4 bids farewell to Friends

Repeats of the ever-popular Friends sitcom is to be dropped from Channel 4 and E4 from the autumn. It’s been a regular fixture in the network’s schedules since 1994.

In a statement 4 said that the move would make way for new programming across both networks. Channel 4’s Gill Hay said: “We are incredibly proud to have been the home of Friends for so long, but at a point when the channel is undergoing a period of creative renewal it felt like the right time to part company."

The last ever Friends episode drew an audience of 8.6 million viewers to Channel 4 when it was screened in 2004. It continues to attract an average audience of almost 400,000 to the network.