It's been a hard Day-Knight for Kath and Kim

Fans tell Gina Riley (left) and Jane Turner that they see themselves in the Kim and Kath characters.

Kim would just like to point out that her mum's fashion sense is nothing like Gwen Stefani's. Gwen gets adventurous with socks and heels, whereas "mum loves to team with the theme".

This probably won't stop Kath Day-Knight from launching her own fashion label when the time is right. On December 20 Jane Turner (Kath) and Gina Riley (Kim) premiere the next incarnation of their Aussie kitsch comedy empire, the telemovie Da Kath & Kim Code. So what would be Kath's frock of choice, should a red-carpet moment arise?

"I'd probably wear red carpet," she says. "I love a nice shag up against the wall."

What began as a sketch on the early 90s Aussie comedy show Fast Forward is now a global phenomenon. Kath & Kim plays in Australia, New Zealand, Britain, the United States, Finland, Holland, Ireland and Singapore, has spawned DVD box sets and merchandise, and is up for best international comedy at the British Comedy Awards alongside The Simpsons and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

"It's fantastic, it's exciting, it's scary," says Turner. "But we're sure we'll win. Not."

After three successful series, Turner and Riley took a break from the show at the beginning of the year. They intended to return to Lagoon Court, but were unsure how. Realising they had probably left it too late to film an entire series, they opted for the comedy tradition of the Christmas special, a format that presented them with unaccustomed writing challenges.

"Getting the final draft ready was a bit more technical," says Turner. "It's longer and with more storylines and you're more conscious of whether it sustains and all that sort of thing.

"It's been fantastic actually. The series tend to get a bit stressful because we do everything - the last series especially, because it was very cold here and we were shooting on the beach. We thought we'd take a more relaxed approach to the work this year." So what does the movie "pacifically" entail?

Kath and hubby Kel (Glenn Robbins) have just returned from a Da Vinci Code tour through Europe for a family Christmas and "the most harrowing two weeks of their lives". Kel has a bout of jealousy over Kath's admiration of another man, Brett's promotion causes problems with Kim, and her second-best friend Sharon (Magda Szubanski) might just have a boyfriend.

"Do we hear the tinkle of wedding bells for Sharon?" says the film's promo. "Or is that just her callipers from her clicky hips?"

Joining them in this dramatic escapade will be Aussie comedian Barry Humphries and Canadian crooner Michael Buble. We can expect the usual sparring between mother and daughter, with bigger storylines and more "intrigue, love, suspense, revenge and denial".

"Kim wouldn't give a fat rat's about going on a Da Vinci Code tour," spits Riley. "She'd like to go to Paris to soak up the local culture and go to EuroDisney. She'd like to go to Disneylands all over the world."

The telemovie seems a world away from when Kath & Kim began, and Turner played a suburban mother giving a speech at her daughter's 21st birthday on Fast Forward. In 1994's Big Girl's Blouse, Turner, Riley and Szubanski did an eight-part sketch titled Kim's Wedding, based on a hen's night. In 1998 they revisited the characters in Kim's Baby from Something Stupid. Then in 2001, Riley and Turner turned their unshakeable alter egos into a sitcom, introducing Brett as Kim's henpecked husband, and also Kel, the hunk'o'spunk sausage butcher who wins Kath's affections.

Kath & Kim soon became the ABC's top-rating comedy. Leaving no cultural cringe-worthy nuance unturned, Turner and Riley held up a mirror to everyday, middle-class Aussies, including those who wouldn't dream of sipping "cardonnay" or trying to riverdance.

Side-characters Prue and Trude - rich, perfectly coiffed snobs who work in a homeware store - showed that income and social standing were no barrier to humour.

When Kath & Kim started, upset viewers said it was patronising. But Riley says their biggest fans are those who see themselves in the characters. "A girl did it to me in a shop the other day, and people are always doing it: 'My mum and me are Kath and Kim'. People like to own it, which I love.

They don't shy away from that, which is always how it's been intended, to not point the finger and laugh at people but to say, 'Look, we're a funny suburban sort of country'."

It's hardly surprising the show has done well outside Australia, given the huge success of Ricky Gervais' The Office. Despite the obvious differences, both are fly-on-the-wall satires of ordinary life.

The Office, which started as a small comedy sketch show, is now getting an American make-over, and Turner and Riley are expecting Kath & Kim to be picked up by a US network.

So how would they feel about it being hijacked by American actors and writers?

"I think it would be great," says Turner, "really interesting to see how they tackle it."

Riley wonders who might play them, and settles on Meryl Streep and Angelina Jolie. Turner: "And Tom Hanks could play Kel."

Despite this, Turner says it's the quintessential Australian-ness that has made the show a winner throughout the world.

"It's really different looking, and people can see a real snapshot because we actually shoot it in Australia.

"But the characters and the situations are universal. They travel. There are lots of Kaths and Kims in the world."

Turner and Riley say they won't know until the telemovie is out of the way whether there will be another series of Kath & Kim. But they aren't ruling it out.

"We really had a good time doing this," Riley says. "We had a lot of laughs and we think the show's pretty good. So the indication is that there's more life in them."

Despite offers from other Australian networks the two have chosen to stick with the ABC. That allows the co-producers and writers editorial control, the security of working with their familiar crew, and fewer ad breaks to worry about. There's just one small drawback.

Turner: "Well, it is on the ABC and it is in Australia, so we're not that 'effluent', sadly."

Obviously, the perks of fame come in other guises.

"We've been looking for paparazzi but they haven't emerged," says Turner. "We know they're behind the bushes somewhere."