Comedy duo Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley brought some champagne glamour to London’s Leicester Square for the premiere of the long-awaited Absolutely Fabulous Movie.

A gang of screaming fans in Eddy and Patsy masks and hot pink Ab Fab t-shirts lined the sparkling gold carpet to greet the star-studded cast.

Saunders and Lumley were joined by other Ab Fab favourites including Julia Sawalha (best known as Saffy), June Whitfield and Bubble, played by Jane Horrocks, at the European premiere.

Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders at the Absolutely Fabulous premiereLumley and Saunders (Ian West/PA)

When asked about the 25 years fans have had to wait for the film, Saunders said: “We have had some TV in between, it’s only been four years since the last TV and I think now because we just fancied it.”

Lumley added: “We were sitting together and said ‘where would we like to go?’ and said the south of France and that’s what started the whole thing off.”

She said killing off Kate Moss in the movie was Saunders’ idea and joked: “She’s got a savage nature.”

Jennifer Saunders, Kate Moss and actress Joanna Lumley at the Absolutely Fabulous premiere Saunders, Moss and Lumley (Joel Ryan/AP)

Lumley revealed at the beginning of the week that Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch had declined a cameo because he was too busy.

“He told me he was going to be in it and I said ‘when?’,” she added. “Then he wasn’t – he thought he was in it but he wasn’t.”

She added: “No one else said no, Jennifer was beating them off with sticks.”

Kylie Minogue at the Absolutely Fabulous premiereKylie Minogue sings the theme song to the film (Ian West/PA)

Director Mandie Fletcher said the cast, which included dozens of A-list cameos, had “great fun” during filming.

“Everyone wanted to be in it so of course everyone was having great fun with it,” she added.

“There’s certainly enough women in this film. I think we’ve made up for a lot. The nice thing is it’s women of a certain age – no one is hot in it. It’s just funny so it’s good.”

Emma Bunton at the Absolutely Fabulous premiereEmma Bunton (Ian West/PA)

The big screen version of the popular TV series sees Eddy (Saunders) and Patsy (Lumley) embroiled in a PR nightmare after accidentally “killing off Kate Moss”.

An unfortunate accident at a trendy launch party sees them pushing model Moss into the Thames.

The pair are then forced to flee to the French Riviera to escape the media storm surrounding her disappearance.

The film sees stars like Mad Men’s Jon Hamm, Pitch Perfect’s Rebel Wilson and Spice Girl Emma Bunton all making cameos.

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie opens in UK cinemas on July 1.