Friends say goodbye

They have been best Friends for 10 years but the cast of one of the most popular sitcoms in TV history took their final bow in America last night. Watched by an audience estimated to be at least 50 million, the series ended with an hour-long finale designed to wrap up the loose ends in the lives of the six photogenic New Yorkers.

increasingly at odds with the easy-going single lives of their characters. Jennifer Aniston, who played Rachel, married superstar Brad Pitt, while Matthew Perry, who plays Chandler, spent time in rehab for addiction to painkillers.

Despite earning $1 million (£570,000) an episode, the cast decided to call it a day last year. Advertising for the finale clocked up £1.1 million for a 30-second slot for NBC.

The cast were together hours after the last episode had been shown on the set of the coffee shop Central Perk for a special edition of Jay Leno's late night chat show. Perry said everyone had "shed a few tears" as they watched the final episode together.

Courteney Cox (Monica) admitted to being the most emotional while Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe) said she had almost missed it because it clashed with a meeting with her son's teachers. "I didn't realise it was such a big deal," she claimed.

Filming ended in January, and the cast are already moving in different directions. Kudrow has established herself as a successful Hollywood actress. Heavily pregnant Cox is about to have a baby boy.

Asked by Leno what she was doing next, Aniston avoided rumours that she is trying to conceive, saying she was taking "travel time" before starting work on a new film in July.

Perry is producing a new film with his father, actor John Bennett Perry, while Matt LeBlanc is to star in a spin-off from Friends called Joey in which his character tries his luck in Hollywood.

But at the back of their minds must be the so-called "curse of Seinfeld" which has seen the cast of another hugely successful comedy struggle through a series of flops.

Most of the final episode focused on the fate of ill-fated lovers Ross and Rachel. With Rachel heading to Paris for a new job it hinged on David Schwimmer as Ross trying to