Friends director brands Emily star Helen Baxendale 'not funny' and wanted to recast her
Cold Feet actress Helen Baxendale has been labelled "nice but not funny" by Friends director James Burrow, who worked with the actress on the fourth series of the popular sitcom. Helen, 53, appeared in the comedy series as Emily Waltham, Ross' (David Schwimmer) second wife, who left him shortly after their wedding at which he famously called her Rachel during their vows. Reflecting on his time directing the show in his memoir Directed by James Burrows, James wrote that while Helen was "nice", she didn't have much comedic energy, and other cast members struggled in scenes with her as they "had no one to bounce off." He wrote: "She was nice but not particularly funny, Schwimmer had no one to bounce off.