
Contact to Action Line rises
It comes as the broadcaster’s Action Line revealed that contacts have risen this year with more people seeking help and information on issues addressed in BBC programmes.
The company said that following a peak in audiences using the advice service during the pandemic, contacts are rising again in 2023.
Of the issues raised in BBC programming, mental health, self-harm, addiction, autism and sexual abuse prompted the most calls from members of the public.
The advice service for issues raised in programmes by the broadcaster is expected to receive over 875,000 visits by the end of 2023, up from 850,000 last year.
Programmes that prompted calls to Action Line included Christine McGuinness: Unmasking My Autism, Zara: Uncovering Rape Culture and Louis Theroux Interviews.
Nick Mason, BBC Head of Audience Services, said: “The BBC plays a significant role in highlighting issues that impact audiences in our programming.
“As a public service broadcaster it is part of our mission to serve everyone across the UK and we are proud to have provided support to almost one million people affected by the issues raised in our output this year.”
