A newly released, never-seen-before picture sees a young Idris Elba rehearsing with Dame Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders for his Absolutely Fabulous appearance.

In the early days of Elba’s career, he featured in an episode of the hit 90s British sitcom as male escort Hilton alongside Dame Joanna’s Patsy and Saunders’ Edina.

At one point in the episode, Patsy sits on his knee and asks “Hey, has anyone ever told you that you look a bit like Sean Connery?” to which he replies: “No.”

Absolutely Fabulous reunion
The stars of Absolutely Fabulous will reunite for a one-off special (UKTV/Adam Lawrence/Gold/PA)

In the scene, he also dances with Patsy after she asks: “Hey Hilt, if I say you have a beautiful body would you hold it against me?”

In an upcoming reunion special in which Saunders and Dame Joanna reminisce about their time working on the 90s show, they reflect on Elba’s appearance.

Dame Joanna says: “I like to think you launched him in Ab Fab. Anyway, since then he’s never mentioned Ab Fab.”

However, Saunders chimes in to say she has met him since and thought he was “absolutely lovely”.

As they speculate on why Elba does not bring up his feature in the show often, Saunders admits that they did “give him the worst joke”.

She adds: “‘Like Sean Connery’, so the poor man, I’m not surprised he doesn’t advertise it.”

In a Netflix interview in 2022, Elba reflected on his time on the show, saying: “Ab Fab was just like a hoot, as you can imagine. I’ll never forget that.

“Back in the day, the BBC used to make you rehearse for five days. I spent five days with Jennifer Saunders and they were just pissing about.

“‘We don’t need five days for this, we’ll just have a laugh’ and we did for five days have a laugh every day so I really enjoyed that.”

Elba went on to become a Hollywood star, playing the titular role in the crime thriller Luther as well as appearing in a host of TV series and films including playing Nelson Mandela in a biographical film about the former South African president.

The reunion programme, titled Absolutely Fabulous: Inside Out, will see the stars of the show come together for the first time since 2016.

Saunders and Dame Joanna will be joined by fellow stars Julia Sawalha and Jane Horrocks on the trip down memory lane.

The show will also pay tribute to June Whitfield, who died in 2018 at the age of 93 and is known for her role as Mother in the series.

Ab Fab, as it is known among fans, first appeared on UK screens in 1992 and followed PR boss Edina and retired model Patsy as they attempted to relive their youth in 60s London by chasing 90s fads and indulging themselves.

Their hedonistic lifestyle constantly led to personal crises which were eventually solved by Eddie’s daughter Saffy, played by Sawalha, and Horrocks featured as Eddie’s foolish personal assistant Bubble.

The show made a three-episode return between 2011 and 2012 to celebrate its 20th anniversary and in 2016 a film based on the series was released.

Absolutely Fabulous: Inside Out will air on Gold at 9pm on October 17 followed by the original episodes being broadcast every night on Gold at 9pm weeknights throughout October.