We all remember the last ever episode of Sex And The City when Carrie flees to Paris in an ill-fated romance with Aleksandr Petrovsky - before Mr Big comes and rescues her and whisks her back to her beloved New York. 

While the reunion with the-one-who-never-got-away was somehow inevitable, the decision to give Carrie - and all three of her girlfriends - a happy ending courtesy of a man raised a few eyebrows. After all, the whole point of SATC was women doing it for themselves; men, in all their colourful variety, had more of a passing sidekick role.

Now Liz Tuccillo, one of the key writers on the seminal TV show, has admitted that its ending was the source of many heated discussions and arguments among HBO producers and scribes. 

"That was the big argument when we were ending the show," Tuccillo tells Cosmopolitan this week. "All of us were arguing about it. Not just that she ends up with Big, because I think we all knew, even if we didn't want to admit it, that she was going to end up with Big. But the fact that all of the women end up with someone. That was a huge conversation in the writers' room. We felt a big responsibility to end the show right. And by having every character with somebody, it means that ultimately, the show is about finding love in the big city and were going to be optimists and say that everybody's found it. Everybody's happy."

The last SATC episode in season six sees every lead character end up in a secure relationship. Miranda has Steve, Charlotte is happy with Harry, Carrie eventually finds Big and even the irrepressible Samantha is tempted into monogamy with toyboy Jerry.

"We could have ended it saying, 'The show isn't about women finding love. Its about the journey of self acceptance, about being happy with yourself and being single. Also, you don't always get what you want, anyway,'" Tuccillo says. "But who's gonna want to watch that?"

"I'm not saying it wouldn't work with other women, with other characters. That can be a great story, a woman who chooses to go it alone. But for Carrie Bradshaw, specifically, she believes in love, and her idea of love is always with that perfect guy. Or not perfect, at all. Perfect for her. That's what she would choose as her happy ending. And we wanted to write that for her."

But she insists, "It's not about only being happy with a man, though. It really isn't. It's about accepting that what you want isn't always perfect, at all, but in a way, that's what makes it great."

Sex and The City was Tuccillo's first TV writing gig (she was 38 when she started writing for the show) and she's the woman behind some central moments - including Berger dumping Carrie by Post-It note and the gutting phrase "he's just not that into you". 

 "I'm so proud of 'not that into you,'" she said. "It's harsh, but it helped women get out of silly situations. It still does. I think it sets a lot of women free to move on... and Berger breaking up with Carrie on a Post-It note, it was horrible, but it was so funny. And i'ts not that far out, I mean, there are so many horrible ways that people break up with each other. And this was pre-text message! Now there are even more shitty ways to break up with someone!"

Her explosive storylines also saw Carrie have an affair with Big when he was married to Natasha and she was dating Aidan.  

"If you sleep with a guy who has a girlfriend, it's his fault but it's her fault, too," Tuccillo says. "I believe you have a responsibility to other women. Karmically, cosmically, the woman whose husband I'm sleeping with, I'm wronging her. Maybe it's a woman power thing, but I don't think women should steal each other's men. There is no integrity there. You should go find a good single man."

And the best way to do this, she says, is, "go to Tinder! I'm so excited about Tinder. I don't do it, but everyone I know who's done it is having success with it. It might be an easy way to meet people."

The season finale of SATC, An American Girl In Paris (Part Deux), aired in 2004. 

It ended with Carrie musing, "The most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you can find someone to love the you you love, well, that's just fabulous."

"It's very important to me that we are dignified and graceful in our exit from the [current] series," Sarah Jessica Parker - aka Carrie - said at the time.

Two SATC movies followed, to mixed critical reception (the second film, released in 2010, was widely panned). 

Remind yourself of the romantic finale to Mr Big and Carrie's relationship in the TV show ending, below.

What do you think? Did the SATC TV series have the ending you wanted - should all of the women ended up with men they loved? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. 

Photos: Rex Features