Friday 11th October 2013 by Andrew Trendell | Photos by WENN

Tags: Spice Girls

Writer and comedian Jennifer Saunders has blamed 'nasty journalists' for the failure of her Spice Girls musical, Viva Forever.

The show opened in London last year and featured some of the girl groups' biggest hits. It was expected to achieve similar success to Mama Mia and We Will Rock You - but then received universally abysmal and devastating reviews. 

Now, Absolutely Fabulous star Saunders has spoken to the BBC in defence of the show, claiming that 'people always want to get a knife into the band".

"I felt there was a certain group of journalists who... were told by their editors to be nasty about it,"she said. "It came right at the recession time and I just thought it was unlucky in a way."

She added:  "I had a great time. I enjoyed seeing the Spice Girls together again... There was such a great energy between them. "I am a huge Spice Girls fan... and I'm still a huge Spice Girls fan. I completely adore them."

Watch the trailer for Viva Forever below

Panned by critics, some of the reviews included The Daily Telegraph saying "I'll tell you what I wanted, what I really really wanted – I wanted this terrible show to stop," while The Mirror added: "There is more female empowerment at a Taliban finishing school than in this show."

Meanwhile, Geri Halliwell has been making waves in Australia - including a really awful performance of her single single 'Half Of Me' on Aussie TV. Watch it here. 

 Below: The Spice Girls attend the Viva Forever premiere