Editing French and Saunders (section)

===Background (1978–1987)===
[[Dawn French]] and [[Jennifer Saunders]] met in 1978 while they were studying drama at the [[Royal Central School of Speech and Drama]] and began their career by collaborating on several comedy projects. They came to prominence in the early 1980s for performing at the [[London]] [[alternative comedy]] club [[The Comedy Store, London|The Comedy Store]], which also gave its name to its television series ''[[The Comic Strip|The Comic Strip Presents...]]'' and the informal grouping of so-called "alternative comedians". French and Saunders were featured on the live comedy album of ''The Comic Strip'' recorded by comedy entrepreneur [[Martin Lewis (humorist)|Martin Lewis]] for his [[Springtime!]] label and released in 1981. The duo made their first mainstream television appearance in ''The Comic Strip Presents...'', appearing in approximately 30 episodes each and writing material for the show.

French and Saunders began to establish themselves in what was referred to as the "underground comedy" scene, along with many other prolific actors and comedians they would work with during the next twenty-plus years. In 1983, they starred in an edition of [[Channel 4]]'s series ''The Entertainers'',<ref>The TV Museum Youtube channel: a trailer for the programme, transmitted 6 October 1983, appears on their YouTube website</ref> and later went on to appear as comedy relief on the weekly music programme ''[[The Tube (1982 TV series)|The Tube]]'' on the same channel, for which French received her honour of being the first person to use the word "[[oral sex|blowjob]]" on British television. In 1985, French and Saunders collaborated on the programme ''[[Girls on Top (British TV series)|Girls on Top]]'', which they once again (with Ruby Wax) wrote and starred in. Co-stars [[Tracey Ullman]] and [[Ruby Wax]] rounded out a set of four oddball roommates, and the show ran for two series. In 1986, French and Saunders made their first of many appearances on ''[[Comic Relief (charity)|Comic Relief]]'', and they signed a long-term contract with the [[BBC]].