French and Saunders got up to all kinds of mischief on screen, but they had a hilarious near-miss drug-taking experience that rivalled the goofiness of their characters.
The comedy duo, made up of Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, once devised an elaborate six-month plan to take ecstasy that backfired spectacularly.
Saunders shared the story on the first-ever episode of The Claudia Winkleman Show, airing on Friday (13 March) on BBC One, revealing: “Dawn and I once thought we’d be really daring, and we got an ecstasy tablet.”
The actor said the pair decided to share the pill one day when they were alone, adding: “It became such a matter of planning as to when we could take half an ecstasy tablet.
“We kept it on Dawn’s mantlepiece and one day – about six months later – we thought, ‘Ok, we’re ready.’”
However, after getting their water, they went to take the pill, only to be met with an unexpected discovery.
“We didn’t know what to expect at all and….the pill had gone!” she explained, calling it “quite a relief”.
The comedy duo originally met at drama school in the 1970s and went on to create the much-loved sketch show French and Saunders, which aired on the BBC from 1987 to 2007.
Since the last episode of French and Saunders aired in 2007, the two have continued to collaborate on various projects, including a radio show and a podcast.
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In 2022, French admitted that she didn’t like Saunders at first because she was “posh”.
Appearing on the Finding the Funny podcast, French said: “I didn’t really like Jen that much at the very beginning because she’s quite posh, or I thought she was but she’s not really.”
The Vicar of Dibley star went on to say: “As soon as I got rid of my prejudice about her, which I still have to this day – prejudice against posh people, they have to prove their worth to me – I thought, ‘She’s actually great.’”
The two eventually moved in together and quickly established themselves on the alternative comedy scene alongside the likes of Rik Mayall, Alexei Sayle and Adrian Edmondson, who married Saunders in 1985.
Winkleman’s new chat show takes over the Friday night slot from Graham Norton. Saunders was her first guest alongside Hollywood actor Jeff Goldblum, actor Vanessa Williams and comedian Tom Allen.