Concept and creative process
Opening titles for the third series of the comedy featuring Eddy and Patsy growing old disgracefully in the world of fashion and celebrity. The idea for the design of the original 1992 title sequence for ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ by Bernard Heyes had stemmed from a conversation with Jennifer Saunders. She suggested a typographic solution would be good, along the lines of LOVE, the famous 1967 pop art painting of the word by Robert Indiana, in which he stacked the brightly coloured letters L O V E on top of one another with the O slightly askew. Bernard took this thought and turned it into the iconic sequence that established an AbFab brand image. This colourful typographic theme was continued by subsequent designers in the further two series of the show that followed until 1995 and also in the fourth series revival of the show in 2001. The original title music ‘This Wheel’s on Fire’ was written by Bob Dylan and Rick Danko and was sung by Julie Driscoll and Adrian Edmondson. Here Betty Jackson uses elegant Vogue-style typography, reflecting Patsy’s sinecure at the fashion magazine.