‘Friends’ Returning To Channel 4 After 15 Years
Channel 4 has secured UK free-to-air rights to all 10 seasons of Friends, bringing the sitcom back to its original British broadcast home after 15 years. The series will be available on Channel 4’s video-on-demand player and E4 from January 2027, while HBO Max remains its UK streaming home.
The show first aired in the UK on Channel 4 in the mid-1990s before moving to E4 in 2001, and later appeared on services and channels including Netflix, 5 and Comedy Central. The deal, made with Warner Bros., moves the free-to-air rights from 5 and comes as Channel 4 prepares for a leadership change and cuts to around half of its commissioning team.
- Friends returns to Channel 4 and E4 in January 2027.
- All 10 seasons will be available free to air.
- HBO Max remains the UK streaming home.
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Friends is an American sitcom about six friends sharing life, relationships and work in New York. It ran for 10 seasons and first reached UK viewers on Channel 4 in the 1990s, before moving to E4 and later appearing on other channels and streaming services.
Channel 4 is the broadcaster that first showed the series in the UK, while E4 is one of its channels and Warner Bros. owns the programme. Free-to-air rights let viewers watch through a television channel without a subscription; they are separate from streaming rights, which HBO Max holds in the UK.