All hail Samantha Jones – Kim Cattrall's 15 best Sex and the City moments

As the legendary Kim Cattrall celebrates her birthday, we SATC fans at RadioTimes.com have put together the definitive list of her best moments as Samantha Jones.

Samantha Jones's best Sex and the City moments

1) Sushi

(Sex and the City: The Movie)

Need we say more? Sushi, Samantha, and no Smith.

When our heroine – in a distinctly out-of-character move – spent Valentine's Day lovingly hand-making sushi for her man and laying it all over her naked body as a surprise for him, only for him to arrive home very, very late, it gifted us one of her greatest ever line deliveries.

"I am not the type of woman who sits home all day waiting for a man!" she screamed at him, hurling the aforementioned hand-made sushi at him. "Enjoy your California handmade roll! Happy f***ing Valentine's Day."

And if the fact that Samantha got wasabi "in places one should never get wasabi" wasn't enough, she also modelled the most incredible Giuseppe Zanotti fishbone stilettos for her big sushi scene.

2) "I will not be judged by you or society"

(Cover Girl - Season 5, Episode 4)

Some of the best episodes of Sex and the City focus on a fractious moment between two of the leading ladies, and this episode in the penultimate season saw conflict between Carrie and Samantha.

After Carrie showed some mild horror and judgement after catching Samantha giving oral sex to a delivery guy at work, Samantha feels looked down upon by her oldest friend.

As such, Samantha stands up for herself and her sexual independence and firmly puts Carrie in her place. Luckily, this helps the two ladies to bury the hatchet.

3) Taking off her wig

(An American Girl In Paris (Part Une) - Season 6, Episode 19)

In one of the series' most emotional but also empowering moments, Samantha attends a breast cancer benefit to give a speech but begins to suffer from sweating due to the side effects of her treatments.

Wearing a wig but sweating profusely beneath it, Samantha then confesses her own breast cancer battle and exclaims: “Oh f*** it, she’s me… and if any of you are having hot flashes like I am you deserve a f**** medal. Bad enough I had to lose my hair, now I have my face running down my couture."

This prompts the women in the crowd who are also suffering from breast cancer to stand up and remove their wigs too in a moment of true solidarity.

4) Defending Charlotte and her baby name

(The Baby Shower, Sex and the City – Season 1, Episode 10)

Samantha has always been fiercely loyal to her friends – something which cannot always be said of the friends in question.

A prime example is when, on a trip to an acquaintance's baby shower in Connecticut, Charlotte is heartbroken to learn that said acquaintance has stolen the name she'd had picked out for her own child since she was young, Samantha doesn't hesitate to jump to her defence – whether it causes a scene or not.

While the other two fail to take any decisive action, the instant she learns why Charlotte is upset, Samantha turns directly to the thieving mother, announcing: "You b***h!"

She then turns on her heel and leads her friends out of the house and, presumably, straight back to New York, loathe to see anyone she loves waste time on people who don't respect them.

5) Annabelle Bronstein

(Boy, Interrupted, Sex and the City – Season 6, episode 10)

A particularly hot New York summer's day gave us one of Samantha's best moments when she assumed the identity of Soho House member Annabelle Bronstein.

Following a chance encounter with Sex and the City's weirdest and most wonderful cameo, Geri Halliwell, on the street in a heatwave, Samantha winds up with a membership card to access the highly sought-after rooftop pool at the members' club's Meatpacking District location – even if she does have to pretend to be Annabelle Bronstein.

The girls enjoy a couple of much-needed poolside lounging sessions before Samantha is rumbled, at which point she gives us the iconic US-to-bad-English accent transition (upon learning the woman she's supposed to be is actually a Brit) that's the cherry on the cake of the entire farcical episode.

6) "I'm dating a guy with the funkiest tasting s***k."

(Easy Come, Easy Go - Season 3, episode 9)

There have been some terrific actors of note making guest appearances early in their career in Sex and the City, and one was Emmy-winning actor Bobby Cannavale, who appeared as one of Samantha's sexual conquests.

At a brunch with the girls, Samantha bluntly dropped her assessment on her lover's "funkiest tasting" offering, prompting a horrified Charlotte to swiftly depart the scene.

"And she's never coming back," said an overly theatrical Miranda.

Really, this was also a moment for all of the ladies.

