In 1998, HBO was a subscription-funded cable channel known for movies and boxing. Its only established scripted series was cult spoof The Larry Sanders Show; its first drama, Oz, had debuted the year before to widespread indifference.

No one, it was thought, would buy a subscription for a female-led sitcom – least of all one that featured the fading stars that were Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall, plus a couple of total unknowns. Most importantly, TV comedy was rarely about women and it absolutely did not deal with female sexuality. So the idea of a TV show centred on a niche newspaper column about the even more niche Manhattan dating scene, featuring four women and their sex lives, was clearly insane.

The Telegraph London