Samantha Jones, played by Kim Cattrall, is a successful, independent publicist. The show's most outspoken and feisty character, she is a confident and sexual woman.

Samantha is the oldest and most sexually experienced of the group, she can't get enough sex and avoids getting emotionally involved with her conquests. She does however have a few relationships during the show, which allows her sensitive side to come to light.

Miranda Hobbes, played by Cynthia Nixon, is a workaholic lawyer and Carrie's best friend. Extremely cynical, her views on men and relationships are in complete contrast to Charlotte's.

Throughout the series, Miranda has an on-off relationship with barman Steve Brady, with whom she has a child in season 4.

Charlotte York, played by Kristin Davis, works as an art dealer in New York. A true romantic, she's the most optimistic of the main characters when it comes to finding "the one".

Straitlaced but big on tradition, Charlotte makes no bones about her desires in life: to find love, get married and have babies.

Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, is the main character in the series. Living in Manhattan, New York, she is a writer for the New York Star newspaper, where she writes a weekly sex column. Her thoughts for the content of her column form the basis of each episode, along with her own experiences and those of her friends.

Carrie has had several long-term relationships but there's only one man who sets her heart racing like no other! Mr Big, with whom she has an on-off relationship. disappears and reappears in her life several times during the series.

Carrie's fashion sense is somewhat unique: she's passionate about designer clothing, (sometimes peculiar) accessories and, of course, those Manolo Blahnik shoes!