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CloseJoanna Lumley leaves Billie Piper in stitches with dramatic reading of her hit song
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Dame Joanna Lumley has labelled humans "unbearably vain and destructive", suggesting that if history were written by non-humans, we would be seen as a "plague".
The actress, starring in A Ghost Story For Christmas: The Room In The Tower, also loves "frightening stories".
Speaking to the Radio Times, Lumley affirmed: "I do believe that there are ghosts."
She linked this to spiritual awareness, noting: "All those great creators believed in gods. They had a sense of godliness. And I think if we skip out on that, we’re missing out on something."
She continued her lament on humanity's impact: "We’ve become unbearably vain and destructive and we can’t remember how to stop destroying.
“If history could be written by anything other than human beings, we would be seen as a plague, unable to stop breeding, to stop destroying, using up, never replacing. We’ve got to strive not to be completely bloody, to make amends for humans’ dreadfulness to each other and the planet."
Dame Joanna stars opposite Tobias Menzies in Mark Gatiss’s "spine-chilling" A Ghost Story For Christmas.
Joanna Lumley and Tobias Menzies star in ‘A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Room in the Tower’ (Adorable Media / BBC / Joe Duggan)Gatiss adapted EF Benson’s 1912 short story, The Room In The Tower, detailing Roger Winstanley and an unseen terror. It is his eighth BBC adaptation.
Meanwhile, Lumley also features in the Amandaland Christmas special with Jennifer Saunders.
The BBC have confirmed that the hit sitcom, starring Lucy Punch, is returning for a second season in 2026 with a Christmas special set to air later this year.
Joining the cast is Saunders, who will play Aunt Joan, the sister of Lumely’s Felicity character.
The BBC described Aunt Joan “as a ball of country-living, enthusiastic upper-class bluster – very, very different from Felicity”.
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The Christmas special will be Saunders and Lumely’s first scripted on-screen appearance together since 2016’s Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie. The stars famously played the chaotic and hedonistic duo of Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone in the cult sitcom, which premiered in 1992.
Saunders said of the role: “I am delighted to be joining the fabulous Amandaland gang for a Christmas special. Playing Joanna’s on-screen sister is guaranteed to be a laugh, who doesn’t love a family reunion SoHa style!”
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