SHE was a poster girl for American singletons, a US Bridget Jones without the big knickers but with far more neuroses.

Ally McBeal was a single lawyer blessed and cursed with eccentric colleagues, a married-to-someone-else childhood sweetheart and an overactive imagination.

The show was created by David E Kelley, who had already cut his legal teeth on the hugely successful LA Law, and starred Calista Flockhart in the starring role of a young lawyer working in fictional Boston law firm Cage, Fish & Associates.

An initial pilot saw Ally’s life played out in the first of a series of trademark flashbacks. She and fellow lawyer Billy Thomas had been going steady throughout their childhoods and she had followed him to Harvard Law School despite having no interest in practicing as a career.

When Billy’s job took him away from her, their relationship ended, but fate reunited them when an old classmate of Ally’s – Richard Fish – gave her a job at his firm where Billy just happened to be working. The only problem was, Billy had a new wife.

Their ‘will-they, won’t they?’ love dilemma was one of many on-going personal life stories woven into each episode.

Meanwhile, self-contained storylines centred around cases being handled by the various partners in the firm, most notably John Cage – the oddball with a Barry White fetish who never seemed to lose – and the formidable Ling Woo, played from seasons 2-5 by Lucy Liu (who went on to become a big screen Charlie’s Angel).

Thrown into the mix were the gossipy, ditzy secretary Elaine (Jane Krakowski) and Ally’s best friend and housemate Renee, who was responsible for giving out advice on life and love to the hapless lawyer.

Launched on the Fox network in the US, Ally McBeal was hugely successful for several reasons, Firstly, Ally’s search for true love struck a chord with millions of female fans, then there were the supporting cast of bizarre characters, Vonda Shepard’s soundtrack and finally the unique vivid fantasy sequences which were cleverly used to represent a person’s wishful daydreams .

Well-known cameos were another draw, with big names such as Dyan Cannon, Anne Heche, Barry Humphries and Jon Bon Jovi all drafted in to boost ratings.

In fact, so popular was it that Ally McBeal picked up two Emmys, three Golden Globes and two Screen Actors Guild awards during its five-season run. In season four Robert Downey Jr joined the regular cast as Ally’s boyfriend Larry Paul, and his arrival initially prompted viewing figures to upturn.

But when the actor got into legal troubles in real life over drug addiction, he was forced to leave the show and – along with the departure of Lisa Nicole Carson as Renee – it was the beginning of the end.

The 112th and final episode aired in May 2002, although there have been a succession of complete series boxed sets since.

The show’s star, Calista Flockhart, has maintained a public profile since – due as much to her private life as her work. Plagued by rumours of an eating disorder, she adopted a baby boy named Liam in January 2001 then met and began to date Hollywood veteran Harrison Ford after the 2002 Golden Globes. The couple recently married.

Did you know?

Calista Flockhart was born on 11 November, 1964 in Freeport, Illinois. Her mother, Kay, was a school teacher and her father, Ronald, worked for Kraft Foods Inc.

She was offered the role of Susan Mayer on Desperate Housewives, but declined. The role went to Teri Hatcher.

Since 2006, she has starred in the ABC TV series Brothers & Sisters with Sally Field.

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