THE stars of cult 90s comedy Smack The Pony are reuniting for a new series 24 years after quitting the hit show.
Fiona Allen hit the big time in 1999 with Smack The Pony alongside co-writers and stars Sally Phillips and Doon Mackichan.
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It followed the three female comics as they dealt with a wide variety of topics, from irritating flatmates to workplace issues.
It proved to be a huge hit, with a regular audience of around 2.5million viewers.
Fiona, Doon and Sally have now revealed they will perform new sketches for the Edinburgh Fringe festival at the Gilded Balloon in August.
In a statement, the trio said: “This is slightly surreal because it’s 24 years since we finished.
“We’re not old comedy, we now qualify as vintage, which is cool. Is it?’
“Because we always talk sketch ideas when we get together, on some level it’s almost as if Smack the Pony never really stopped – that it just kept going in some parallel universe.
“So it feels like Gilded Balloon is some kind of portal and we’ll be popping into catch up with Series 26.
“We’re very grateful to have this chance to hang out and take the p*** out of ourselves again – we’ve missed it!”
The series ran on Channel 4 until 2002, concluding with a special in January 2003.
In both 1999 and 2000, Smack The Pony won Best Popular Arts Show at the Emmy Awards.
Co-star and Bridget Jones actress Sally Phillips previously admitted a new series of the sketch show has been pitched to various networks over the last few years.
She said: “We go through phases of pitching it to people.
“Fiona Allen really is the engine behind that so she’s always seeing if anyone wants it and we have gone through periods of pitching it to the channels and being very optimistic.”
And Doon Mackichan has said: “So much has happened to us all, as mothers and women, there’s a lot that is funny about where we are now.
“There are years of pain to draw on.”
“We will have to wait and see what happens and whether they will want to bring it out of the stable. But we would love to get the old nag out again.”
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