Patsy Stone is one of the two main characters from the British television sitcom ''
Absolutely Fabulous
''Absolutely Fabulous'' (also known as ''Ab Fab'') is a British television sitcom based on the ''French and Saunders'' sketch, "Modern Mother and Daughter", created by Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. The show was created and written by Saund ...
'', portrayed by actress
Joanna Lumley
Dame Joanna Lamond Lumley (born 1 May 1946) is an English actress, presenter, former model, author, television producer, and activist. She has won two BAFTA TV Awards for her role as Patsy Stone in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (1992 ...
.
Background
Patsy was the last of a string of children born to an aging Bohemian mother in Paris, who gave birth "like a sprinkler, scattering bastard babies all over Europe."
In a flashback showing Patsy's birth, after telling an attendant to cut the cord, Patsy's mother exclaims that she names the child
Eurydice
Eurydice (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρυδίκη 'wide justice') was a character in Greek mythology and the Auloniad wife of Orpheus, who tried to bring her back from the dead with his enchanting music.
Etymology
Several meanings for the name ...
Colette
Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known mononymously as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her ...
Clytemnestra
Clytemnestra (; grc-gre, Κλυταιμνήστρα, ''Klytaimnḗstrā'', ), in Greek mythology, was the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and the twin sister of Helen of Troy. In Aeschylus' '' Oresteia'', she murders Agamemnon – said by E ...
Dido
Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in modern Tunisia), in 814 BC.
In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (t ...
Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...
Stone.
The only sibling seen in the series is her older sister Jackie ( Kate O'Mara), a former high-class escort whom Patsy worships, despite the fact that Jackie treats her horribly and twice tried to murder her through heroin overdose.
Patsy and Edina Monsoon were childhood friends, and since her mother despised and neglected her—regarding her more as a rival than a daughter—she came to rely on the Monsoons for most of her shelter, comfort, and food (though she has only been seen eating twice since 1973).
She mentioned that her mother would have had an abortion, but she mistook her pregnancy for the onset of the menopause. The first few years of her life were spent locked in a room, and the rest of her childhood was dismal by Patsy's own description, without friends, parties, or presents. Although her mother eventually sent her to school, by the time she did, Patsy was much older than all the other students. This explains a potential plot hole where Edina and Patsy are supposedly far apart in age, yet are shown to be in the same school year in flashback.
Although Patsy claims to have been an
it girl
An "it girl" is an attractive young woman, who is perceived to have both sex appeal and a personality that is especially engaging.
The expression ''it girl'' originated in British upper-class society around the turn of the 20th century. ...
and in-demand model in 1960s Swinging London, flashbacks reveal she was completely unsuccessful, only obtaining work through latching on to high-profile designers and models and manipulating them into feeling sorry for her. Flashbacks to the 1960s reveal Patsy wreaking havoc on the respective sets of Zandra Rhodes' and Annagret Tree's photo shoots.
She dubs herself an "ex-
Bond girl
A Bond girl is a character who is a love interest or female companion of James Bond in a novel, film or video game. Bond girls occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as Pussy Galore, Plenty O'Toole, Xenia Onatopp, o ...
", but the films she starred in were actually Bond-inspired sexploitation films titled ''Bond Meets
Black Emanuelle
''Black Emanuelle'' (Italian: ''Emanuelle nera'') is a softcore sexploitation film from 1975 directed by Bitto Albertini. This Africa set film was shot mostly in Kenya. The music was composed by Nico Fidenco.
''Black Emanuelle'' was followed ...
'', ''Boldfinger'' and ''The Man with Thunder Balls''. In "Schmoozin'", a group of partygoers are treated to a viewing of Patsy's 1970s
softcore pornographic
Softcore pornography or softcore porn, is commercial still photography or film that has a pornographic or erotic component but is less sexually graphic and intrusive than hardcore pornography, defined by a lack of visual sexual penetration. Softc ...
film ''Booberella''.
Patsy claims to have slept with every member of the Rolling Stones, stating that "...you didn't have a favourite Stone, you had 'em all." She also claims to have slept with Keith Moon ("Well sort of. I woke up underneath him in a hotel room once."), and one of
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
, although she cannot remember which one.
On various occasions throughout the series, it is alluded to that Patsy was once
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...
, having undergone a sex-change operation in Morocco in the 1960s. Edina states that this only lasted a few months, "before it fell off", and Elton John recognises her as someone he slept with when she was a man.
In the series
Friendship with Edina
Patsy shares a codependent existence with Edina and often acts as her
enabler
In psychotherapy and mental health, enabling has a positive sense of empowering individuals, or a negative sense of encouraging dysfunctional behavior.Harvey Nichols being their favourite), going to lunch at trendy restaurants, and avoiding their respective work places.
