Fandemonium!

It’s mayhem in Manhattan as fashionistas f lock to Times Square to watch Sex And The City stars f ilm latest drama

EVEN by the standards of a Friday night i n New York’s Times Square, these were chaotic scenes. More than 150 people – mostly women – packed the pavement opposite Manhattan’s Lyceum Theatre, mobile phones held high to capture every moment. Suddenly the leading ladies appeared and the crowd noise became deafening, cheers punctured only by the beeping of horns from the city’s famous yellow taxis. The reason? Filming has just started for the reboot of Sex And The City – a ten- episode drama called And Just Like That… ‘Extraordinary chaos,’ as one witness put it. ‘Mayhem. Everyone trying to get pictures for their Instagram and TikTok accounts. Madness.’ The Mail on Sunday was there as Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis – reprising their roles as Carrie Bradshaw, Miranda Hobbes and Charlotte York – filmed a scene in front of the Lyceum, dressed up as the fictional Manhattan School of Music. It has been 17 years since the original show ended, yet thanks to Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, Sex And The City maintains a cult-like following.

‘I was a baby when it was on but I’m addicted,’ said 18-yearold student Danielle Cadavid. ‘This is the hottest thing on social media. I came from Miami to get material for my TikTok.

‘I love the fashion, I love Sarah Jessica Parker. I love everything about it. Things have been bad and this is something that is happy and joyous.’

Online fan sites are following the new series in slavish detail, from the designer outfits of Carrie and her gang to rumoured plot twists, such as her marriage split from ‘Mr Big’.

According to HBO producers, the drama will concentrate on the ‘even more complicated reality of life and friendship as the characters hit their 50s’. Carrie has been spotted with grey roots and even wears flat shoes.

A relaxed SJP beamed at the crowd on Friday night, looking stylish in a cream jacket and dark-blue three-quarter-length trousers. Her Ins tag ram account has offered sneak peeks, including on-set photos of whip-smart lawyer Miranda( now sporting a grey cropped hairstyle) and sweet Charlotte, striding confidently down the street in a flower-motif dress.

According to numerous sources in the US, Carrie has exchanged her newspaper sex column for a podcast, in keeping with the changing times.

The gang might still be sipping their favourite Cosmopolitan cocktails, but the 2021 version has revealed several nods to ‘ wokeness’, # MeToo and the Black Lives Matter movement.

The original Sex And The City was criticised for being ‘too white’, so producers have insisted on changes to ensure the new series ‘accurately reflects New York’.

Several actors of colour have been hired as central characters, including Nicole Ari Parker as a Park Avenue mother and documentarian, and Sarita Choudhury as an estate agent.