From Absolutely Fabulous to Amandaland, one of Britain’s most beloved actresses has achieved an icon status that transcends generations

The Burberry show is always a high-wattage affair, and September’s was no different. But among the pantheon of stars moving through Perks Field at Kensington Palace to find their seats, it wasn’t the pop legend (Elton John), the supermodel (Naomi Campbell) or the Bridgerton star (Jonathan Bailey) whom the crowd most wanted to meet, but a 79-year-old woman in a chocolate brown trench coat.

Whether they are 17 or 71, Joanna Lumley tends to have this effect on people. She’s that rare thing: an actress whose appeal transcends generations. It then transpired that she’d arrived with Jennifer Saunders, her co-star in the beloved BBC sitcom, Absolutely Fabulous. Before you could say “crack open the Bolly”, guests were immediately transported back to their sofas circa 1993, recalling how they cried with laughter over the pre-woke high jinks of Patsy and Edina. No wonder so many guests wanted a selfie with the pair.

Lumley has always been one of Britain’s best-loved actresses, but 2025 is proving to be something of a Joannaissance. She started the year by starring in Burberry’s “Portraits” series, photographed on London’s Albert Bridge in a cosy checked coat. Earlier this week, she was unveiled as one of the faces of Glenn Martens’ collaboration with H&M, appearing in the Swedish chain’s advertising campaign, her hair swept up in a Patsy-esque beehive. “I always say that the best fashion is rule-breaking – people should wear whatever they want to wear,” she said of the campaign.

“Joanna is a true icon,” says the costume designer Rebecca Hale, who worked with Lumley on Absolutely Fabulous from the late Nineties until its demise in 2004. “It doesn’t matter what she wears, because she wears it all so well. She looks equally amazing in Chanel as in a high-street brand such as H&M, because she knows how to switch it on. She’s got sass.”

She’s also got staying power. When Linda Evangelista was (mis)quoted as saying she didn’t get out of bed for less than £10,000 a day, the supermodel was at the peak of her earning power. So it’s quite some feat to learn that, at almost 80 years of age, Lumley is still banking almost £10,000 a week. According to accounts filed on behalf of her production firm, Chrysolite Enterprises Ltd, she earned £500,000 in 2024, paying herself a £252,000 dividend.

It’s not a bad result for a woman who recently confessed that she never really had a game plan. “I’ve had no career – I was trying to earn money to keep myself alive,” she told the Radio Times in July. “I’ve never had any idea of a destiny or where my career would go and I have never ever asked myself, ‘Will this damage my career?’ We actors just wanted to get to be better actors, and we wanted to work so we could pay the rent.”

Which she has and then some, for the Joannaissance is playing out not only in the fashion sphere, but also on TV. In February, she returned to our screens as Felicity, the booze-loving, highly critical mother of the titular character, Amanda, in the popular Motherland spin-off, Amandaland (BBC One). A second series will be released next year – but in the meantime, Lumley fans are looking forward to a Christmas Special that will see her reunited on screen with Jennifer Saunders for the first time in almost ten years. Saunders, 67, is slated to have a cameo.

Those with more ghoulish tastes, meanwhile, can enjoy Lumley’s stint as Hester Frump on the global hit show, Wednesday (Netflix). She joined the cast for season two in August, and it’s hard to imagine the show without her. She plays Wednesday’s grandmother, complete with a beehive hairdo that’s one-part Daphne Guinness and one-part Patsy Stone, in a role that allows her to unleash her comedic talents on a new generation.

Clearly, Lumley’s continuing late life success doesn’t change the fact that an increasing number of women over 50 are reporting that it’s harder than ever to find a job. Few midlifers have the good fortune to be regarded as national treasures. Yet Lumley’s visibility at 79 can only be a positive thing, particularly as her roles have “main character energy” as opposed to being small or tokenistic.

Fashion’s embracing of older women is nothing new. It was 10 years ago that Phoebe Philo shifted the dial by casting a then-80-year-old Joan Didion as the face of Celine: since then, many more brands have followed suit. While it undeniably makes sense for older customers to see themselves reflected in advertising campaigns (as a demographic, they have sizeable spending power) Lumley seems emblematic of something more. As an actress and an activist, she has wisdom, integrity and experience: the meaningful sort that no number of Instagram or TikTok followers can buy.

Burberry’s Gen-Z fans are too young to remember that she first modelled for the brand in 1976, or that, in an early example of product placement, her character in The New Avengers, Purdey, famously wore a Burberry trench. But older customers will appreciate the resonance. “Joanna is a real Burberry icon, and having starred in campaigns over 30 years ago and again more recently, it’s been amazing to have a full circle moment with her,” says a spokesperson for Burberry. “She looks fabulous in a trench, and is a British icon as enduring as our hero product.”

In an industry driven by transitory trends, endurance is a highly sought after commodity. With an increasing number of brands currently focused on storytelling as a means to justify their value, Lumley is like a heritage handbag in human form. She also taps into fashion’s current obsession with nostalgia. Her ability to connect with customers of all ages is a rarity: young people appreciate the camp of Hester Frump, while older ones remember Purdey or Patsy Stone. “I remember watching Ab Fab with my mum when I was in primary school,” says one 22 year-old fan. “Most of the humour went over my head, but I still loved Patsy.” She’s not the only one: 20 years after the show last aired, Patsy Stone is still a popular Halloween costume.

It helps, of course, that Lumley looks great in anything. “Joanna is the most gorgeous person. Having been a model before she became an actor, she really knows how to wear clothes, which isn’t always the case with actors,” notes the costume designer Jacky Levy, who wardrobed Lumley for the TV show Fool Me Once (2024).

Her experience as a model (she attended the Lucie Clayton Finishing School in London and started modelling in the Sixties, appearing in Vogue and for Jean Muir shot by the leading photographers of the day) lent her a poise and sophistication that have served her well, and led easily to acting roles (her first was as a Bond Girl in the 1969 film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service). Long before “The Rachel” there was “The Purdey”, as women rushed to emulate the sleek, short hairstyle of her character in The New Avengers (1976 -77).

But while she’s always been a style icon, you sense it’s more by accident than design. It’s this that makes her so endearing, particularly to the British, a nation that can’t abide divas. Lumley wears her fame and beauty lightly, and is as happy to send it up as bask in it. “She’s a great comedic actress, a hard worker and a realist,” says Hale. “She appreciates honesty, and gives it in return.”

Her bouffant might be sky high, but Lumley’s feet are always on the ground. “We weren’t longing for stardom,” she told The Radio Times in July. “We’re jobbing actors and we’re no different, really, from painters and decorators. It’s a precarious profession at the best of times and I’ve just done anything to keep my head above water.” Long may the Joannaissance reign.