Absolutely Fabulous (series 2)

Patsy's indecent outings with an MP land her on the front page of every tabloid in the country, and if that wasn't bad enough, her age is listed as "47". This prompts her to take part in an interview with a reporter from 'Hello!' magazine who doesn't even know who Patsy is. Patsy prepares for the interview by improvising a facelift with surgical tape, then discovers the photographer won't be along for some time. Meanwhile, Eddy has a pain in her big toe, and after calling her doctor in Switzerland, she decides to go to a private hospital for surgery. Patsy tags along, planning to get a chemical peel and some eyelid rejuvenation before the Hello! photographer arrives. At the hospital, Edina and Patsy make life hell for the nurses and staff. While anesthetised, Edina dreams that she's on her deathbed and is receiving farewell visits from idealised versions of her family and friends: her daughter, played by Helena Bonham Carter, has followed in her footsteps; her ex-husband Justin – who is Richard E. Grant – still adores her and only told everyone he was gay because he could never love another woman; her mother is Germaine Greer; and Patsy who is Mandy Rice-Davies tells her how much she envies her good bone structure. Suzi Quatro also sings her a song. In an adjoining operating room, Patsy dreams of looking young for her Hello! spread. In the end, it all goes pear shaped; Edina wakes to find that her toe pains were caused by a stray acupuncture needle which worked its way from her cranium to her toe, and Patsy's skin is burned off her face. On seeing Patsy's face, Edina's mother collapses and staff attempt to restore order but Edina demands the staff take her to an NHS hospital.

Edina's father has died. Gran is taking it in her stride, Saffron is beside herself with grief, but Edina doesn't seem bothered. Eventually, the reality of the situation hits her: it dawns on her that some day she is going to die. The next day, she buys a whole lot of very expensive artwork to "bequeath to the nation". Marshall drops by with his new girlfriend, a self-help therapist who is only too keen on discussing death, until she finds out that the body is to be brought to Edina's living room for the wake. Later, while Eddy is showing Patsy her new artwork, they happen to notice the coffin in the midst of it all and wonder whether it's art. Saffron, completely fed up by her mother's selfish attitude, bans Edina from the funeral, leaving her and Patsy to drown their sorrows. Edina suddenly decides she wants to go to the funeral, and she takes Patsy along. At the cemetery, Edina stumbles drunkenly into her father's grave and Patsy falls into another open grave close by. No one offers to help, and Eddy and Patsy struggle to climb out.

Edina, Patsy, and Saffron head to Marrakech for various reasons: Edina and Patsy are collaborating on a photo shoot for PopSpecs and are also looking forward to Moroccan shopping; while Saffron hopes to study the indigenous peoples for school. Upon their arrival, Patsy and Eddy go directly to a luxurious villa. There, they meet up with an old friend named Humphrey who introduces himself to Saffy by sexually harassing her. At dinner, it is revealed that Patsy spent a year living as a man until "it fell off," as Edina puts it. The following day, during a shopping trip at an immense outdoor bazaar, Patsy gets fed up with Saffy and sells her into slavery for 2000 dirham. Later, Edina and Patsy venture out into the country for the PopSpecs shoot but end up stranded in the Atlas Mountains, dirty and looking for somewhere to stop at. After wandering around for a day or two, hopelessly lost, they encounter Saffy wearing a burqa and carrying a heavy burden on her head and are rescued. They spend the last few days of their vacation drugged and unconscious while Saffy turns out to have had a few adventures on her own – including a honey-and-yoghurt experience involving Yentob (a hotel staffer) that she wants to keep secret from her mother.

Edina is in a hurry to get the house ready for the minimalist tastes of her friend Bettina and husband Max. As a result, Saffron temporarily moves into her university's halls of residence and Patsy is pretty much ignored. When Bettina and Max arrive, however, they are no longer into minimalism and turn out to be the angry, frantic parents of a newborn baby. Patsy reaches her limit with Edina's plans and storms out. Edina tries to be patient with her houseguests, but they cause so much havoc in the house that she leaves for a while. At Joe's Cafe, Edina and Patsy try to go one up from each other: Patsy gatecrashes a lunch with Zandra Rhodes and Britt Ekland, claiming that they all knew each other years ago, and Edina forces her client Lulu to have lunch with her. Both lunches end awkwardly. Back home, Saffron returns to find Edina plotting to get rid of Bettina and Max. As Saffron and Gran comfort Bettina, Edina and Max have a quick fling which can be heard via the baby transmitter in the kitchen! Bettina and Max leave, and it turns out that that was the intended result of Edina's fling. She and Patsy make up after.

Edina finds out that both Marshall and Justin have cut off their alimony payments, thereby leaving her "poor". Dreading being forced to do community service in "urine-stinking old people's homes for the incontinent," she reluctantly agrees to economise. However, a trip with Patsy to the supermarket is more than they bargained for; on the way there, they assault a driver who beeps her horn at them, and when they get to the supermarket, they fill three trolleys with groceries and steal a case of champagne. Edina's "smaller" Alfa Romeo car gets clamped outside of Harvey Nichols, and they are later arrested for drunk driving and many other charges. On the day of the trial, Edina tries to justify her actions, but it makes no difference; in addition to a huge fine, she and Patsy are sentenced to community service. Their task is to install loft insulation into an old people's home.

Patsy causes a fire in the kitchen by falling asleep with a lit cigarette. The following day, Edina considers a new look for the kitchen as well as her bedroom. The center of life in the Monsoon house soon shifts to the living room, where Saffron is planning on having a friend over for a study session on the beginnings of life, though it is later clear that she has far more erotic plans. Edina and Patsy, who are supposed to go out later, want to hang around for the meeting, but everything changes when Gran accidentally locks all three inside the room. As they are shut inside, they exchange stories about their own births: Saffron was supposedly born on a carpet of roses, Edina's birth was all about sterilisation, and an abandoned Patsy entered the world via her mother's Bohemian lair in Paris. Gran unlocks the door, and Edina and Patsy leave. The episode ends with a flashback to Edina planning on giving Saffron up for adoption.