Patsy is more
parasitic
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...
in her dependence than Edina is, she spends most of her spare time at Edina's house, drinks Edina's booze, uses her chauffeur-driven car, and at various points lives with her, in either the attic, Saffron's bedroom, or the utility room. In "Death", Patsy attempts to convince Edina to leave her her multimillion-pound Holland Park house in the event of Edina's death.
Her dependence on the friendship leads Patsy to sabotage any relationships which take Edina's attention away from her, which is the root cause of her near-constant animosity towards Saffron. Patsy is also quite critical of Edina, often making passive jabs at her weight and poor fashion choices.
Appearance
Unlike Edina, whose dress sense is dictated by fashion rather than what suits her, Patsy is usually seen sporting a more 'classic' style, generally consisting of a designer power suit and her trademark blonde
beehive
A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...
with a
fringe
Fringe may refer to:
Arts
* Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival, known as "the Fringe"
* Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival
* Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre
* The Fringe, the ...
, dubbed her 'crutch' by Fleur in the episode "Donkey". She has a particular fondness for couture Chanel jackets, which she wears to editorial meetings to intimidate her colleagues.
Patsy was born on 30 October, although her actual age is never clearly divulged; she often states herself to be between 39 and 43. In series one, set in 1992, she is revealed to have been a classmate of Edina's at school; in the same series, Edina turns 40, which would theoretically make Patsy no older than 41 at that stage. However, later episodes reveal that her neglectful mother did not send her to school for many years, meaning she could have been classmates with Edina yet still some years her senior. She is so obsessed with projecting youth that she uses a false passport (obtained from "Johnny Fingers" on the Isle of Dogs) with a doctored picture from her modelling days. In "Cold Turkey", a nurse guesses that she is approximately 65 years old.
In the episode series 3 "Happy New Year", Patsy's older sister Jackie reveals that she is 72 years old, to which Patsy replies, "My God, then how old does that make me?", suggesting that Patsy has lied about her age so often that she can no longer remember her real age. Her vanity and obsession with youth leads her to use radical beauty treatments, including sulfuric acid peels, collagen lip injections, and the
Botox
Botulinum toxin, or botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT), is a neurotoxic protein produced by the bacterium '' Clostridium botulinum'' and related species. It prevents the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from axon endings at the neuromus ...
-like filler Parralox, which freezes wrinkles but paralyses her face.
As the series progresses, Patsy betrays her age more and more, appearing to become more feeble beginning in the fourth series. In "Menopause", Patsy has to visit the hospital after fracturing her bones doing simple tasks, like snapping her fingers. The doctor diagnoses her with osteoporosis and declares that she has the lowest
bone density
Bone density, or bone mineral density, is the amount of bone mineral in bone tissue. The concept is of mass of mineral per volume of bone (relating to density in the physics sense), although clinically it is measured by proxy according to optic ...
on record. In "Olympics", she admits to using adult diapers for occasional incontinence. Her poor eyesight is evident, with Patsy often colliding with objects and having to scrutinize type and images very closely.
Personality
Patsy usually seems quite cold and unemotive, especially in her behaviour toward her chief rival Saffron, but she sometimes reveals a more vulnerable side (in flashbacks to her bleak life with her mother, in her overeager admiration for the awful Jackie, and in those rare moments when Edina temporarily withdraws her friendship) and even occasionally asks Saffron for advice.
She is also prone to intense outbursts of anger, usually directed at Saffron, who constantly chastises her for her many vices and the malign influence she has on Edina. When faced with a situation that someone else might find alarming or disconcerting, Patsy often responds with a cool "right, cheers, thanks a lot."
Patsy is an alcoholic, a
chain smoker
Chain smoking is the practice of smoking several cigarettes in succession, sometimes using the ember of a finished cigarette to light the next. The term chain smoker often also refers to a person who smokes relatively constantly, though not nece ...
, and a frequent recreational drug user. She carries drugs with her at all times, storing
joints
A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw- ...
in her trademark beehive. She has nearly overdosed on several occasions, and on one occasion in the series has to have her stomach pumped after a rave-style drug binge in Edina's sitting room.
In "France", she is detained at customs after being found carrying what immigration officers believed to have been
cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...
, only to be released when tests show she was cheated and bought
talcum powder
Talc, or talcum, is a clay mineral, composed of hydrated magnesium silicate with the chemical formula Mg3Si4O10(OH)2. Talc in powdered form, often combined with corn starch, is used as baby powder. This mineral is used as a thickening agent ...
. In "Identity", she is revealed to have stiffed her former dealer, Barron, of £50,000 worth of drugs, justifying her habit by saying, "Have you seen the price of
methadone
Methadone, sold under the brand names Dolophine and Methadose among others, is a synthetic opioid agonist used for chronic pain and also for opioid dependence. It is used to treat chronic pain, and it is also used to treat addiction to heroi ...
