Now a major new TV drama series in the US, penned by the writers of The OC, which ITV2 plan to broadcast in March 2008 Compulsive reading: if Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw had a younger sister, she would be Gossip Girl Sharp wit, intriguing characters, and high-stakes melodrama drive the action of this wildly popular series

'At the lighter end of the scale, those of you who've been waiting for a new BFF to fill the gaping OC/Dawson's/90210 hole in your lives could do far worse than sign up for an upper east side preppy education in Gossip Girl (March, ITV2). Based on Cecily von Ziegesar's string of novels. It's Cruel Intentions with a noughties Abercrombie sheen - and as it's adapted by Josh Schwartz (the Seth Cohenalike behind The OC), you'd be right to expect a string of zippy one-liners, powerhouse teen bitchiness and a general fascination with the lives of the urban rich' Guardian

Cecily von Ziegesar herself attended one of the smart private schools in Manhattan, New York, and, as a result, much contained within the tales told in Gossip Girl rings with great authenticity.