The Sex and the City cast

As the groundbreaking romantic comedy Sex and the City enters Season 5 in India, HBO beams two episodes back-to-back every Sunday after the 8 pm movie with encore episodes on Wednesday night.

Since its international launch in 1998, Sex and the City has spawned into a pop-culture phenomenon, amassing fans the world over with its candid yet honest take on the issues women face. Seasons 5 and 6, having scored three Emmy Awards, 24 Emmy nominations, two Golden Globe awards and 10 Golden Globe award nominations, sees everyone?s favourite women ? Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda ? return; older and wiser, but no less hopeful.

Michael Patrick King (picture right), executive producer of the serial, looks back in amusement and nostalgia.

lHow do you feel the show has evolved?

I sometimes think the show has evolved in the way a relationship evolves.

lWhat are your strongest influences in TV, film, theatre, etc?

The strongest influence on our show is... life. Life experiences coupled with imagination.

lDo you have a favourite episode?

Ex and the City. Most people remember it as the Hubble episode. It?s got some hilarious highs like Samantha trying to have sex with Mr Cocky and some very emotional lows... The final image of Carrie turning away from the horse, her hair blowing in slow motion, takes my breath away.

lWhat was the most challenging episode to write?

Early in the first season, I had to struggle more to find the tone of one particular show, Bay of Married Pigs. Yet, out of that struggle came an important lesson which we all use to this day. Carrie is lightning smart about men. Just because she gets lost and makes mistakes doesn?t mean she is naive. She can see someone across the room and know his story in a second flat. It?s only when her heart gets involved and she falls in love that she loses perspective.

lIs there one character in particular that you enjoy writing for most?

I love writing for all the women. I love Carrie for her heart and her searching. I love Miranda for her hurt and her absolute realness. I love Charlotte for her hopes and her personal hell, and I love Samantha for her dignity and death-defying bravery. I believe writing is a love affair you have with your characters and occasionally, in an experience like this, it?s also a love affair with the actors who play them. As you write, you hope the audience will love what Carrie says and hope that Sarah Jessica Parker will love what she will say as Carrie.

lHow will the addition of Miranda?s baby impact the show?

That is something we?ve spent an enormous amount of time trying to figure out. When we realised Miranda had just entered into a very significant ?relationship?, we started to get clearer. We plan to treat the baby the way we treat any relationship the girls might have ? problems, joys, bitching and all.

lWe?ve noticed the absence of the girls? respective families in the past. Was this intentional?

Yes, it?s very intentional. The show is not about the family you were born into. It?s about the family you choose. Over the years we?ve realised that the viewers have a very personal attachment to the characters. They identify with them. They see aspects of themselves in each of the four girls. If we were to bring on a specific type of person and say, ?This is Carrie?s mother,? it would interfere with the viewer?s version of who they feel Carrie is.

lHow much of the storyline comes from the writing team?s personal experiences?

A lot. Our dating and personal relationship histories are peppered throughout all the years. And even if a specific story is from someone?s imagination, we fill it with the truth of our own emotional realities. I always look first to actual embarrassing or emotional stuff that has happened to us. Then, no matter how bizarre, it?s real, it happened, so I feel we can use it. It?s amazing how many stories a room full of women writers in their thirties have. I like to say: Good Sex is filled with our personal histories plus our imaginations.