Two original Friends scripts that were found trashed in London in 1998, are going on sale at Hertfordshire auctioneers Hanson Ross on 12 January.
The scripts of NBC’s hit sitcom were said to have been found at the now-defunct Fountain Studios after the filming of part one and part two of season four’s “The One With Ross’s Wedding” episodes.
While all of the show’s cast and crew were expected to have destroyed the scripts to prevent any contents from being leaked, a studio worker, who preferred not to be named, per The Telegraph, salvaged the scripts that were evidently tossed in the bin.
“I found them in a bin a couple of weeks after filming had finished,” he told the publication. “It was part of my job to ensure everything was tidy and no rubbish was left around. I wasn’t sure what to do with them, so I just put them in my office drawer.”
He said: “I remember wondering which member of the cast they might have belonged to.
“I left Fountain Studios in 1999 and when I came to clear my desk I just swept everything into a big cardboard box. I forgot the scripts were there. They were mixed up in a pile of paperwork.”
He went on to admit that “funnily enough, I’m not a big Friends fan”. “I don’t dislike the show, but I only recently watched the episodes I have the scripts for,” he added. “American humour is different to ours. These scripts deserve to be owned by a big Friends fan.”
Friends cast (from left) David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc.— (NBC)
The 60-year-old Londoner who had kept them for 26 years will now be auctioning them off at Friday’s event. Hanson Ross estimated the scripts to be worth between £600 and £800.
In the 1998 episode, Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel Green desperately tries to get to London to tell David Schwimmer’s Ross that she’s in love with him before he goes forward with marrying his fianceé Emily (Helen Victoria Baxendale).
“Friends fans will absolutely love these. They sweep us back to 1998 when Ross, Monica, Joey, Chandler and Rachel travelled to England to see Ross marry his fiancée, Emily, in London,” Amanda Butler, of Hanson Ross, said to The Telegraph.
“We’re guiding them at £600-£800, but thanks to the show’s huge global appeal, who knows where the hammer may fall,” she said. “Friends’ final show aired 20 years ago in 2004, but the series is still watched and enjoyed by millions.”
