Watch the trailer
Trailer: Friends. Cast, where to watch and more on the title page.
The One About Matthew Perry, a three-part docuseries about the late Friends star, arrives on Netflix on Tuesday 27 October. Its pitch is access: according to Netflix, several of the people closest to Perry are speaking on camera about him for the first time, and the series draws on unreleased photos and video from the Perry family archive.
Who made it
The series is directed by Emmy winner Mary Robertson and produced by Maxine Productions, part of Sony Pictures Television. Robertson executive produces with Lisa Kalikow, Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman. Netflix rates it TV-MA.
Netflix says the series traces Perry’s path from young comedian to Friends star while also addressing his private struggles with addiction. “Matthew Perry was one of the comedic geniuses of our time,” Robertson told Tudum, adding that the aim was “to let the people who knew and loved Matthew reveal the person behind the public figure.”
Netflix
Netflix
Netflix
Who appears
Three of the voices are new to the screen. Mia Perry Bowick, Perry’s younger sister and a licensed psychotherapist, is making her first on-camera appearance about her brother. So are Roger Castillo, his best friend of more than 40 years, who drove him to the Friends audition, and actor David Pressman, another friend of four decades from the Formosa Cafe circle in Los Angeles.
“Matthew had a beautiful heart and a generous spirit, and even in his darkest moments, he could still make you laugh and feel loved,” Bowick says in the Tudum announcement.
The wider list, per Netflix, covers each chapter of his career:
- Warren Littlefield, the former NBC Entertainment president who greenlit the Friends pilot
- Jeff Strauss, a Friends season one writer and producer who helped shape Chandler
- Billy Gallo, his co-star on the 1987 Fox sitcom Boys Will Be Boys
- Kevin Pollak, his friend and co-star in The Whole Nine Yards, The Whole Ten Yards and Numb
- Jonathan Lynn, director of The Whole Nine Yards
- Doug Draizin, producer of Fools Rush In
- Nate Torrence, his co-star in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Mr. Sunshine
- Los Angeles Times culture columnist Mary McNamara
The series also includes friends from his recovery years, including Tim Harrington and Evelyn Sallinger, and West Huddleston, CEO of All Rise, who worked with Perry on drug court advocacy. E. Martin Estrada, the former US attorney for the Central District of California who led the prosecution connected to Perry’s death, is also interviewed.
What to know before pressing play
At three episodes, this is a short commitment rather than a season. Viewers sensitive to the subject should know Netflix describes the series as dealing directly with Perry’s addiction, and that it includes the federal prosecution connected to his death.
More of the inner circle
Beyond the family and friends who are speaking on camera for the first time, Netflix’s Tudum lists several more voices from Perry’s personal life. Marjorie Harris Newman, a young actor, befriended him in the late 1980s, before Friends. René Ashton, an actor, was a friend and his girlfriend in the late 1990s. Rome, an actor, was an on-and-off girlfriend and friend from 2011. Netflix’s title description frames the series around three threads: his “Hollywood success, outspoken advocacy and tragic death”, told by his inner circle.
Netflix describes his Chandler as the show’s “quick-witted, self-effacing heart”. He played the role for 10 seasons and 236 episodes, from 1994 to 2004.
Where to catch up on Friends
Where the sitcom streams depends on the market, and in the UK it is about to change.
- UK: all 10 seasons stream on NOW with the Entertainment membership. Channel 4 announced on 15 October that Friends returns to Channel 4 and E4 in January 2027, free to watch and stream. It last aired on Channel 4 in 2011. Channel 4 has not given a start date or said which seasons are included. More in Friends Is Moving Back to Channel 4.
- Canada: Bell Media made Crave the exclusive Canadian streaming home of all 10 seasons and 236 episodes from 31 December 2020. Check the Crave app for current availability.
More Netflix portraits this autumn
The One About Matthew Perry follows two other Netflix documentaries about famous lives released this month: Mike Tyson Tells It Himself, on the four-part TYSON, and Norm Macdonald, in His Own Words.
Where to watch
- The One About Matthew Perry: Netflix · Global (CA US UK AU NZ) · Tuesday 27 October
- Friends (10 seasons): NOW · UK · Streaming with the Entertainment membership; moves to Channel 4 and E4, free, from January 2027
- Friends (10 seasons): Crave · CA · Exclusive Canadian streaming home since 31 Dec 2020, per Bell Media
Sources
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