Television 1980s French has had an extensive career on television, debuting on
Channel 4's
The Comic Strip Presents series in an episode called "Five Go Mad in Dorset" in 1982. She appeared on
The Vicar of Dibley with
Damian Lewis in a mini-episode made for
Comic Relief in 2013. She was nominated for a
BAFTA for Best Comedy Performance in the last episode of
The Vicar of Dibley. Repeats of the show on BBC One still attract millions of viewers and it also retains a following amongst
PBS viewers in the United States. Although the main series ended in 2007, the show has returned for numerous short special episodes since, the latest four of which aired in December 2020. In 1995, she appeared as a talk-show host in a Comic Relief sketch called
Dawn, written by
Victoria Wood. The sketch also featured Wood herself,
Celia Imrie,
Lill Roughley,
Anne Reid,
Philip Lowrie, Robert Kingswell, Bryan Burdon,
Duncan Preston,
Jim Broadbent, and
Lynda Bellingham.
2000s In 2002, French appeared in the comedy/drama mini-series
Ted and Alice. In the series, set in the
Lake District, French played a tourist information officer who falls in love with an alien. She appeared once in the Saunders led sitcom
Absolutely Fabulous as TV interviewer Kathy in 1992, a parody of
Lorraine Kelly, she reprised that role for
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie in 2016 as a more established veteran journalist as Kelly is now. She also appeared in the BBC sitcom
Wild West, with
Catherine Tate, in which she played a lesbian living in
Cornwall, more through lack of choice than any specific natural urge. This series did not meet with as much success as her earlier roles and it ended in 2004 after two years. French played a major role in
Jam & Jerusalem as a woman called Rosie who has
dissociative identity disorder and with it an
alter ego called "Margaret". She co-starred alongside
Sue Johnston,
Jennifer Saunders (who also created and wrote the series) and
Joanna Lumley. She made a guest appearance in
Little Britain as
Vicky Pollard's mother. French also appeared in a special version of
Little Britain Live which featured several celebrity guests and was shown by the BBC as part of
Comic Relief. She played the part of a lesbian barmaid in a sketch with
Daffyd Thomas. In 2006, French appeared in ''
Agatha Christie's Marple in the 2006 episode "Sleeping Murder". She appeared as Caroline Arless in the BBC television drama Lark Rise to Candleford'' in 2008. Talking about her role, she has stated, "I'm quite a vibrant character. She's quite extreme, in that she drinks too much, laughs too much and sings too much. But she loves her family very much; it's just that she goes over the top sometimes."
2010s In late 2010, French starred in
Roger & Val Have Just Got In with actor
Alfred Molina, which aired for two series. French appeared in
Little Crackers, short comedy films which were broadcast over Christmas in 2010. French appeared as a special guest on
Michael Bublé's
Home For Christmas in December 2011. In July 2012, she was a judge in ITV's
Superstar live shows. In March 2013, it was announced that French would replace
Brian McFadden on the judging panel of
Nine Network's ''
Australia's Got Talent'' alongside
Kyle Sandilands,
Geri Halliwell (who replaced
Dannii Minogue) and
Timomatic who is the additional fourth judge. French departed the show after one series and was replaced by
Kelly Osbourne. From 2016 until 2019, French starred in three series of
Delicious on
Sky 1, co-starring as a talented cook who is having an affair with her celebrity chef ex-husband (
Iain Glen) who has remarried and started a successful hotel business with his new wife (
Emilia Fox) in
Cornwall.
2020s In 2020, she appeared in the six-part series
The Trouble with Maggie Cole alongside
Mark Heap. In 2021, French appeared as a celebrity guest judge on the
second series of ''
RuPaul's Drag Race UK'', where she judged the final five contestants,
Lawrence Chaney,
Bimini Bon-Boulash,
Tayce,
Ellie Diamond and
A'Whora, on their comedy stand-up routines.
