Could it BE any more back?
The answer, Chandler, the answer is no, thanks to news that Friends will be returning to terrestrial after Channel 4 stopped airing repeats in 2011, seven years on from the show’s Ross and Rachel will they/won’t they finale in 2004.
It’s returning to free-to-air TV in the form of weekday doubleheaders on Channel 5.
All seven key members of the gang, Joey, Ross, Chandler, Rachel, Phoebe, Monica and Gunter will be returning to screens at exactly 4pm from Monday to Friday and then again at 4:30pm, marking that perfect slot for kids returning from school, hungover people who have phoned in sick and haven’t moved from the sofa all day. And the elderly!
Channel 5 has a past history of shoving large quantities of Friends into our tele-boxes, airing five straight hours of the show in 2015 to celebrate the shows 21st anniversary.
The sitcom became available on streaming service Netflix in January, opening it up to an entirely new generation of fans and all the same people with no imagination who don’t know what else to have on in the backgrounds of their homes.
According to one poll, conducted by global marketing research firm Nielsen, Friends is still the most streamed tv show, beating out, admittedly not stiff competition from The Grand Tour and The Crown.
If you’re desperate for more Friends-based content, and I know that you are, here’s a mathematician calculating how Ross could have successfully navigated the stairwell in the famous “PIVOT!” scene, and an investigation into how smelly cat became so smelly.
Don’t say we don’t spoil you. Never, ever say that. It simply isn’t true.
