It’s been 25 years since Sex and the City originally aired on television. Yes, the programme that made us all want to purchase Manolo Blahniks on our Shoe Zone budgets, had us all drinking Cosmopolitans, and introduced us to a particular pink bunny who was not of the cartoon sort.
Based on Candace Bushnell’s novels of the same name, the programme also introduced a fresh storyline for women in their thirties. Set in the fast-paced environment of Manhattan, it emphasised friendship, work, and sexual fulfilment above the cookie-cutter suburbia married dream. Carrie, Miranda, and Samantha, at least. Charlotte was pursuing the ring with the same zeal as a marathon runner attempting to establish a new personal best.
Sex and the City also made Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Kim Cattrall, and Cynthia Nixon household names as the Fab Four and spawned two films and a new revival programme following the multi-award-winning six seasons.
To mark the occasion, Metro.co.uk talked with show writer Jenny Bicks, who worked on all six seasons, about everything from banned stories to Sarah Jessica and Kim’s now-famous animosity.
‘At first, it was just myself, Darren Starr, and Michael Patrick King,’ she explains. ‘We were single and used to come into the writers’ room and gossip about our s***ty dates. We’d write down all of the concerns with relationships and friendships on a whiteboard and explore solutions.’
The programme was an instant hit, and it quickly included a slew of pretty spectacular celebrity appearances, including Vince Vaughn as a dishonest personal assistant, Bradley Cooper as an aggressive drunk guy, and Carrie Fisher as, well, Carrie Fisher.
And who can forget Geri Halliwell’s Oscar-winning performance as Phoebe in season six? Never before has a person played the role of a ‘bikini-clad wealthy woman going down a street in Manhattan during a heatwave’ with such rich and varied emotions. Ahem.
However, Jenny claims that it was difficult to find anyone to agree to guest appear in those early seasons.
‘It was a show about sex. It’s in the title. It was hard to find people to guest star. I remember an episode shot in LA where Matthew McConaughey played a version of himself. We really struggled for so long to find a celeb to play that role because you’re setting yourself up and playing an unflattering character. It was down to the wire to find an actor and thankfully Matthew stepped in and was brilliant.’
However, as Season 3 began, the stars were almost pounding on the door to grab a part.
‘I had people come up to me at parties all the time,’ she added. ‘Halle Berry made a beeline for me at the Golden Globes one year and told me how much she loved the show and wanted a part. We just didn’t manage to find something for her. But it was such a hit. People really wanted to be involved.’
Along with the Fab Four, Sex and The City was known for its numerous males. Were you on Aidan’s or Big’s side? Did you have a crush on Harry and his grabbable back hair? (Woof) Or did you believe that despite his problems, there was no denying Trey had a fantastic head of hair? Those curtains needed an elegant arched window, honestly.
So, how about Steve? Lovely Steve captured many hearts with his kind demeanour and beautiful barman physique.
Jenny, on the other hand, confesses that actor David Eigenberg, who played Steve, was never supposed to be a regular.
‘The four actresses always had a say in who played their leading men and they would meet the actors and help us with casting. We wanted them to get on and I think that’s reflected in the on-screen chemistry.
‘We brought David on to play Steve for a couple of episodes but he just worked out so well that we kept him on.
He had amazing chemistry with Kristin and Evan Handler, who played Charlotte’s second husband Harry Goldenblatt. We knew we wanted her to meet someone Jewish who would question her assumptions about things. But we had no idea they’d get married or how far it would go. ‘Sometimes these things simply happen.’
Jenny claims that the writers’ room had one clear guideline for Carrie throughout the show’s six seasons: she was not to marry. Which is surprising given that the first Sex and the City film was exclusively on Carrie and Big’s tragic trek to the altar.
We always knew Carrie would not get married in those six seasons
‘We always knew Carrie would not get married in those six seasons. We didn’t want to send a message that the answer to your problems was to marry someone. At the end of season six, she ended up with Big but she also had her friends.’
She adds: ‘The film was set a few years after so it was a different time. But we always knew on the show that a wedding was not for Carrie.’
Sex and The City was lauded for pushing the envelope, with writer Michael Patrick King proudly declaring that series “took sex out of the shadows.” Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda talked about everything from golden showers to rimming, frequently while sitting at their favourite brunch place.
There wasn’t a single sexual stone uncovered. We covered little, huge, and soft penises, as well as those who were a bit too eager to get to the party penises, uncircumcised penises, and even those with ‘the funkiest tasting spunk’. Oh, and who can forget Samantha teaching us about teabagging and how it had nothing to do with our PG Tips?
However, there were several risqué tales that did not make it to the big screen.
