Sex ends in shock and style

So now we know. After nearly 100 episodes of Sex And The City, the final show has been screened on US TV.

And every American fan who wondered whether Carrie would finish up with her romantic Russian lover, played by Mikhail Baryshnikov, or resume her on-off relationship with Mr Big now knows the answer.

If you don't want to find out, look away now.

However, those who cannot contain their curiosity should be warned the last episode, shown last night, holds two astonishing revelations.

Britain has only a handful of episodes remaining to be seen, although there is talk of a feature film. Sex And The City, shown in Britain on Channel 4, portrays life for four unattached career girls in Manhattan.

With its frank sex scenes and funny observations, the show, first seen in 1998, broke new ground on both sides of the Atlantic.

The star is newspaper columnist Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, 38. But much of the action - at least between the sheets - involves Liverpool-born Kim Cattrall, 47, as the sexy PR executive Samantha Jones.

Completing the quartet are Cynthia Nixon, 37, as lawyer Miranda and Upper East Side socialite Charlotte (Kristin Davis, 38).

They all saw their lives changing by the end of the final episode.

Miranda has a baby and a husband, devoted bartender Steve. She has made the ultimate sacrifice by moving from Manhattan to Brooklyn, and invited her mother-in-law to move in with them after she suffered a stroke.

Charlotte has found happiness in the improbable shape of bald lawyer Harry Goldblatt and, unable to have a baby herself, is about to adopt a six-month-old Chinese girl.

Samantha is happy with her toyboy hunk, Smith, despite the loss of her sex drive from treatment for breast cancer. In a tender moment, he declares his love for her. "You've meant more to me than any man I've ever known," a tearful Samantha replies. However, a few scenes later, she's naked in bed with him. Her final line is a howl of pleasure.

But Carrie? In the last episode - extended by 15 minutes - she is contemplating the unthinkable. A move from Manhattan to Paris, to be at the side of new love, the brilliant but arrogant Russian artist Alexsandr Petrovsky ( Baryshnikov).

But Petrovsky turns out to be no goodski. Abandoned in Paris with nothing more several suitcases of couture dresses, she is rescued by old flame Big (Chris Noth), the love of her life ever since his appearance in the first episode.

He arrives at her hotel like the 7th Cavalry - - except he is in a limo.

On the banks of the Seine, they kiss and make up. "How did you get here?" Carrie asks. "It took me a really long time to get here," Big confesses. "Carrie, you're the one."

And the biggest question since we discovered the first name of Britain's Inspector Morse is finally answered - Mr Big's actual name. Back in Manhattan, Carrie answers her mobile phone.

It's Big, telling her he is ready to sell up in California where he moved several episodes ago, and come back to New York.

Only the caller ID on the phone doesn't say Big. After six years, we finally learn his real name. It's John.