AFTER a five-year absence, pill-popping, champagne-swilling duo of Edina and Patsy – stars of British comedy “Absolutely Fabulous” – are back in a big way.

There was considerable doubt about how well a batch of new episodes of “Ab Fab” – a smash on both sides of the Atlantic in the early 1990s – would do this time around. But fears that the show would seem dated – or too superficial – have been laid to rest.

Since its debut here on Comedy Central two weeks ago, the new show has been drawing about 1.1 million viewers a week, nearly double what Comedy Central usually does in that time-slot.

Part of its success is that – like its fans – the series has aged too.

The BBC sitcom- which airs Mondays at 9 p.m. – ended its three-year run in 1995, seemingly for good.

But in the new episodes its main characters have learned about moderation.

“I think if they drink too much and they smoke too much, it’s kind of got a slightly sad tinge to it now,” said Jennifer Saunders, “Ab Fab’s” star, co-creator and writer.

For fans of the show, the return of “Ab Fab” is as if the makers of “Cheers” or “M*A*S*H” had suddenly decided to create an extra season years after the shows had ended.

The show’s “sin-is-in” plots follow the misadventures of Edina ‘Eddy’ Monsoon (Saunders) and Ivana Trump lookalike Patsy Cocteau (Joanna Lumely).

For years, the pair of outrageously selfish fashion-slave, caviar chomping, 12-step program candidates have refused to grow up, despite having to deal with Eddy’s straight-laced (now grown-up) daughter Saffy and the responsibilities of running a fashion business.

But in the new episodes, the show’s freewheeling women are forced to face the fact that they’ve aged.

One of the characters seems to be developing Alzheimer’s disease while another gets osteoporosis.

“You get five years older and you have different issues,” Saunders said. “It’s kind of a roller-coaster ride and they’re trying to enjoy it the best they can, but it’s a bit more desperate.”

Saunders ended the original series after only 18 episodes (many British sitcoms typically only film six episodes a year) and then brought the dysfunctional duo back for a 1996 “Ab Fab” movie called “The Last Shout.”

And that was supposed to be it.

But last year when Saunders began to write a new sitcom, she decided Eddy and Patsy had more to say.

“Ab Fab” first aired in the UK in 1992 and became Comedy Central’s first hit, long before “Politically Correct” or “South Park.”