Happy Birthday, Jennifer!

Celebrating 65 years of the brilliantly versatile Ms Saunders, who has kept us laughing for more than four decades...

- CLAIRE SAUL

Birthday Girl!

One of our most beloved faces of comedy welcomes her 65th birthday this week. And as she celebrates, Jennifer Saunders can reflect on her continuing, award-laden career.

"I get offered really nice things-bits and bobs, little films - and honestly, I couldn't be happier," Jennifer says of life and work today. This year alone has seen her in the film Allelujah, and Christmas will find her delightedly performing as the dastardly villain in Peter Pan at the London Palladium.

"I wouldn't want to be in Peter Pan's tiny soft shoes let me tell you, because I am going to give Hook my all!" she says.

Pantomine will introduce a new generation to this talented actress and writer, who first appeared on our screens in 1982 with The Comic Strip Presents. Her co-stars notably included two significant people in her life story future husband Ade Edmondson, and comedy partner Dawn French.

Over and above her career with Dawn, Jennifer's credits include almost twenty films, with acting roles in productions such as In The Bleak Midwinter, Muppet Treasure Island and Death On The Nile and voiced performances in blockbusters such as Shrek 2, Coraline and Minions. On stage in recent years she has been a duchess (Lady Windermere's Fan), a clairvoyant (Blithe Spirit) and a nun (Sister Act).

Television has brought roles in shows as diverse as Blandings and The Stranger plus, of course, the outrageous fashion PR Edina Monsoon - a name derived from her husband's nickname Eddy Monsoon - in Absolutely Fabulous, a show inspired by a sketch from the French and Saunders series.