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Dawn French Recalls Terrifying Incident That Nearly Killed Her And Jennifer Saunders

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Dawn French has recalled an incident that nearly killed her and fellow comic Jennifer Saunders in the 80s.

The pair starred as a comedy duo and writers for the BBC sketch show French and Saunders. In her latest book The Tw*t Files, the 66-year-old revealed they almost died while working on a film in Spain.

“We made a film for The Comic Strip called A Fistful of Travellers’ Cheques in 1984,” she wrote in an excerpt published by The Mirror.

“We were sharing a villa with two bedrooms – Fatty (Dawn’s nickname for Jennifer) and her then-boyfriend in one room and me in the other. About five days in, we were called to set. A car would pick us up at 6 am and it was my job to be the alarm. I duly woke up and, in an effort not to fall back to sleep, I attempted to sit up.”

Dawn said what occurred next felt like something out of a cartoon show.

The duo were poisoned by a carbon monoxide leak leaving them feeling dazed and muddled. But she thanks her early call time as to why they are alive today.

She continued: “What happened next was very odd. It was as if I’d been thwacked in the face with a frying pan in a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Eventually, I managed to roll onto the floor. I was groggy and confused. I crawled to the door, opened it, and shouted to Jennifer. She mumbled something and then I heard a thud. None of us could stand up, so we crawled outside.

“It later transpired that we were being poisoned by a carbon monoxide leak from a faulty boiler. I’m pretty sure that, if we hadn’t had that early morning call, we wouldn’t be here now because we wouldn’t have attempted to wake up and the gas would’ve finished us off,” she said.

The pair have been comedy partners since the 1980s
The pair have been comedy partners since the 1980s

Comic Relief via Getty Images

During a recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Dawn spoke of how she hoped her new book would “start up an anti-perfection league.”

She explained: “We carry a lot of shame, humiliation, and guilt about our mistakes, and I thought, ‘These mistakes are where I have learnt the most and where the fun is.’

“So, if you can wrangle back some of that shame and shine a light on it, it dissipates. If you own your mistakes, it’s very empowering.”

Dawn French: The Tw*t Files is on sale now.

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French And Saunders’ Send Up Of The Traitors Was Even More Ridiculous (And Star Studded) Than We Hoped

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Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders were joined by a host of famous faces as they sent up The Traitors in a special sketch for Comic Relief.

It had previously been announced the comedy duo would be appearing alongside Mary Berry and The Traitors host Claudia Winkleman in the skit as part of Friday’s Red Nose Day telethon.

However, there were more surprises in store for viewers when a heap of other names were seen sitting round the table in the castle as they tried to find the traitors in their midst.

(L-R) Claudia Winkleman, Claudia Winkleman, Claudia Winkleman and Claudia Winkleman (Ok, it's Mary Berry, Claudia Winkleman, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders)
(L-R) Claudia Winkleman, Claudia Winkleman, Claudia Winkleman and Claudia Winkleman (Ok, it’s Mary Berry, Claudia Winkleman, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders)

Maddy and Wilf from series one of The Traitors also appeared, with Maddy making a joke of her many mentions about her EastEnders cameo appearance during her original time in the castle as she sat opposite the soap’s former pub landlord Danny.

Maddy and Wilf (right) also joined French and Saunders for the sketch
Maddy and Wilf (right) also joined French and Saunders for the sketch

BBC/David Emery

Dawn rather convincingly took on the role of Claudia, complete with fake tan, eyeliner and a wig with a pull-back fringe.

Throughout the sketch, her roll-neck jumper got increasingly bigger and she wore a variety of different gloves in a nod to some of Claudia’s viral fashion moments from the show, which it was recently confirmed will return for a second series later this year.

However, the celebrities had a shock in store when the identity of the traitor was revealed… Watch the full sketch in the video above.

Elsewhere on the Comic Relief telethon, Kylie Minogue appeared in a special edition of BBC sitcom Ghosts.

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