Former Friends director James Burrows has admitted there’s one guest star that he was less than sold on.
James directed 15 episodes of Friends during its first five years on the air, as well as working on shows like Will & Grace, The Big Bang Theory, Cheers and its spin-off Frasier.
In his memoir Directed By James Burrows, excerpts of which have been published by the Daily Mail, the 11-time Emmy winner reflected on working with Cold Feet star Helen Baxendale, who appeared in Friends’ fourth and fifth seasons.
The British actor played Emily Waltham, who met Ross while on holiday in New York and wound up marrying him in a disastrous wedding ceremony that saw him saying the wrong name at the altar.
In his book, James admitted that while Helen was “nice” to work with, he didn’t find her “funny”, and admitted he wanted to recast the character of Emily.
“She was nice but not particularly funny,” he wrote. “[David] Schwimmer had no one to bounce off. It was like clapping with one hand.
“’In sitcoms and any type of romantic comedy, the funny is just as important as the chemistry. We discovered that any new girlfriend for Ross needed to be as funny as Rachel.
“Often, you can’t recast, because of tight shooting deadlines or other logistical considerations. You don’t cast anyone to be a straw man, unless it’s for one episode.”
He continued: “You need someone who gets laughs. Sometimes you start an arc and it ain’t working out, so you have to get rid of that person.”
After her ill-fated wedding to Ross, Emily remained in London, with Helen’s appearances in the fifth season of Friends being filmed remotely until she was eventually written out.
Helen previously told The Mirror in 2012: “I am very proud and delighted to have been in such an amazingly successful and international show.
“It’s always a talking point and it was a very clever set up – even now young people especially seem to love it. But it doesn’t feel like part of my life at all now. I look upon it as a strange surreal little blip in my life almost like a dream.”
She recalled: “They were all very nice and professional. We were never great mates though. People expect because it is called Friends that everyone was great friends, but they were real professionals.
“They’d been doing it for years and I was one of many guest stars to appear.”
Singer Louise Redknapp revealed in 2020 that she’d been in the running to play Emily at one point, but eventually turned the part down.