When Harry Met Sally will forever remain one of my favourite films. Not only because it dishes up one of the best romances of all time, but it also gave us something to think about when Billy Crystal uttered the fateful words: “No man can be friends with a woman that he finds attractive.”

Heteronormative assumptions aside, it’s one of those sweeping statements that has always felt… well, a bit wrong. Because true friendship is based on mutual trust and respect, right? It’s something that transcends sexual attraction.

Still, it has completely warped our perspective because it encourages us to add a ‘will they, won’t they?’ element to every on-screen friendship between a man and a woman. Friendships such as the one between, say, The Bear’s Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) and Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) – which, sure, is fizzing with chemistry, but why does that chemistry have to result in an explosion of romantic love? Especially when platonic love, with all of its warmth and quiet intimacy, can feel so much more authentic and reflective of our real-world experiences? And both White and Edebiri are in agreement that they don’t want their on-screen friendship to go there. White even confirmed, at a press conference, that there won’t be a romance saying: “There was no talk in the rooms about any romantic implications [between Carmy and Sydney].”

With that in mind, then, here are a handful of our absolute favourite platonic pairings from the small screen. Because, you guessed it, listing off pop culture references is absolutely our love language…

Bryn and Nessa (Gavin And Stacey)

The best platonic relationships on TV (and why we love them so much)