that the sitcom in which they both starred after their marriage broke up, the Jilly Cooper-scripted Awfully Bad for Your Health, Darling , has been airbrushed from history. "There are no tapes of it anywhere," says Lumley sadly. It's time for Lumley to get ready for tonight's performance. What next for her? "I have no career path. There are no roles I long to play. I just want to do good. I get sent a lot of scripts but there are not a lot of good writers around." After Eleanor of Aquitaine, perhaps she will return once more to Patsy. Clearly she hasn't finished with her globally successful alter ego. Or as she puts it in her book: "There are more stories to be told and much more chaos to be wrought. I hear Jennifer's voice calling and my hand reaches for the mirror: let the backcombing begin." Absolutely Fabulous is on Christmas Day at 10pm and New Year's Day at 9.40pm on BBC1; The Lion In Winter is at the Theatre Royal Haymarket until 28 January