It's time to get excited! The much-anticipated Friends: The reunion episode airs on UK screens from Thursday (May 27) on Sky One and NOW TV.
The one-off episode has been repeatedly delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic and was originally meant to be released in May 2020 but fans will finally be able to celebrate the iconic show alongside the six stars - and some special guests.
James Corden is on hosting duties while celebrity fans of the sitcom - David Beckham, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga to name a few - will also be stopping by.
We can give you a rundown of some of the highlights - we BE any more excited!?
Ross and Rachel were REAL
David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston revealed they were both “crushing real hard” on each other in real life when the show first started.
But they didn’t get together because of bad timing - one of them was always in a relationship.
Jennifer said: “I remember saying to David, ‘It’s going to be such a bummer if the first time you I actually kiss you is on national television’. Sure enough... ” And it was, when their characters Ross and Rachel kissed for the first time in the coffee shop.
“We just channelled all of our adoration and love for each other into Ross and Rachel,” says Jennifer.
Minds blown.
The Magic of The Huddle
Matt LeBlanc had a good reason for needing the cast to never miss a pre-taping huddle before going on stage.
The one time they missed it, he dislocated his shoulder.
The cast watched back in horror as Joey leapt into an armchair to steal it from Chandler in The One Where Everyone Is Late, then tripped and his shoulder came out of the socket.
Once back from hospital, Matt’s sling was written into the show by saying that Joey had been jumping on the bed.
Celebs will do anything for Friends
Justin Bieber strutted down a catwalk dressed as a potato - or should that be, Ross’s fancy dress costume Spudnik.
Lada Gaga sang a duet of Smelly Cat with Lisa Kudrow, thanking her for being “the different one”.
David Beckham admitted that his favourite Friends episode (The One Where Everyone Is Late) is his go-to when he’s “feeling a little bit low” or missing the wife and kids.
And that’s not to mention Tom Selleck taking part in the Trivia Quiz or Cindy Crawford modelling Ross’s black leather trousers. Iconic.
Courteney Cox’s script cheat
On the set of the girls’ apartment, Matt LeBlanc reveals that Courteney (Monica) always had her lines scrawled on the kitchen table.
“I saw it and asked and she said, ‘Mind your business’!” he said. “So she had this big speech she had been struggling with and before we shot, I erased it all!”
“Why would you erase it!?” laughs Courtney. “So much of my dialogue was in these apples,” she adds, rummaging in the fruit bowl.
Lisa added: “There was always a script in the sink!” “That was Courteney’s!” says Matt.
How to watch Friends: The Reunion in the UK
UK fans will be able to watch Friends: The Reunion on demand from 8am on Thursday (May 27) on Now TV and Sky. The show will also air on Sky One at 8pm.
You can sign up for a Now Entertainment pass for a free 7-day trial. After the free trial, membership auto renews monthly at £9.99.
You can join Sky TV now from as little as £25 a month on an 18-month contract.
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The Incredible Stats
We knew Friends was big, but these stats still shocked us. The sitcom aired in over 220 territories and was TV’s No 1. comedy for six seasons.
It had an average of 25 million viewers a week and a whopping 52 million people watched the final episode.
The show has been watched over 100 billion times across all platforms.
Could it BE bigger than that?
Casting troubles
“We saw approximately a gazillion people!” recalls Marta Kauffman.
She and co-creators David Crane and Kevin S. Bright tells how casting was a nightmare.
David had quit TV - they begged him and sent gift baskets.
Both Matthew and Jennifer had already signed to other shows - Jennifer asked to be released and the producer told her Friends would “never make her a star”.
Matt LeBlanc, who had just $11 in his pocket at his audition, was ultimately up against one other actor - who returned in one episode as Fake Joey. Matt got the job despite a scab on his nose from a drunken run-in with a toilet bowl.
Stealing stuff
On the set of the apartment, Jennifer reveals that Lisa now has the original cookie jar in her house, stolen from the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Jennifer admitted to taking a neon coffee mug, and Matt revealed that he took an original foosball from Joey and Chandler’s famous foosball table.
“You should have taken the whole table!” says Matthew, before Matt reminds him that in the show it was eventually smashed to pieces.
Matthew Perry’s show fears
The cast all discuss the “rewarding” tapings of the show, with most saying they loved the energy of performing in front of a live studio audience.
But Matthew admitted to the rest of the cast - for the first time - that he had major anxiety about getting the laughs.
He says: “I felt like I was going to die if they didn’t laugh. It’s not healthy, but if I said a line and they didn’t laugh, I’d sweat and go into convulsions. I’d freak out. I felt like that every single night.”
David Schwimmer and Marcel were not friends
In a hilarious rant, David blasted that Marcel the monkey (Ross’s beloved pet on the show) was the worst thing about working on Friends.
He said: “Scenes would get messed up because the monkey didn’t do its job right. We had to reset because the monkey didn’t get it right!
“Then it would sit on my shoulder and the trainer would give him live grubs to eat. Then I had monkey grubby hands all over me.”
Fans had more power than we knew
The show creators Crane and Kauffman revealed that when they shot Friends in London, they had decided that Monica and Chandler would sleep together - but it would be a one off thing that they’d try to forget.
But after the fans “went insane”, they realised they would have to make more of it.
Crane says: “We realised there was more to this and we needed to pay attention to the audience. We realised ‘this could be a thing’.”
They’ve not all watched the show
While most of the main cast said they have seen it all, Lisa admitted there are whole seasons that she hasn’t seen. She revealed that she hated watching herself and was “mortified”.
David hadn’t watched in 17 years, but has recently started watching again with his daughter. “It sucked me in,” he said.
Meanwhile, Matt, who also finds it hard to watch himself, has also only recently watched re-runs with his daughter.
They are actual Friends
Yes, we know, they are the Friends, but we didn’t quite realise how tight the bond is between the cast members, who all spoke of a unique relationship.
They have always kept in touch, with Matthew explaining that any time they have ever met over the years, they would drop everything to talk to each other.
Courteney says: “We became best friends. It was life changing and forever will be.”
The One In The Future
The stars gave their best guesses on where their characters would be today.
Jennifer said Rachel and Ross would be married with kids, while Ross would still be “playing with bones”.
Courteney reckoned Monica would still be competitive, in charge of the school bake sale and probably on the PTA, while Chandler would make her laugh every day.
Lisa said Phoebe would be married to Mike and advocating for all the kids who are a little different, through art and music.
And Joey? Well he’ll be running a sandwich shop, of course.
Oh and one last thing we learned... no one to this day knows what Chandler’s job is...
*Watch Friends: The Reunion on Sky One and streaming service NOW from Thurs 27 May.