Full series for Whatever Happened To Baby Jane Austen?

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders have recorded a full series of Whatever Happened To Baby Jane Austen?

David Quantick – whose credits include Veep and Screenwipe – has written five new episodes of the comedy, about two sisters who reunite after decades apart.

The full series follows a pilot which aired on New Year’s Eve 2020, and which has been nominated for a BBC Audio Drama Award.

French plays Florence Ransom, a literary novelist, and Saunders her sister Selina Mountjoy, a movie star and glamorous celebrity.

Their paths cross again when Selina returns to Britain to promote her kiss-and-tell autobiography, inflaming Florence’s jealousy. But Selina turns out to be broke, and is forced to stay with her sister.

Rebecca Front joins the series as Florence’s personal assistant, Mrs Ragnarrok – a role played by  Josette Simon in the pilot. Mum and King Gary’s Lisa McGrillis  returns as Lucy, Florence’s daughter, with Alistair McGowan again playing all the male parts.

The pilot is to be repeated on Radio 4 on April 1, followed by the first of the new episodes – in which the sisters find themselves in line for the same literary award at the Hay Book Festival – the following week.

Published: 18 Mar 2022