Perth presenter Stuart Cosgrove was head of the department that brought the global smash-hit show Friends to UK screens.
The Warner Bros programme launched TV and film careers for all of its six main characters, while many of its scenes and much of its dialogue have entered popular culture.
As well as being right from the start about Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox and the rest, Stuart also made the decision to buy ER starring George Clooney.
Oh, and Ally McBeal too.
Speaking exclusively to us, though, Stuart is quick to insist he was simply part of a team at Channel 4.
To paraphrase Chandler Bing: ‘Could he be any more modest?’
Stuart was looking for a Friday night show
“I was Head of Arts and Entertainment, a wide-ranging division which included entertainment, comedy, and a department called Acquisitions which acquired programmes made internationally,” he told me.
“The head of the acquisitions team was a dogged Scot called Mhairi McDonald who was in regular touch with studios worldwide including the USA.
“She would watch everything that came to us and then annually we would travel to Hollywood to the LA screenings where broadcasters around the world would watch pilot shows and bid on their preferred shows.”
“Mhairi had picked up a buzz about a slate of Warner Bros shows including Friends.
“We had been given a stretch limo to take us round the various studio campuses in LA and had a day long appointment with Warner Bros, one of the key studios of the day.
“Since deals were done largely on the basis of pilot shows we had not seen anything yet but were in the market for a younger-skewing Friday night show, preferably one with a long lifespan.
The Friends cast would soon be famous…
“Bidding can be tricky and it’s like a game of chess.
“The studios want what they call ‘life of series’ deals in which you contractually commit to a show throughout its life span.
“That can be dicey, leaving you paying for a show that’s a hit in the USA and keeps getting made but doesn’t catch on here.”
Stuart was impressed when he watched the pilot episode.
“Seeing it for the first time it was clear it was self-confident and very attuned to urban life but there were no guarantees, none,” he said.
“If I’m honest now, it was among two or three shows we were considering.
“We hit lucky.”
Friends aired in the UK in 1995
The show’s bosses took the Friends cast to Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas for dinner before the pilot episode was broadcast in September 1994 on NBC.
They told Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer that this would be the last time they’d be able to enjoy a dinner together in peace.
They weren’t wrong.
It was broadcast at 9.30pm in the UK on Channel 4 from April 1995.
Another new show, Father Ted, about the world of Craggy Island and its trio of priests with their housekeeper, was aired before Friends at 9pm.
Stuart said: “Scheduling was king and it was in a slot with a strong likelihood of success. But this was a different era.
“If, for example, Friends reached five million people, that was huge for Channel 4 and its advertising team but would have been a sacking offence at ITV.
“The BBC and ITV had many legacy commitments, to soaps, to nightly news 9-10pm, to big sporting events like the Olympics, so stripping the show (broadcasting episodes of the same show) in a guaranteed slot was much harder for them and abandoning a mainstream family audience for a more young adult show was harder.”
The Courier’s take on the Friends pilot episode
The Courier previewed the pilot episode in its TV column.
It read: “This pilot introduces us to what one American critic described as ‘the best-looking cast in sitcom history’.
“Apart from good looks, what does this comedy offer us?
“Well, it follows six twenty-somethings living in the same New York apartment block who regularly meet up in the Central Perk coffee shop.
“And it’s here they discuss the dilemmas of single life.”
In the pilot episode, runaway bride Rachel, played by Jennifer Aniston, turns up looking for an old school friend, Monica (Courtney Cox).
It’s not long before Rachel has her feet firmly under Monica’s table.
The delightfully-dippy Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) completed the female line-up.
Monica’s older brother, Ross, played by David Schwimmer, had carried a torch for Rachel since their schooldays, so was more than pleased to see her again.
Then there were his best friends Chandler (Matthew Perry) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc), who lived across the hall from Monica.
Will-they, won’t-they with Ross and Rachel
Millions tuned in to follow the will-they won’t-they love story between Ross and Rachel and the unexpected twist when Monica and Chandler got together.
The show’s one-liners became the stuff of sitcom legend.
Who could forget Joey’s chat up line?
“How you doin’?”
Ross’s “we were on a break” became his emblematic one-liner after spending the night with Chloe the copy girl while going through a rough patch with Rachel.
David Schwimmer’s comedic genius shone through in the episode where he doused his legs in powder to get his leather trousers to slide back up his sweaty legs.
“The lotion and powder have made a paste!”
Ross also achieved a state of total awareness through a martial arts technique.
Remember unagi?
Aside from its irresistible theme tune, the most popular song from Friends was Phoebe’s Smelly Cat, which was a folk ditty about a pungent feline.
And, of course, there was The Haircut.
Jennifer Aniston has since said that she disliked her “Rachel cut” — a sentiment possibly echoed by hairdressers around the world who had to recreate it over and over again.
And it wasn’t just the six stars who managed to find fame.
Even the bit-part characters became household names.
These included Janice, Ugly Naked Guy and coffee shop manager Gunther, who was in love with Rachel.
Robin Williams had memorable cameo as Friends TV show drew movie star turns
Celebrity cameos included everyone from George Clooney to Kathleen Turner.
Aniston’s then-husband Brad Pitt played a former schoolmate of Rachel’s, who had formed an “I hate Rachel Green” fan club with, bizarrely, Ross.
Bruce Willis, Charlie Sheen and Tom Selleck’s characters dated Rachel, Phoebe and Monica, and Chandler went on a date with a girl played by Julia Roberts.
She left him abandoned in a toilet with no clothes on.
Perhaps the most surprising cameo came when the show was filmed in London, for Ross’s wedding to Emily, played by Helen Baxendale.
While out doing some sightseeing, Joey met the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, who posed for the camera with a delighted Joey.
It seems everyone was keen to join the Friends cast.
Oscar-winning megastar Robin Williams appeared in one very short, improvised scene alongside Billy Crystal that, typically, brought the house down.
Who was Stuart’s favourite character?
“Probably Chandler, who is known for his wise-cracks and his sardonic attitude, which provides a defence mechanism attributable to his parents’ divorce,” he said.
“My favourite cast member is David Schwimmer, who has a life long love affair with Scotland and won a Fringe First Award at Edinburgh as a student.
“He regularly returns to the festival.”
Friends TV show became a world-wide hit
Friends ran for 10 seasons and was a global phenomenon.
The series finale, which went out on May 6 2004 was watched by about 52.5 million American viewers.
Stuart said: “I think the cast, the chemistry and the youthful self-confidence all played a part.
“So too did the fictional New York it was set in.
“At the time it was aspirational and most of them were freelance and so the Central Perk barista café felt very of the moment.
“Almost certainly it was number one for generating income for Channel 4.
“I’m proud we brought it to the UK. Perhaps the pride derives from it helping create a golden era but I was part of a team not a lone gun.”
So, Joey doesn’t share food but Stuart is happy to share the credit.
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