Whether it’s fashion, film or sheer fun, the world just can’t get enough of Dame Joanna Lumley. And it’s little surprise that the beloved British actress, who has made charm her trademark, is more in demand than ever. She’s not just one of the nation’s favourite TV personalities. The breadth and range of Joanna’s talents, coupled with her irrepressible optimism, means that everything she touches turns to gold. This summer Joanna, who turns 80 next year, appeared with Catherine Zeta‑Jones in one of Netflix’s biggest series, Wednesday. Next year, she will reprise her role as Wednesday Addams’s grandmother Hester Frump. "Series three is going to knock the whole thing out of the park," she tells HELLO! in this exclusive interview. "It’s going to be huge."
Joanna – who stole our hearts as the Bollinger‑swigging Patsy Stone in Absolutely Fabulous in 1992 – also has another major hit on the go: the Motherland spin-off Amandaland, which she loved from the off. "I can remember laughing until tears ran down my face in the read‑through, which is quite rare, just because it was such beautiful writing."
Joanna plays Felicity, the acerbic mother of Lucy Punch’s Amanda, and will return for the second series in 2026. But fans are also on tenterhooks for the Christmas special, in which she will be reunited on screen with her AbFab co‑star Jennifer Saunders for the first time in almost a decade.
She’s equally celebrated for her travel documentaries. Next on the agenda is Argentina. Joanna says she will happily watch some tango – but won’t be taking part. "We’ll also be filming gauchos herding the cattle and I won’t be doing that either,” she says firmly.
© Bob FosterIt’s not just on screen that Joanna’s influence on British culture is undeniable. In September, together with Jennifer Saunders, she became the toast of London Fashion Week at Burberry. Dressed in a chocolate‑brown trench, she sat on the front row alongside Sir Elton John, Raye and Gene and Lennon Gallagher – nearly 50 years after she first modelled for the brand in 1976.
One of the most booked models in the Sixties and a house model for the designer Jean Muir, Joanna is still a fashion favourite. She is the new face of the hotly anticipated Glenn Martens collaboration with H&M. The Belgian designer, who has taken the helm at the fashion house Maison Margiela, is renowned for his avant‑garde designs. Of the campaign, she said: “I always say that the best fashion is rule‑breaking – people should wear whatever they want to wear."
Joanna's new book
That positive attitude is also evident in her new anthology of writings, thoughts and quotes, which she describes as "pretty uplifting and life-enhancing – even the more melancholic ones aren’t gloomy." For years, the actor, author and presenter has kept notebooks filled with her favourite poems, observations and musings, which she has compiled and shared in My Book of Treasures.
The collection is both varied and unpredictable: gems from Shakespeare and Walt Whitman sit alongside a tribute to smoking written by the artist David Hockney and Nicky Haslam’s list of things he finds 'common'. Lists feature throughout: the Greek alphabet, the four winds, an acronym for the planets and moths from the British Isles are among them.
© GettyThere are more traditional entries, such as Rudyard Kipling's poem, If. "People are quite sniffy about it and go, 'God, who cares?'" says Joanna. "But it's a fantastic way of living life, battling through, getting on and having the decency and courage to behave properly at the right time when you long to say something spiteful. Those sorts of things are how to live your life."
Favourite sayings
Although she didn’t plan it this way, there seems to be "a formula for getting through life the best you can", she admits. "I think that, as with everything in life, in the end it'll be OK, because it always has been."
"Don't panic – just be in the now. Live in the present"
And when Joanna Lumley says it, you believe it to be true. Especially when she recites one of her favourite quotes in her mellifluous, velvety voice. "I love Henry David Thoreau saying: 'Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit and resign yourself to the influence of the Earth,'" she says, soothingly. "You think: 'That's pretty good. Don't panic – just be in the now. Live in the present.'"
She doesn't shy away from the difficult subjects either, including death. "One's conscious of growing older. And therefore I've got a lovely piece by Samuel Johnson, written in 1770, saying: 'I'm an old man now, so hope I get through the year and granted the grace to behave properly.' It's that general feeling that life goes by, good or bad, and no matter how old or young we are we're all gonna die, so be ready for it."
© Bob FosterOne of the poems, Death is Nothing at All, by Henry Scott‑Holland, is often read at funerals. Has she reflected on her own? "I’ve spoken to my husband [the conductor Stephen Barlow, her husband of 39 years]. And he said: 'Look, your own funeral has nothing to do with you. You're not even going to be at the funeral, you'll be gone, so you can say what you like about whatever.'
"So I said: 'But I don’t want a memorial service.' "And he said: 'That's going to be up to me and Jamie [Joanna's 58-year-old son] if we're around. There's no point in saying, I don’t want one, because you’d have gone, darling, you’d have gone,'' she says, resignedly. “But I like the very last poem in the book by the great sage poet, Rabindranath Tagore, who says: 'Death is not extinguishing the light: it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has done.' And you think: 'Oh, that’s just amazing.'''
There is plenty of material that didn’t make it into her book, but Joanna has no plans to publish another. "These are my favourites," she says. And her go‑to for any occasion? "When in doubt, think of the Dalai Lama, who said, 'Be kind whenever possible. It’s always possible'."
My Book of Treasures by Joanna Lumley is out now, published by Hodder & Stoughton, priced £20
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