Sex and the City premiered on TV 20 years ago this month: part comedy, part drama, part fashion Bible, part lifestyle manifesto, part love song to the sisterhood and friendship, the show broke down barriers. Here are 20 SATC facts to celebrate 20 years: including news of a flatulence double.
'They say nothing lasts forever; dreams change, trends come and go, but friendships never go out of style.'
It's 20 years since Sex and the City was first shown which means 20 years since we all started lusting over Manolo Blahnik, Cosmopolitan cocktails, cupcakes, Fendi baguettes, Tasti D-Lite and Brazilian waxes. OK, maybe not the waxes.
The show about a group of friends in New York starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Charlotte York and Miranda Hobbes was an agenda setter. Let's raise a Cosmo to the series that reminded us all about the strength of friendship and look at 20 fabulously fashionable facts about SATC.
20 Strange Sex and the City Facts
1) The ladies' favourite cocktails were all fake: those Cosmopolitans were made with water, food colouring or cranberry juice while Champagne was ginger ale and the red wine was just grape juice. Swiz!
2) The annoying 'fourth-wall' technique only lasted for one season (and a bit): Characters in the first series would regularly talk to the camera but the practice was criticised and only happened once more in season two in The Freak Show (season two, episode three).
3) The tutu that Carrie wears in the opening sequence cost $5 from a bargain bin.
4) Author Candace Bushnell who Carrie Bradshall is based on has lifted the lid on Mr Big: She admits that Carrie would never have ended up with Mr Big in real life but that audiences demanded a happy ending.
5) Matthew McConaughey was fourth choice for his famous cameo: When he turned up in season three, the actor of choice was Alex Baldwin. And then George Clooney. And then Warren Beatty. Only Matthew said yes.
6) The very last episode of SATC…was filmed four days before it aired.
7) Want to live like Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda? There's a special Sex and the City Hotspots Tour available in New York which allows you to drink (real drinks!) where they drank, shop where they shopped and gossip where they gossiped – and you'll visit 40 locations from the show, too.
8) Producer Darren Star REALLY liked Alec Baldwin: He also wanted him to play Mr Big instead of Chris Noth.
9) Carrie borrows a book called Love Letters of Great Men from the library in the first SATC film: The book didn't exist, but so many fans went to find it that it was eventually published.
10) How many questions does Carrie ask in her columns through the shows? We're glad you asked. 92.
11) One actress had a no-nudity cause in her contract: Sarah Jessica Parker.
12) Carrie and Miranda's cupcake eating outside Magnolia Bakery caused a cupcake boom and the store to need its own bouncers.
13) The Atelier Versace Couture 'Mille Feuille' gown Carrie wore in when she was in Paris awaiting her date with Aleksandr Petrovsky cost $80,000.
14) The real Mr Big – Ron Galotti – now lives in Vermont on a horse farm.
15) SJP had to have a flatulence double: In one episode, she was required to pass wind in bed. The noise was provided by a dolly grip.
16) Aiden's son in season six genuinely was pleased to see Carrie: He was played by James Wilkie Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker's real-life son.
17) The opening credits of SATC were changed after 9/11: In the original credits, the twin towers featured twice, but after the tragedy, the Empire State Building replaced them. The September 11 attacks had happened in between half seasons – the first had ended on August 12 2001. When the show returned the following January, the changes had been made to reflect the skyline.
18) When Charlotte needed to be shown having acupuncture…she brought along the acupuncturist she used herself. The scenes took 10 hours and according to directors, actress Kristin Davis was 'so chilled out'.
19) Carrie's apartment wasn't only ridiculously cheap to rent , it also didn't exist: The rented Upper East Side brownstone on East 73rd Street between Park and Madison Avenues was actually in West Village at Perry Street. The apartment sold in 2012 for $9.6 million. In the series, Carrie said she paid $750 a month in rent.
20) The very last words in the very last episode of SATC which was broadcast from 1998 to 2004 and ran for 94 episodes were: 'The most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you find someone to love the you you love, well, that's just fabulous.' Preach.
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