‘After season two, the writer’s room expanded beyond just me, Darren and Michael and we would all discuss sexual themes or new trends.
‘We once came so close to doing a story about one of the girls dating someone who used a penis pump. They existed and that was definitely happening at the time but it felt like we were going too far and featuring something just to be controversial. Which was never our aim.’
In addition to pushing sex limits, the programme was commended for confronting tough themes such as abortion. Miranda discovers she is pregnant in season four and initially plans to terminate the pregnancy. Samantha recalls having had two abortions herself, while Carrie thinks on the abortion she had at the age of 22 after becoming pregnant after a one-night encounter with a waiter at the club Tunnel.
‘There was a very big discussion in the writers’ room with that episode and whether the revelation that Carrie had had an abortion would cause America to turn on her. But they obviously didn’t and we were happy to discuss such an important issue.
‘The irony is that when I wrote that episode all those years ago, I never viewed it as being forward-thinking. But with abortion rights in America under siege, it’s now very topical.’
Like many series that aired before the turn of the millennium, Sex and the City has faced criticism for its lack of diversity and, at times, insensitive handling of important topics, such as bisexuality or transgenderism.
‘I do cringe at certain episodes,’ Jenny admits. ‘You have to keep shows like SATC within the content of the time they were made and you can’t put the lens of today on them.
‘But it’s the small things that bug me. I wrote an episode where Carrie is shocked that a guy she’s dating is bisexual. We just wouldn’t have written it that way now. People are a lot more comfortable with different versions of sexuality and fluidity. That episode feels clunky now.
‘We definitely didn’t have a lot of characters of colour. We tried to bring in some as secondary characters but we could have done better, for sure.’
Jenny hasn’t worked on the subsequent films or the revival of And Just Like That since the season finale of Sex and the City in 2004.
AJLT, which premiered in 2021, received scathing criticism from fans who believed the writing had grown clumsy and that it had sought to compensate for its prior lack of diversity with tokenism. To be honest, it seemed like someone had input the terms “Gen Z,” “Gender Fluidity,” and “UberEats” into a computer and told AI to spit up an episode.
Miranda’s affair with non-binary figure Che Diaz, as well as the breakdown of her marriage to Steve, also left many feeling deceived.
‘I think Miranda and Steve were great together,’ Jenny insists. ‘I’m not involved in the show and I have no ill will towards it. I’m glad I’m not involved though because I wouldn’t want to deal with the backlash!
‘I was a big fan of Miranda and Steve and how hard it was for them to come together. He softened her edges and she gave him drive. But people change and Miranda is clearly exploring something that she has to do outside of her marriage.’
Kim Cattrall’s character Samantha Jones was also noticeably absent from Just Like That, following Kim’s public fight with Sarah Jessica. Kim replied to Sarah Jessica’s well wishes on her brother’s tragic death by calling her ‘cruel’ and stating that ‘you are not my friend’ after revealing in a 2017 interview that she had never been friends with her co-stars.
She will, however, make a brief appearance in the second season, but she has managed to avoid any interaction with SJP or the rest of the Sex and The City actors, allegedly filming Samantha’s much-anticipated comeback in a garage.
Jenny, on the other hand, claims she never witnessed any feuding or ill will between Kim and Sarah Jessica during their years together.
‘Kim’s decision not to be a part of And Just Like That is not as simple as people label it but I can’t get into it. On the show, everyone got along and there was no sense of terrible things. Everyone wants a salacious story but it’s more complicated than that. We worked together for 10 years and you’re not always going to get along.’
It’s amazing how different the dating scene has gotten in the quarter-century after that first episode aired. Can you believe there was never an episode in which the women had to suffer swiping right or left on an app? Or seeing a picture of a possible date’s erect penis before they ever meet?
‘Back when we wrote the show, there was no internet dating,’ Jenny says. ‘Not to the extent there is now. There were also no dick pics. That seems wild. Nowadays, you can see someone’s genitals before you see their face. If I was to write an episode now, I’d love to have depicted Samantha trying to get membership to the Raya dating app. It’s so exclusive and I can just picture her being driven insane by not getting accepted and spending the episode trying to get her request approved.’
It’s not only dating that has changed. Jenny agrees that New York, which has been dubbed “Sex and The City’s fifth character,” is now virtually unrecognisable.
‘New York has changed a lot. And not for the best. A lot of money has come into the city and it’s harder to find artists or that real underbelly of the city. If we were to write the show now, the girls wouldn’t be in Manhattan. They’d have to venture further out to places like Queens for a cool and authentic experience.’
Jeez. And to think Miranda once thought Brooklyn was an alien planet..
Sex And The City is available to stream on NOW.
