Gossip Girl (2007 and 2021 series): Trailer, certificate and where to watch
Manhattan secrets and scandals go public thanks to an anonymous blogger
Year: 2021-2023
Certificate: 15
Clunky mobile phones trill into life as a text message flies around the wealthy elite of Manhattan: 'Serena is back!' When it arrived in 2007, Gossip Girl was one of the first big shows to embrace the internet age, and it's still great glossy viewing. The anonymous Girl of the title ran a blog, commentating on the lives, loves, scandals and rivalries of an elite set of beautiful young Americans, including Serena, played by Blake Lively, and Blair (Leighton Meester). The cast are a big part of why this scandalous show is fun to watch, from Lively and Meester to Ed Westwick as breathy lothario (and hotel heir) Chuck Bass to down-at-heel Dan Humphrey - played by Penn Badgley, who would go on to bigger things in serial killer thriller You.
A reboot followed in 2021 in which the bitter cat-fighting that powered the original had its claws clipped. There are queen bees in the updated run - Savannah Lee Smith's Monet and Jordan Alexander's Julien - but there's none of the viciousness we saw in the rivalry between Serena and Blair first time around. That's progress, arguably, but it's also less fun to watch. (All six series of the original, and both series of the reboot - both are available on iPlayer, just the original is on Netflix)
