Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer share their behind the scenes secrets from their days on the sitcom.
And it’s like having a hot cup of tea on a cold winter’s day – soothing and familiar.
It might have been decades since they last played their characters but old habits die hard with David turning up first on the set of the show in true Ross style.
He was shortly joined by Lisa Kudrow who noticed a beam that had been removed for getting in the way had been put back.
A teary eyed Jennifer was next who looked straight for the tissues, then Matt, followed by Courtney in tears and Matthew.
You can’t help but want to cry with them.
As Matt gently dried Courtney’s eyes when she burst into tears, it felt like the years were fading away since the last episode.
As the original credits rolled, nostalgia takes over but they’re not quite what you remember – they are cut with moments from the reunion episode alongside the iconic fountain scene.
It cuts away and the group are introduced by host James Corden as they filled out to chat in front of the iconic fountain sat on the chairs from Central Perk.
It was like they had never been away from the set
Ahead of spilling secrets, James switched off the fountain as the cast slipped back into old habits.
Jennifer said: “It’s been so fantastic and exciting, we’ve slipped right back, like we usually do.”
She added: “We regressed back to our 20s.”
I think the same can be said for the fans who will be slipping back into their teenage years.
But it’s hardly a surprise as being propelled to stardom on a TV show is something that bonds people together for life.
David said: “No one was going through what we were going through.
“Our family couldn’t relate. Our friends — our closest friends — couldn’t relate. They were there for us, but the only people who really knew what it was like were the other five.”
By Sonny Carlisle, aged 14
FRIENDS shouldn’t appeal to me. It’s an almost 30-year-old comedy about a bunch of twenty- something mates living in an apartment they could never afford.
The jokes can sometimes be sexist – like the gags about Monica’s weight. But it hooked me.
Friends launched on Netflix on New Year’s Eve, 2017. I have watched all 236 episodes – twice.
At first I didn’t like the characters. Joey was annoying and self-obsessed. Rachel was spoilt. Ross and Chandler were nerdy. Monica was a perfectionist and Phoebe just weird.
But my parents told me it got better so I carried on watching it.
I grew to love Chandler’s sarcastic humour. He’s my favourite.
You come to care about the characters. I wanted Ross to get back together with Rachel.
They don’t have mobiles but what makes it look dated is more the way it is filmed and the clothes – like Chandler’s baggy shirts.
I did notice the lack of diversity. If they made it now it would surely be more representative.
In today’s world, Phoebe would have a YouTube channel and Rachel would be an influencer. Joey would be on Love Island.
And we still wouldn’t know what Chandler does.
Despite not being all together since they left, the cast are still in close contact and will always answer each other’s calls and texts.
In true Chandler style, Matthew joked: “I don’t hear from anyone.”
It’s no surprise that the show felt so realistic because creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane based it on their time in New York learning to make their way in the world.
They pulled the characters from their family and friends as they attempted to find love and make money.
They wanted to follow all of the characters, David saying “It’s about the time in your life when your friends are your family.”
And for many viewers, Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Joey, Phoebe and Monica did become family.
Their relationships on the show inspired people to make the most of their own life, and some ordinary people featured in the reunion admitted they asked their other half to marry them in the same way as Chandler did to Monica.
While fans might remember almost everything, the same can’t be said for the cast.
“If they didn’t laugh I felt like I was going die”
It has been a decade since they last filmed, and in an updated version of the quiz which caused Rachel and Monica to lose their flat, the girls and guys struggle to get their questions right.
It’s not just the main cast who are getting together to celebrate the iconic show. They are joined by a host of famous faces including actors who guest starred and some superfans.
Not a single person could remember their draconian and depressive neighbour Mr Heckles but Matt was able to recognise his hand twin.
But there was one thing that Matthew has remember and it has haunted him for years.
He said: “I felt like I was going to die if they didn’t laugh. It’s not healthy for sure.
“There were times when I said a line and they wouldn’t laugh and I’d sweat and like go into convulsions. If I didn’t get the laugh I would freak out.”
As he makes the confession, you can feel your heart breaking along with his former co-stars as Lisa reveals they didn’t know how hard he found it.
He added: “I felt like that every single night.”
But it wasn’t doom and gloom for the whole show, Reese Witherspoon looked back fondly on playing Rachel’s sister on the show.
She said it was a “dream come true” and to have Matt say Joey’s iconic line to her was “Thrilling”.
She said: “I think friends had this magic because each character was so defined they could hold a TV episode by themselves.”
For fans hoping for another show in a few years time, it’s disappointing news.
By Ellen Backshall, aged 16
WHEN I sit down to watch Friends I keep thinking, just one more episode. But that’s never the case.
I was born in 2005, a year after the final episode aired, and discovered the show when my elder sister was watching it on DVD.
She was 12 and I was eight. We watched every series together, then I watched them on my own.
Friends doesn’t seem dated to me. Things don’t seem to have changed that much, except now most people have mobile phones and computers. And the TVs were so massive back then.
But the lack of diversity is noticeable and some of the jokes definitely wouldn’t be acceptable now.
I like all the characters. They’re so different but are good friends.
Everyone can find something in the show which they can relate to, like Joey struggling to find good work and Monica feeling the need for everything to be perfect.
I’m pleased the reunion is them as actors, rather than in character. I don’t think a new episode would work, as some of the stars still look so good now they couldn’t pass for 17 years older.
I would love to live in a flat with my friends one day. It would be great to have them there all the time and not have to arrange to see them.
Lisa told James: “They ended the show very nicely. Everyone’s lives are very nice and they would have to unravel all those good things in order for there to be stories.
“I don’t want anyone’s happy endings unravelled.”
She added: “You have to grow up.”
Just before the end of the show, Courtney confirms this idea.
She said: “This will be the last time we’re ever asked about the show as a group, we are not going to do this again in 15 more years.