Bollinger
Bollinger () is a French Champagne house, a producer of sparkling wines from the Champagne region. They produce several labels of Champagne under the Bollinger name, including the vintage ''Vieilles Vignes Françaises, Grande Année'' and ''R.D. ...
champagne or Stolichnaya vodka ("Bolly and Stolly"), though she will drink whatever alcohol is around. She jokes that her blood-alcohol level is so high that "the last mosquito that bit me had to check into the
Betty Ford Clinic
The Betty Ford Center (BFC) is a non-profit, residential treatment center for persons with substance dependence in Rancho Mirage, California. It offers inpatient, outpatient, and residential day treatment for alcohol and other drug addictions, ...
." In "Birth", she causes a fire in Edina's kitchen when she passes out with a lit cigarette. Her addiction to cigarettes is so strong that she carries nicotine patches in the event that she gets into a non-smoking cab, so that she can survive the journey.
In the beginning of the series, Patsy is very promiscuous and frank about her sexuality, seducing anyone she finds attractive. When the fourth series commences, Patsy's attractiveness to men has begun to wane, though she refuses to admit this and still throws herself at men.
Her obsession for staying thin means that she rarely eats; she claims that she has not eaten anything since 1973, having had a "stomach bypass", according to Edina. There are only two instances where she does eat: in the episode "New Year's Eve", she painfully chews and swallows a potato crisp, then is visibly shaken from having actually eaten something; and in the Christmas special "Cold Turkey", she renders the entire assembly speechless by demurely asking for a small slice of turkey during Christmas lunch, but chokes it up upon eating it.
Career
Throughout the first three series, Patsy is a fashion director at ''Ella'', a magazine similar to '' Vogue'', which she secured through sleeping with the publisher. Saffron derisively says that Patsy's job is to "invent random adjectives for pointless clothing." Patsy rarely does any work or goes to the office (in "Magazine", she cannot remember where her office is located in the building and needs to ask directions).
The benefits she most enjoys are the many free products she is given and the 50% discount she receives at Harvey Nichols. She refers to herself as an "international beauty and style guru", boasting that she is so influential that "one snap of my fingers and I can raise hemlines so high that the world is your gynaecologist."
In the series 3 episodes "Fear" and "The End", Patsy's magazine closes and she briefly moves to New York to take another fashion director job at ''HQ'' magazine. However, she is so lonely without Edina that she quickly returns to London. In part one of "The Last Shout", she is job-hunting, but ditches a job interview to go to the pub. In part two, her old boss Magda (
Kathy Burke
Katherine Lucy Bridget Burke (born 13 June 1964) is an English actress, comedian, writer, producer, and director. She achieved fame with her appearances on sketch shows such as ''French and Saunders'' (1988–1999) and her recurring role as Mag ...
) gets her a job as fashion editor at another magazine, ''The A''.
In the 2002 special "Gay", Patsy has taken a job as "executive creative director, chief buyer and lifestyle coordinator" for Jeremy's, an upscale boutique whose clientele consists of "rich bitches whose faces are pulled so tight they can't see what they're buying". She also briefly attempts to become a celebrity stylist, which ends after a disastrous encounter with
Minnie Driver
Amelia Fiona Jessica "Minnie" Driver (born 31 January 1970) is an English actress. She rose to prominence with her break-out role in 1995's '' Circle of Friends''. She went on to star in a wide range of films including the cult classic '' Grosse ...
. In "Birthin'", she is due to receive a "Global Style and Elegance" Award for promoting the importance of accessories, but fails to make the award show when Saffron goes into labour. In the 20th anniversary specials and the feature film, Patsy is once again working for a fashion magazine, under the direction of her old boss Magda.
Patsy's colleagues at her original magazine are features editor Catriona ( Helen Lederer) and beauty editor Fleur (
Harriet Thorpe
Harriet Amelia Thorpe (born 8 June 1957) is an English actress. Thorpe trained at London's Central School of Speech and Drama. She is known for her roles in the British sitcoms, '' The Brittas Empire'' (1991–97) and '' Absolutely Fabulous'' ...
British Comedy Award
The National Comedy Awards (known as the British Comedy Awards from 1990 to 2014) is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year.
The British Comedy Awards ( ...
the same year for best actress.
The characters of Patsy and Edina Monsoon enjoy a significant following in the LGBT community and have long been favourite subjects for drag performances. Jennifer Saunders has described both Patsy and Edina as unconventional feminists, because " 's never been about them finding a relationship, or defining themselves by having to have a man. They live life entirely on their own terms as women, and to be honest, men don't really affect them much. I mean, occasionally they want sex, but who doesn't? They're not defined by normality. They create their own normality."