Golden Rose for French and Saunders

The pair met at a London drama school in 1977

British comedy duo Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French are to receive an honorary Golden Rose at the Montreux TV festival on 27 April.

The award is "in special recognition of their work and career", said a Golden Rose festival spokeswoman.

They will be the first women to receive the award, also known as the Rose d'Or d'Honneur, in the festival's history.

Their spoofs have included Lord of the Rings

Previous recipients have included Benny Hill and Monty Python in 1985, and the BBC in 1997.

French and Saunders, whose regular shows on BBC One are one of the station's biggest comedy draws, met at London's Central School of Speech and Drama in 1977.

French, born in Wales in 1957, and Saunders, born in Lincolnshire in 1958, were both training to be teachers.

Responding to a classified ad, they joined a team of young comedians known as the Comic Strip who became one of the biggest influences on British TV comedy in the 1980s.

The first Comic Strip film, Five Go Mad in Dorset, a spoof of the Famous Five series, was part of the line-up on Channel 4's first night of broadcasting in 1982.

The Vicar Of Dibley: Another hit role for French

French and Saunders began appearing regularly in their own right on the BBC variety show Entertainers in 1983.

The duo were later offered their own sketch show by the BBC.

French And Saunders has since become one of the BBC's most-loved comedy shows, noted for its parodies of films and other TV genres.

Since the start of the 1990s the pair have also worked on their own projects.

Saunders created and starred in the critically acclaimed sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, while French took the lead in comedy drama series Murder Most Horrid.

French also starred in the sitcom The Vicar of Dibley, written by Richard Curtis.

Absolutely Fabulous was an international hit

French is married to comedian Lenny Henry, while Saunders is married to her old Comic Strip colleague Ade Edmondson.

The 42nd Golden Rose TV festival takes place in Montreux, Switzerland from Tuesday 23 to Sunday 28 April and includes programmes from 25 countries.

The UK has the greatest number of entries nominated for awards, with Germany in second place.

The festival's Grand Jury is chaired by Peter Bennett-Jones of the UK independent production house Tiger Aspect Productions - producers of last year's Golden Rose winner, Lenny Henry in Pieces.