In January 1985 Jennifer Saunders was in makeup before location night scenes in a snowy Nottingham. She was filming Girls On Top, a sitcom she'd written with Dawn French and Ruby Wax, about four women sharing lodgings. Saunders was playing a proto-Edina from Ab Fab character; less alcoholic but more dim, and named Jennifer.

"My character tries to make her kidnappers party snacks," she explained. "She's clueless, has no dignity and is an original on TV. No actress would ever play her." At adjacent makeup mirrors, French and Wax nodded in deadpan agreement.

Inspiration was drawn from Saunders and French's days sharing a flat in Swiss Cottage (while at the Central School of Speech and Drama). Here they'd drunk Blue Nun in "a messy kitchen with stale food"and developed their "act" under the name Kitsch 'N' Tiles.

At the Girls On Top makeup table the team were keen to hear whether Dawn's "subtle vibrator scene" would be allowed on ITV at 8pm, but more importantly they wanted to know where they would be dining after filming.

In a tricky scene Jennifer was kidnapped outside Nottingham night spot Madison's, on to which a big prop neon sign had been attached, renaming it Le Holocaust. Then there were manic scenes of the girls driving around arguing which eaterie to "pig out" in, ending with the line "Are you crazy? Fifty pence a hot dog? We're going somewhere else!"

The restaurant afterwards was an Indian. At some point Saunders argued true bliss was cycling around Devon for two weeks, eating sandwiches.