Usually when my 11-year-old daughter Matilda looks in the freezer, she's after an ice lolly, but this time it was something very different.
"Look it's actually there," she said, her eyes widening in delight as she swung open the freezer door to reveal a copy of Stephen King's The Shining.
As any die-hard Friends fan will know - this is exactly what you'd expect to find in the ice box in Joey and Chandler's apartment, as this is where Joey puts his copy whenever he gets too scared reading it.
While we're not on the actual set of the Friends TV show, we're at the next best thing: the Friends Experience at London's ExCel, which has painstakingly recreated the key sets and pieces from the sitcom.
These include the Central Perk coffee shop, Monica and Rachel's apartment and even the partially demolished church where Ross and Emily got married, and Ross uttered the wrong name in his vows.
SURREAL
It's a surreal experience to walk through the studio set-ups, waiting patiently to sit on Joey and Chandler's iconic brown lazyboy chairs or play a quick game of foosball. There's even a dropped cheesecake on the floor, albeit a plastic one, outside the two apartment doors causing Matilda to drop to her knees and pretend to eat, as in The One With All The Cheesecakes episode.
It seems to not matter to my children, Sam, 13 and Matilda, that this episode aired in 2001, 23 years ago, when I was just starting out in my career.
Even my grumpy teen forgets himself when he sees the white sofa lodged in the stairwell, waiting for him to grab it and shout "Pivot!" just as Ross did in 1999 when the fifth series of the show aired.
Denne historien er fra September 16, 2024-utgaven av Daily Express.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra September 16, 2024-utgaven av Daily Express.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Hands-on Arteta already planning for the next era
MIKEL ARTETA celebrates his 250th game in charge of Arsenal today - and has already mapped out the future with the Gunners hierarchy.
Unai said: Until you can prove yourself you're a Championship player in my eyes
TOUGH love has transformed Morgan Rogers into a Premier League thoroughbred.
No place like a prize home for Omaze winner
ECSTATIC Sarah Perry has won a £500,000 home near her Powys roots in an Omaze draw and given her husband the shock of his life.
Back beside the seaside 52 years on
FUN-LOVING pals reshot a snap from their first holiday together - 52 years ago.
'Harshita, you left this world but are still in our hearts'
Family's tribute to body-in-boot wife
Factory farming costs taxpayer £1bn a year
THE factory farming of animals costs taxpayers almost £1billion a year, a study has found.
'Our beautiful one-of-a-kind Simone had a spark for life'
THE parents of a British lawyer who died after allegedly being served drinks laced with methanol in Laos say they are \"devastated by the loss of our beautiful, kind and loving daughter\".
Strictly Sarah: I didn't believe I could do lifts ...but look at me now
NEWLY confident Sarah Hadland has ditched her panic about bare legs, fake tans and doing ballroom lifts to become a firm favourite to win Strictly Come Dancing.
Down thunder! Aussie TV camp soaked
THE I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! camp has been battered by torrential rain, which could lead to the contestants being evacuated.
300 jabs a minute to event tripledemic’
AN NHS vaccination blitz is delivering more than 300 jabs a minute to tackle a deadly \"tripledemic\" of flu, Covid and respiratory syncytial virus.