Comfort Classic: Friends

COMFORT CLASSIC

Friends

It’s a sign of a true TV phenomenon when any one of a handful of catchphrases, a haircut, a song about a malodorous puss or just a single word – “Pivot!” - can instantly propel you back to the turn of the millennium and six people gathered in a West Village apartment, always strangely affordable, or on their local coffee shop sofa, always strangely available.

Friends was that phenomenon and so it continues to be. It is one of Netflix’s biggest global titles. The show’s departure from the streaming giant’s US service ignited a fresh surge in DVD sales – 17 years after Friends signed off at NBC.

The show’s final episode aired to a US audience of more than 50 million, making it the fourth most-watched series finale in history.

By then, Friends had run for 10 seasons, an astonishing 236 episodes, and made superstars of its lead actors - Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa

The US sitcom both defined and transcended an era. Caroline Frost discovers why audiences remain addicted to it

Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer.

The show was originally devised by producers David Crane and Marta Kauffman around a simple premise, that of “six people in their twenties making their way in Manhattan”. For a decade, the show never strayed far from that single idea – and that, throughout the trials, triumphs and tribulations of early adult life, your friends become the family you choose.

Rewatching Friends now, what’s freshly impressive is how fully formed each of the characters is from the off.

There are comprehensive back stories of family dysfunction as well as distinctive individual traits to each member of the group: Joey’s small brain but big heart, Monica’s incessant controlfreakery, Rachel’s challenges with financial independence, Ross’s comfort with dinosaurs over people, Phoebe’s otherworldly quirkiness and Chandler’s good looks belying his sarcastic awkwardness.

It’s all there, as well as the group’s