''Mirrorball'' was a

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

directed by

Adrian Edmondson Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. Part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s, he and his comedy partner Rik Mayall starred in the television sitc ...

and written by

Jennifer Saunders Jennifer Jane Saunders (born 6 July 1958) is an English actress, comedian, singer, and screenwriter. Saunders originally found attention in the 1980s, when she became a member of The Comic Strip after graduating from the Royal Central School ...

. It originally aired on 22 December 2000. All of the main

cast member In the performing arts industry such as theatre, film, or television, casting, or a casting call, is a pre-production process for selecting a certain type of actor, dancer, singer, or extra to land the role of a character in a script, screenpla ...

s (and several supporting cast members) from the popular series ''

Absolutely Fabulous ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (often shortened to ''Ab Fab'') is a British television sitcom created and written by Jennifer Saunders, which premiered in 1992. It is based on the 1990 '' French and Saunders'' sketch " Modern Mother and Daughter", cr ...

'' were also cast in this show, although the

plot Plot or Plotting may refer to: Art, media and entertainment * Plot (narrative), the connected story elements of a piece of fiction Music * ''The Plot'' (album), a 1976 album by jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava * The Plot (band), a band formed in 2003 ...

and characters were completely different. It was produced as a pilot episode for what Saunders intended to be a new show. ''Mirrorball'' ended up inspiring Saunders to revive ''Absolutely Fabulous'' in 2001, and a full series was never produced.

Plot synopsis

The show centers around Vivienne Keill (Saunders) and Jackie Riviera (

Joanna Lumley Dame Joanna Lamond Lumley (born 1 May 1946) is an Indian-born British actress, presenter, author, television producer, activist and former model. She has won two BAFTA TV Awards for her role as Patsy Stone in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulo ...

), two aging stage actresses who live in vertically adjacent flats. The two are of questionable talent, and their careers seem to be at a standstill. During the course of the pilot, Vivienne has the opportunity to be cast in a new show but delivers a horrifying rendition of the standard " Send in the Clowns", thanks in part to Jackie's off-kilter advice.

Julia Sawalha Julia Sawalha (born 9 September 1968) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Saffron "Saffy" Monsoon in the BBC sitcom '' Absolutely Fabulous'' (1992–2012). Her other television roles include as Lynda Day in '' Press Gang'' (198 ...

plays Freda Keill, Vivienne's younger sister and a more serious (and successful) actress.

Jane Horrocks Barbara Jane Horrocks (born 18 January 1964) is a British actress. She portrayed Bubble and Katy Grin in the BBC sitcom '' Absolutely Fabulous''. She was nominated for the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for the title role in the stage pl ...

plays Yitta Hilberstam, a vicious Icelandic actress/waitress.

June Whitfield Dame June Rosemary Whitfield (11 November 1925 – 29 December 2018) was an English radio, television and film actress. Whitfield's big break was a lead in the radio comedy '' Take It from Here'', which aired on the BBC Light Programme ...

appears as Dora Vermouth, a former

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

actress who spends most of her time intoxicated at the local pub and is showing slight signs of

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

Harriet Thorpe Harriet Amelia Thorpe (born 8 June 1957) is an English actress. Thorpe trained at London's Central School of Speech and Drama. She is known for her roles in the British sitcoms '' The Brittas Empire'' (1991–1997) and ''Absolutely Fabulous'' ( ...

plays Cat Rogers, an actress who is busy understudying multiple roles.

Cast

Main *

as Vivienne Keill *

as Jackie Riviera *

as Freda Keill *

as Yitta Hilberstam *

as Cat Rogers *

Tim Wylton Tim Wylton (born Timothy Higginson; 27 February 1940) is a British actor best known for his television roles as Stanley Dawkins in '' My Hero'', and Lol Ferris in '' As Time Goes By''. Career As a stage actor he appeared in Zeffirelli's noted 19 ...

as Brice Michaels *

as Dora Vermouth Guest * Matthew Francis as Theatre Producer *

Sean Chapman Sean Chapman is an English actor. He played Frank Cotton in Clive Barker's ''Hellraiser'', and its sequel, '' Hellbound: Hellraiser II''. He also voiced the character Sgt. Michael Sykes (callsigned "Psycho") in ''Crysis'' in 2007 and in '' Cry ...

as Mark * Alan Corser as Johnny * Andy Clarkson as Postman * Rupert Bates as Gordon * Nigel Ellacott as Jackie's Fan 1 * Peter Robbins as Jackie's Fan 2 * George Hall as Pianist *

Bonnie Langford Bonita Melody Lysette Langford (born 22 July 1964) is an English actress, dancer and singer. She came to prominence as a child star in the 1970s, when she had a notable role in the TV series '' Just William''. In the 1980s, she played companio ...

as herself

Reception

The episode received a viewing figure of 6,690,000 and ranked 20th place during the week it was broadcast on BBC One.

Availability

''Mirrorball'' is available as an "extra" on the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

edition of ''Absolutely Fabulous'' series 4.

References

External links

* Television pilots not picked up as a series 2000 television specials Absolutely Fabulous {{BBC-comedy-tv-prog-stub