French and Saunders are back! Fans go wild as reunion is confirmed for July

As if the end of July wasn't looking good enough with hopes the country will be even further out of lockdown, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders have just made it even better.

The women—famed for their infamous sketch show, French and Saunders—are reuniting for a special one-off programme on Saturday 17th July at 9pm.

French and Saunders last aired in 2005 with a cracking Christmas special, so this new two-hour episode will be their first outing in 16 years and aims to celebrate "all of the crucial and unforgettable female contributions to the pantheon of comic history" across the globe.

The exciting news was announced via Gold's Twitter channel and read, "You're in for a proper treat this July as @Dawn_French and @ferrifrup reunite for #FrenchAndSaunders #FunnyWomen, a two-hour celebration of women in comedy."

It's been a while since we've had our fix of French and Saunders, so we're hardly surprised at the reaction from fans. 

"This has made my day. Love you two so much," tweeted one fan.

Another said, "Writing that date down now!"

As well as working on the new French and Saunders, Dawn has been incredibly busy in recent months, having just released another new book.

Because of You is described as a “tear-jerker” in which the power of a mother's love will be tested to its limits.

And it’s something Dawn—who recently sold her home in Cornwall for a more low-key lifestyle—has experience with, having shared a rocky relationship with her daughter, Billy, over the years.

Opening up about their challenges, Dawn previously said, “I haven’t got a kid who wants to read with me and have adventures with me, I’ve got a different kind of kid who’s a different kind of set of challenges and that’s been my lesson."

“Our relationship exists in a bizarre kind of process of peacetime, small battles, war. The peacetime is much more than the other two energies, but we have our wars.”

Thankfully Dawn has incredible friends to fall back on, including Jennifer Saunders—who recently confessed "comedy has changed" amid 'woke' culture when discussing the return of Absolutely Fabulous. 

The pair forged a firm friendship from the moment they met, and remain incredibly close.

Opening up about keeping in touch during the COVID-19 global pandemic, Dawn said, “We see each other all the time anyway as friends. We're not very good on Zoom. I'd rather be on the phone to her or we text each other a lot."

“If we don't get to see each other much, we just pick up where we left off. There's never a guilty gap. It's not a friendship that you have to feed on a regular basis to keep it topped up. It's very secure."