The Warner Brothers tour office is only 10 minutes from my hotel, and I wander down there at 10, for my tour.
Our guide is Thom, who as well as having an encyclopaedic knowledge of Warner Brothers, as you would expect, also seems to particularly enthusiastic about genre shows. He claims to be the only fan of the sadly cancelled Invasion – I correct him on this matter.
We begin with a tour of the backlots, with Thom reeling off a list of shows that each building appeared in. Many of the backlot sets are used for externals only. Some buildings are less than 10 feet deep, facade and nothing else. Others are proper buildings, but the interiors house offices. However, some are ‘practical’ sets, with insides as well as outsides. We are taken into one in particular, and find ourselves walking into the Geller’s house, from Friends, with the staircase where young Ross pined over his Casio keyboard while Monica and Rachel got ready for their prom dance.