And Just Like That: 5 things we spotted in the Sex and the City trailer

Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis have all returned for the new series

If there's one thing we can be grateful for in 2021, it's the long-awaited return of one of the best-loved programmes in television history.

But we can discuss Bradley Walsh relaunching Blankety Blank another day.

For now, we're looking forward to the new Sex And The City spin-off. December might have only just arrived, but already the trailer for And Just Like That has upstaged the tiny chocolate reindeer behind the first door of our advent calendar.

On first impression, the teaser for the new 10-part series looks promising - and TV network HBO Max have already delivered a successful one-off Friends reunion this year, so we're cautiously optimistic.

Every New Yorker and their dog has spent the last year taking photos of And Just Like That being filmed on the city's streets and sending them in to DeuxMoi (it's a celebrity sightings Instagram account, Dad), adding to the anticipation for the new series.

Cynthia Nixon (left) reprises her role as Miranda in the new spin-off

Cynthia Nixon is set to return as Miranda Hobbes, Kristin Davis as Charlotte York, and Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw, the journalist who can afford a luxurious New York lifestyle writing one column a week. Career goals.

The show jumps 20 years ahead of the original and follows the characters taking on a "new chapter" as they navigate life and friendship in their 50s.

It will arrive later this month - 17 years after Sex And The City's finale, and 13 years after the 2008 feature film. (There was also a sequel, Sex And The City 2, but we don't talk about that so hush now.)

Here are five things we spotted in the trailer for And Just Like That:

1. Tonight... is the night... when four become three

Charlotte holds an Oscar de la Renta dress in a sign the show will be as fashion-conscious as ever

Look, we're used to getting emotional over adverts at this time of year. We felt a lump in our throat over the new McDonalds commercial, with the cute blue monster who gets left in the wardrobe, just the same way you did. We're not robots.

But what we weren't expecting was to feel such a strong pang of sadness within the first 12 seconds of the And Just Like That trailer.

As we hear an attendant ask, "Carrie, party of three?", we can only be reminded that it was once a party of four. (Kim Cattrall has opted not to take part in the new series after a long-running feud with Sarah Jessica Parker.)

To be fair, the show couldn't have ignored the fact that one quarter of the original group is missing, and this is a classy way to acknowledge the Samantha in the room.

It's like the Spice Girls reunion tour - everybody had a perfectly lovely time with the ones who turned up, but you can't help feeling it would've been nice if Victoria was involved.

2. Carrie has a podcast

Because of course she does. We're seriously considering implementing a one-in/one-out policy for celebrity podcasts at the moment because the situation is frankly getting ridiculous.

Throughout the trailer, we see Carrie wearing giant headphones and speaking into a microphone as she reflects on her life.

"The more I live, the more I find that if you have good friends in your corner, anything's possible," she says.

"The future is unwritten because we're all at different stages of life."

Later in the trailer, we see her discussing sex and relationships with her co-hosts, the contents of which we can't possibly repeat here as we're a family website. It's clear, however, that the show is going to be just as gloriously explicit as its predecessor, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

3. Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte are all still married (we think)

It's always hard to tell from a trailer - and who knows what the storylines of the new series will bring - but on first glance it appears that the three leading women are still married to the same partners.

Roughly half of marriages in the US end in divorce so statistically we'd have expected at least one of them to have ended by now, but we'll leave the BBC's Reality Check team to investigate this anomaly at a later date.

Evan Handler is here as Charlotte's husband Harry Goldenblatt; while David Eigenberg returns as Miranda's husband Steve Brady.

4. And one other Big character is back too

Of the marriages, the trailer puts particular focus on Big (Chris Noth), who we first see on a Peloton, and then kissing Carrie, as he says to her: "I remember when you kept your sweaters in the stove."

Presumably a reference to her limited closet space in her younger years. Unless this was a tactic to warm her sweaters up before she wore them? In which case, please don't try this at home.

The late Willie Garson, who played Bradshaw's best friend Stanford, also makes a brief appearance. The actor died in September aged 57 following a battle with cancer.

5. There are some new faces along for the ride

Seema speaks to Carrie in a restaurant with excellent taste in plates

Sara Ramirez, Sarita Choudhury, Nicole Ari Parker and Karen Pittman are among the faces who have joined the cast for the spin-off.

From the trailer, it looks like some of them will assist Carrie in reflecting how the dating landscape has changed in recent years.

(Bear in mind, when Sex and the City ended in 2004, Hinge was something you found on a door.)

When Carrie asks Choudhury's character Seema Patel how many dating apps she is on, she responds: "I'm just waiting for someone to create a dating site which is called 'Here's the man you have been searching for, Seema'."

Where do we sign up?

The first two episodes of And Just Like That are released on 9 Dec on HBO Max in the US, and on streaming service Now in the UK.