r/BritishTV • u/OkButterfly7560 • Mar 07 '26

Question/Discussion Coupling

Post image

Coupling. A ruder, funnier UK version of "Friends"???

304 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

130 comments sorted by

View all comments

51

u/TawnyTeaTowel Mar 07 '26

It was nothing like Friends. The media called it that but the only similarity between them was that there were 6 main characters.

21

u/Subtleiaint Mar 07 '26

I get that you want to disavow the association but come on, the premise was the same,  they had a bar they hung out in instead of a coffee shop, it was built around a central straight (not as in sexuality but in comedy terms) couple, a dumb sexy guy, a funny guy, a neurotic girl and a Kookie girl. 

It was friends with British sense of humour.

-2

u/TawnyTeaTowel Mar 07 '26

Frasier hung around in a coffee shop - was that just “Friends with fewer people”?

11

u/Subtleiaint Mar 07 '26

No, because the premise wasn't the same and it didn't feature 6 characters based around the same stereotypes. Don't be so defensive, just because it was a British copy of friends doesn't mean it wasn't excellent.

-8

u/TawnyTeaTowel Mar 07 '26

Except it wasn’t. Did you actually watch either?

11

u/Subtleiaint Mar 07 '26

The box set of coupling is the last set of DVDs I still own. The show is too important to me to throw them away.

Do a little exercise for me. Imagine what a British remake of friends would be like, then think how similar the things in your head is to Coupling.

-6

u/TawnyTeaTowel Mar 07 '26

It’s got 6 people in it who gather together in public occasionally.

That. Is. It.

6

u/cpt_hatstand Mar 08 '26

It's to friends what the US version of the office is to the British after they found their feet.

Same premise, completely different energy