Why French and Saunders are history

There have probably been many reasons given for the end of a creative double act. But there were no "musical differences" between Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders when they decided to call time on their television sketch show. "You can't do the shows we used to," Saunders tells today's Times in a piece puffing their final stage show. "We came through at a time when the BBC did everything in-house, so everything was available: costumes, wigs, special effects. Now everything is put out to tender, so everything costs an amazing amount. And we don't want it to look like a slightly sub version of what we used to do." So there we have it. Video may have killed the radio star, but the cost of costumes has seen off Dawn and Jenny and their oh-so-funny movie spoofs.