October, it's LA and we've just entered Stage 24 on 3rd Street at the Warner Brothers lot. It's 100 degrees outside and as if to give the day a more surreal quality, I'm wandering around Monica's living-room (think, can't swing a cat nor mouse for that matter) looking at the tea, sugar and passata boxes lined-up in the turquoise kitchen.
The white couch is here, so is the big table they discuss life around, but there's no sign of Ross's new apartment out of the big window. That illusion is shattered as a man in a checked shirt wanders past - either he's on stilts or Monica's apartment is not towering over the New York skyline.
To the left of Monica's there's Joey and Chandler's apartment - which contains suitably scruffy barstools, a microwave that looks like it's about to drop off the wall and a bamboo table in Joey's bedroom. What he does with that is anyone's guess.
The final set, visible to the very right is the Central Perk one. No, the cast don't have to traipse down flights of stairs for a latte. They merely walk in front of the rows of audience seats which are filled every Friday night when the episodes are filmed.
Today there are more people milling about than in a Harrods sale (producers, press officers etc), but then we are here to meet six of the most important people on the planet - Jennifer Aniston, Couteney Cox Arquette, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc.
Justine Holman
You can't help but stare. Here sitting on Monica's couch are the girl Friends - Jennifer, Courteney and Lisa (in that order) - and you don't want to miss a trick.
Q: Is Jennifer sporting an engagement ring?
A: No. But Courteney's gold band is visible.
Q: Is Courteney showing any sign of her recent treatment to correct her short-sightedness?
A: Yep, her left eye is slightly closed - but she's definitely the most smiley of the bunch and makes the most eye contact.
Q: Is Lisa's hair as long as Phoebe's?
A: No, today she sports a slightly wavy bob.
Jennifer is looking anxious as she twirls a single strand of her brown hair, but maybe she has reason to be. She knows that the Brad Pitt question will be coming soon and when it does, she's quick to stop any talk of engagements, marriage or anything involving the C-word, commitment. 'I talk about relationships with my friends on the show, but we don't talk about it,' she says very, very firmly.
The press interest is obviously something all the girls have had to get used to - but it's been a little fierce recently and Ms. Aniston's borne the brunt with critisism that she's too thin.
She looks slim dressed in a black top and grey trousers but certainly not anorexically so. 'Lately I've been reading that I'm too skinny,' she recently told W magazine. 'A few years back, they said that I was curvy.'
Then there's Courteney's marriage (confirmed by a huge sign announcing she's now Courteney Cox Arquette) which brings with it speculation about having children.
Thankfully, she's happy to indulge curiosity by saying: 'There's a huge sense of security marrying David. It's not a contract to be inlove with someone, it's a commitment to build a family together.'
And the first people to visit Courteney when she has a baby are sure to be Lisa and Jennifer. 'These two people are my two biggest supporters,' says Courteney. 'I stopped having therapy because of them.' 'Being together kept us sane,' Jennifer continues.
So would they have turned down the roles had they known they'd become Public Property Number One? 'Maybe if they left out the bad stuff,' says Jennifer. Lisa, who's married to French ad exec Michel Stern, adds: 'Even with the bad stuff, I don't know, I think you're pretty hungry.'
Matt LeBlanc is laughing. Not a Joey grunt more a deeper, throatier ha, ha, ha. Matthew Perry (who looks clean-shaven, but tired. He's been promoting his new movie Three to Tango) is looking at David Schwimmer, raising his eyebrows and egging him on. 'I don't want to go into that,' says David. 'Oh, I think you do,' says Matthew in true Chandler style.
The former is attempting to reveal how he grew a moustache at the age of 13, and is obviously not enjoying the frivolity it's causing.
The boys on-screen banter has obviously channelled its way off-screen and it's hard to work out if it's Ross or David talking, Chandler or Matthew making the quips, Matt or Joey mumbling.
So let's look at the facts. While it's clear that David is slightly more serious that the others, he's not as nasal or irritating as Ross. 'My character is befuddled with women,' he admits without Ross-style whining. 'He's wondering what it's like to be a man in the nineties.'
And while Matthew may possess some of those Chandler twitches and Matt clearly shares Joey's fondness for folding his arms (a defence mechanism if ever I saw one), the boys' lives are certainly more sorted off set.
Matt is happily engaged to Melissa McKnight and Matthew is a little less neurotic about his new girlfriend, actress Renee Ashton. 'Renee's a really nice girl,' he smiles.
And while he's loving the Monica and Chandler relationship, he hopes they don't get too happy. 'The key to a successful show is to keep the characters unhappy. People don't want to see a happy couple - they're boring.'
Deciding who's going to get it together with whom is the job of 14 people involved in bringing the Friends storylines to the screen. Executive producers David Crane, Adam Chase and Greg Malins let TVTimes into some of the behind-the-scenes secrets.
