I feel like it’s a Marmite situation – you either love or despise the American TV series, Friends. It just so happens that I love it, always have. Created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, the 10-series programme aired from September 22nd 1994 to May 6th 2004, featuring the lives of six characters: Joey, Rachel, Ross, Phoebe, Chandler and Monica. Although there have been many debates and recent complaints surrounding the subject matter of jokes as we look back in hindsight, I guess you have to appreciate the fact that this was a series that began before society had evolved in the ways we see today, not to mention the fact that we have gone a little mad on the subject of political correctness I think.

So, what is it that we love about these characters so much? Is this that we see a part of ourselves in them? Perhaps you embody the neurotic, OCD Monica profile, or the sarcastic and somewhat bitter Chandler. Maybe you’re more like Ross, with his geeky and oftentimes melancholic persona, or you’re an annoyingly ditzy Phoebe – sorry I feel like they take her silliness a little too far at times. I suppose many women will liken themselves to ’90s fashionista, Rachel – mostly because she has great hair in every single episode, and then there’s Joey, who, in a nutshell enjoys food and women.

I think everyone going to university or into house shares at that time had this expectation that their life was about to turn into an episode of Friends. It’s certainly a dynamic that is pretty hard to achieve when random people end up sharing a living space, and maybe you’re lucky enough to find it, but one thing that does not ring true, is how these guys afford quite such luxurious living in New York City with the jobs they have (or don’t have most of time). But hey, that’s all part of the illusion, right? I hardly see it as great viewing if you’re watching them all struggle to make ends meet, bickering all day about who stole who’s milk out of the fridge. Well, actually that sounds more like an episode of life as a struggling uni student in my dorm.

But putting criticism aside, I am a massive Friends fan, and I think it’s more about nostalgia for me; it’s a series that showed us how this group of characters grew up and evolved, both together and apart, and there’s a sense of warmth about the whole set up. When I watch an episode, I get transported back to when I first watched it, and I think that’s why I enjoy it – that sense of cosy familiarity, and for some reason I am able to remember so many of their lines, perhaps because it was often the default ‘have it on in the background’ show, or maybe the constant re runs on various networks saw it drummed into my stream of consciousness. And I kind of love it for its ability to provide a little nostalgic hug when I reach for the remote and can’t think of what else to put on the television.