When Gossip Girl burst on to ITV2 in 2000 it was like Dawson’s Creek had stumbled across its mum’s Rampant Rabbit and created a glamorous monster of a teen show.

Upper East Side frenemies Serena Van Der Woodsen (Blake Lively at her unknown best) and Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) were at the centre of the action, which showed New York in all its shiny and most privileged glory.

Although Gossip Girl was a simple tale of rich teenagers who drink Martinis in artfully lit bars after school, the sheer level of evil displayed by the characters helped it to subvert the youthful genre. These weren’t underconfident teens struggling with self-esteem, acne and angst; they were smooth operators.

The moment the enigmatic Gossip Girl spotted Serena skulking back into town after being banished for enjoying some slow-mo lust with her best friend Blair’s boyfriend, the scene was set. Blogging was in its infancy and GG was all OMG, XOXO and blind items. Voiced by Kristen Bell, her identity was a secret in those early seasons, and they were all the better for it.

Gossip Girl’s downfall was cemented by its happy ending

Gossip Girl was created by The OC’s Josh Schwartz, who picked up the book that was originally meant to be a Lindsay Lohan film. (Yes, stop for a moment to imagine just how joyous that would have been.)



With threesomes, catfights, burlesque moments and all of the other things that strike fear into the hearts of parents everywhere, the kids of Gossip Girl were in the prime of their lives. The cameos were perfection: Kim Gordon, Ivanka Trump and a leopardskin-clad Liz Hurley proclaiming: “This is the master bedroom. Let’s destroy it,” before giving Nate the MILFy hair-ruffling of his young life.

How could the scandalous bunch grow old disgracefully? That’s where Gossip Girl came unstuck. It wasn’t just that GG’s identity was revealed twice, eventually settling on the big let-down that was Lonely Boy Dan. Implausible, unless dishing the dirt on his sister’s sex life was a reasonable move. It wasn’t even that you had to suspend reality to believe that Chuck got shot and his dad, Bart Bass, faked his death before returning and falling off a rooftop. And it wasn’t that Blair was pregnant by a foreign prince so wooden it was a miracle someone didn’t try to Ronseal him.



No, Gossip Girl’s downward spiral kept on swirling and the show’s eventual downfall was cemented by its happy ending. Serena dutifully coupled up with Dan, the drippy one who’d been obsessed with her from the start and for all the viewers know they’re living the quiet life in The Hamptons right now. Despite Chuck being the show’s resident villain, viewers were supposed to believe that Chair (that’s Chuck and Blair for the uninitiated) had found true love, so much so they even got married.

Gossip Girl wasn’t a show that was meant to be heartwarming: it was originally billed as “every parent’s nightmare”. Teenage friskiness can’t last for ever, but it’s a bit of a leap to imagine that the Machiavellian Breakfast Club of characters could ever become so boring.

