Goodbye my dear friends (From This is Hampshire)

Goodbye my dear friends

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SO we’ll be saying goodbye to some old friends this weekend.

Episodes of US sitcom Friends, the most viewed re-runs in digital TV history, will disappear from the E4 schedule – and I for one am sad to see them go.

E4 executives say they are making way for new comedy and drama on the station and I applaud that.

But surely 400,000 people tuning in on average to Friends can’t be wrong?

The story of Rachel, Monica, Ross, Joey, Chandler and Phoebe and their lives in downtown Manhattan has become, for many, the backdrop to a misspent youth.

The theme tune takes me right back to my student days when all I had to worry about was watching what was going on at Central Perk while nursing a hangover and whether I should get a Rachel haircut.

Its virtual omnipresence must have irritated many, but I’ve always found it a cosy, lighthearted treat.

Those lucky people with better television packages than I have will be able to catch episodes on Comedy Central, which is apparently buying up the rights.

Buying the DVD box sets is just not the same - it's the sort of thing you want to happen upon casually.

I wonder, should something really be replaced, just because it’s been around for a while?

Certainly not. Just look at Only Fools and Horses.

When something is so well written and beautifully produced, it should be kept like a treasure.

But I have high hopes for E4’s new comedy offering after the success of their The Inbetweeners.

If they made something worth replacing Friends with, I wouldn’t have to watch – and laugh hysterically like Janice for the thousandth time – while Joey gets his head stuck in the Thanksgiving turkey, Ross enjoys a series of disastrous weddings or Monica beats the boys at table football.

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