Friends scripts found in London bin on sale
TWO original scripts for the classic sitcom Friends, which were found in a bin in London, are going up for auction.
The scripts for “The One With Ross’s Wedding” Part I and Part II, were thrown away after the episodes were filmed in London in 1998.
Despite the cast and crew asking for scripts to be destroyed to prevent the plot leaking, they were found by a studio worker. The vendor salvaged them from Fountain Studios in Wembley and took them home, keeping hold of them for 26 years.
The 60-year-old Londoner, who wished not to be named, is selling them at Hertfordshire auctioneers Hanson Ross. The sale takes place on Friday.
The man said: “I found them in a bin a couple of week’s after filming had finished. 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 added: “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. American humour is different to ours. These scripts deserve to be owned by a big Friends fan.”
In the two-part episode, Ross, Monica, Joey, Chandler and Rachel travelled to England to see Ross marry his English fiancée Emily.
Amanda Butler, of Hanson Ross, said: “The two scripts were found at a television studio which is no longer there.
“Apparently, the cast and crew were ordered to destroy their copies so the ending wouldn’t be leaked. However, these two slipped through the net.
“We’re guiding them at £600-£800, but thanks to the show’s huge global appeal, who knows where the hammer may fall.”