7) Running in pearls

(Luck Be an Old Lady, Sex and the City, Season 5, episode 3)

Who could forget Samantha’s Herculean effort to catch then-lover Richard Wright red-handed when she suspected him of cheating on her in Atlantic city?

Running up all those flights of stairs in the plot-crucial pearl thong just to prove her suspicions correct? Truly iconic behaviour.

8) The Big Hat at the guac

(Sex and the City: The Movie)

A list of Samantha's (and Kim's) greatest moments wouldn't be complete without acknowledging the impact of her Big Hat.

A sublime highlight from the first Sex and the City movie, our thirsty Samantha lusting after her Adonis of a neighbour on the terrace of her LA beachside home, bending the brim of her enormously oversized sunhat down to hide her gaze when he catches her staring, and shovelling a tortilla chip heavily laden with guacamole into her mouth in a bit to satisfy herself is a scene that lives rent-free in the mind of any self-respecting SATC fan.

9) The skin peel

(Plus One in the Loneliest Number, Sex and the City – Season 5, episode 5)

If you don’t still show up to be your girlfriend’s +1 at the book launch party she’s dreading, even after you’ve accidentally peeled off several layers of skin with a facial chemical peel, then can you really call yourself a best friend at all?

10) When the people at the next table had a child

(Where There's Smoke, Sex and the City – Season 3, episode 1)

"Would you be quiet?" Charlotte begs, scandalised and hungover. "The people at the next table have a child."

"Well, that's their choice," Samantha replies, casting an unimpressed look over her shoulder at the offending family.

11) Standing up for Carrie

(Defining Moments - Season 4, episode 3)

What we all love about Samantha is her ability to stand up for her friends when others remain quiet.

Sitting down at a table with Big, Samantha calls out Big's ambiguous treatment of Carrie and how he is playing with her friend's feelings.

"If you're just friends, what exactly do you think you're doing? Because that girl might come off like she's all strong and over it, but she's fragile, and she's my best friend. So I suggest you back off."

Trust Samantha to put it plainly!

12) Flowers for the funeral

(Little Black Dress - And Just Like That season 1, episode 2)

Despite the supposed rift between Carrie and Samantha, written in to excuse Kim's absence from the revival series And Just Like That, our eternal queen showed her unfailing loyalty and love for her (former) friend with the perfect gesture when it mattered most.

Though Samantha couldn't make an appearance at the funeral after Carrie lost her husband Big (what with Kim still, at that point in time, still refusing to play the character), the writers managed to keep her off-screen actions true to her character.

Though Carrie had requested absolutely no flowers at the funeral, a stunningly elegant display appeared on the coffin – sent with a simple note expressing her condolences in the most perfect way, reading: "Love, Samantha."

13) The red Birkin

(Coulda Woulda Shoulda - Season 4, Episode 11)

How far would Samantha go to secure the bag? Quite far, actually.

For the entirety of the episode, Samantha's comical journey to get her red Birkin is her primary focus - so much so that she uses her A-list client Lucy Liu's name to get one.

Of course, this leads to an explosive encounter with Liu herself and there are fireworks!

14) Babysitting Brady

(Critical Condition, Sex and the City – Season 5, Episode 6)

With Miranda desperately trying to keep her head above water with new motherhood, Samantha once again demonstrates her firm friendship values by giving up her fancy hair appointment to her struggling girlfriend.

Despite her disinterest (or outright dislike) of children, she even takes baby Brady off Miranda’s hands to free her up to go to the salon.

Of course, when the baby’s vibrating, soothing chair fizzles and stops –prompting him to pick up screaming where he left off before its introduction to his life – Samantha comes up with a solution only Samantha could: using her brand new, unused vibrator to calm the shrieking infant.

15) "I love you, but I love me more"

(Sex and the City: The Movie)

A defining moment in Sex and the City history and one which actress Kim Cattrall certainly loves to quote too.

Throughout the first film of the franchise, Samantha lives an isolated existence in California and only drops by for visits with the other ladies as she puts her work and relationship with the lovely Smith Jerrod first.

However, it's clear that she is not built to put the man in her life above her own personal happiness and sexual appetites any more - and why should she?

In an emotional and honest scene with Smith, Samantha tells her actor boyfriend that she remains in love with him, but she needs to show herself some love too.

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