Film In 1996, French appeared in
The Adventures of Pinocchio as "The Baker's Wife" alongside
Martin Landau and star
Jonathan Taylor Thomas. French played The Fat Lady in the film adaptation of
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, replacing
Elizabeth Spriggs, who played the character in the first film of the series. French's then-husband,
Lenny Henry, provided the voice of the Shrunken Head in the same film, though they shared no screen time. In 2005, French provided the voice for the character
Mrs. Beaver in Disney and Walden Media's film adaptation of
C. S. Lewis'
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In 2010, French lent her voice to the role of Angie the Elephant in the English dub of the German-British environmental animated film
Animals United.
Theatre She has also taken roles in the theatre. French has appeared in plays such as ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream, My Brilliant Divorce,
and Smaller,
the latter of which she played a schoolteacher caring for her disabled mother. January 2007 saw French performing as the Duchesse de Crackentorp at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, in The Daughter of the Regiment (La fille du régiment) by Gaetano Donizetti starring Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez. French returned to Covent Garden and La Fille du règiment'' in the 2010 revival. In December 2022, French began appearing in
Jack and the Beanstalk at the
London Palladium.
Stand-up comedy In 2014, French toured an autobiographical one woman show
30 Million Minutes in the UK and Oceania. The title is based on the number of minutes she had been alive at the time of producing the show. In 2022, she toured the UK with a further show titled
Dawn French is a Huge Twat. In late 2022 it was announced that she would continue touring the UK with the same show in Autumn 2023, with further shows taking place in Australia in 2024.
Advertising French was chosen as the face of
Terry's Chocolate Orange, from 1997 until August 2007. She has also been in advertisements for the
Churchill Insurance Company. In 2019, French provided her voice for numerous Station idents for
Greatest Hits Radio. This was produced in partnership with Bespoke Music. In 2021, French was chosen to play the voice of a fairy lady for the Christmas food advertisements for leading retailer
Marks and Spencers alongside
Tom Holland voicing the company's mascot
Percy Pig (who came to life for the first time in 29 years). In the main advert French as the fairy drops her magic wand onto a box covered in Percy pig wrappings, the lid opens and Percy pops out of the box. Throughout the rest of the advertisement she shows Percy all of the items which the retailer was selling for Christmas food. She later reprised the role for the 2022
M&S Christmas advert, playing alongside
Jennifer Saunders voicing a sidekick called 'Duckie'. The pair, in the main advert, go on a journey to fill Duckie with 'some festive cheer' while showing off the M&S Food Christmas range for 2022.
Writing French has also written a best-selling
epistolary autobiography, which she has titled
Dear Fatty. French was paid a
£1.5 million advance for the book, which was released in 2008. On an appearance on ''
The Paul O'Grady Show on 6 October 2008, French said that "Fatty" is her nickname for Jennifer Saunders, as a joke about her own size. French said that she became great friends with Saunders well before they started working together, which was "over 30 years ago". The book consists of letters to the different people who have been in her life. In 2017, Me. You. A Diary'', French's second non-fiction book, was released. She has also written four novels –
A Tiny Bit Marvellous (2010),
Oh Dear Silvia (2012),
According to Yes (2015) and
Because of You (2020).
Because of You was longlisted for the 2021
Women's Prize for Fiction. Her third non-fiction book,
The Twat Files, tied in to her second stand-up show
Dawn French is a Huge Twat, was published in October 2023.
Music videos In 1986, she appeared in
Kate Bush's music video "
Experiment IV" alongside
Hugh Laurie,
Richard Vernon and
Peter Vaughan. French has appeared in the videos for
Alison Moyet's songs "
Love Letters" (which also featured Saunders) in 1987 and "
Whispering Your Name" in 1994. She also appeared in two
Comic Relief music videos. In 1989 she joined
Jennifer Saunders and
Kathy Burke to form
Lananeeneenoonoo and, along with
Bananarama, they created a
charity single to raise money for Comic Relief. It was a
cover version of
The Beatles song "
Help!", and was released on the
London Records label, entering the
UK Singles Chart on 25 February 1989 and reaching a high of No. 3. It remained in the chart for nine weeks. French, Saunders and Burke returned for Comic Relief in 1997 as "The Sugar Lumps," along with Llewella Gideon and
Lulu, to parody
The Spice Girls, with whom they performed a version of "
Who Do You Think You Are?". ==Politics==