Dawn French’s jealousy over co-star Jennifer Saunders’ Ab Fab success: ‘F*** you!’

The legendary actress and comedian hits screens tonight for the BBC’s annual money-raising telethon, Comic Relief. A star-studded line-up will bring viewers some of the best new — and old — drama, music and comedy, all welcomed by host and co-founder founder Lenny Henry. He is joined by Paddy McGuinness, Alesha Dixon, David Tennant and Zoe Ball.

Among the live performances and big surprises include a special episode of the much-loved show, The Repair Shop.

Here, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders will appear in their classic roles from The Extras in a bid to get a freebie from Jay Blades and the team — who will duly kick them out of the workshop.

French and Saunders have worked alongside each other for decades, including in the comedy series of their namesake — French & Saunders — which ran from 1987 to 1993.

Saunders went on to work with Joanna Lumley and create the ongoing comedy series, Absolutely Fabulous, which is based on the French and Saunders sketch, Modern Mother and Daughter.

Ab Fab, as it is known, received wide acclaim and soon became a favourite among British TV buffs.

Late last year, French admitted that seeing its success had rubbed her up badly.

Speaking during Rylan Clark-Neal’s Ry-Union podcast, she said that though her “pride and happiness” for her friend outweighed her jealousy, she was still envious of the huge buzz surrounding the show.

The pair had been due to make another series of French & Saunders in 1991 but French and her then husband Lenny Henry adopted a two-week-old baby — their daughter Billie — and French was unable to film

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That is when Saunders decided to try and turn the sketch into something more, using French and fellow comedian Ruby Wax as a sounding board.

French told Rylan: “When Jennifer got her scripts ready, she used to pass them by me, and sometimes she used to pass them by Ruby.

“Ruby was definitely involved [in Ab Fab], and Jennifer really relied on Ruby as time went on.

“I did a few little bits in the show, obviously, and if she asked me to look at anything I would do that… but then she got confident with it and off she went.

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“I got very conflicted about her massive success with Ab Fab.

“You know when your sister does really well at something?

“You’re like, ‘Oh good for you, good for you… f*** you.’

“It’s really good to have that cocktail where you’re [disappointed] and excited at the same time.

 “When you love somebody as much as I love Jennifer, the glee and the happiness and the pride overshadows any other stuff in the long run… it does.”

Explaining how Ab Fab — also starring Julia Sawalha and June Whitfield — was created, French said: “Don’t forget that one of the reasons she did it was because I had to squirrel away because my daughter had arrived.

“We’d booked a studio to do another French and Saunders series.

“Because I adopted my daughter — we’d been waiting for a year or so for the right baby to turn up.

“We got this phone call, saying, ‘I think there is a baby’ and I went, ‘I have to go, I have to go’ — but the studio was all booked.

“So Jennifer said, ‘I will use those studios and do that sitcom we’ve been talking about.'”

There is no bad blood between the pair, however, and they remain close in both their professional and personal lives.

Comic Relief kicks off tonight at 7pm on BBC One.