Bridgerton, Netflix, ****
For all the hardships endured by Jane Austen, at least there was no autocorrect in her day. Every time I try to write the title of Netflix's ratings winner, the computer says no and changes it to “Bridgeton”, as in the Glasgow district. Now that would be a novel romantic drama. “How lovely, dear heart, that your supporter’s scarf should echo your eyes?”
As a chat-up line, that’s far too tame for Chris Van Dusen’s creation, which has made its name by not retreating at the bedroom door. But there has always been more to Bridgeton - sorry Bridgerton - than the sex. Alongside the frivolity are sharp takes on social issues such as race, class and a woman's lot.
Each series, set in Regency London, features the romantic fortunes of the Bridgerton boys and girls. In series four, it is the turn of Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) to marry. Judging by his rakish ways, he is in no hurry to settle down.
Undeterred, his mother presses him to attend the first masquerade ball of the season, and sure enough, he is thoroughly bored.
But what is this? In the crush of guests, Benedict spies a young woman. Wearing a silver mask to match her dress, she is set apart from the crowd, drinking in the scene like so much Champagne. A stranger to cynicism, she looks on the splendour with a childlike wonder, as if she had never seen anything like it. Yet how could that be?
Benedict engineers a meeting on the terrace with the mystery lady. Both confess to feeling like outsiders in society. Just as it seems that these two lonely love birds might have found each other, the clock strikes midnight and the masks must come off. The lady in silver, suddenly terrified, runs off into the night, leaving behind a single glove.
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Simple, thinks Benedict: I shall trace this Cinderella through her glove. It can't be that hard, can it? When there are four episodes to fill, and a further four dropping on February 26, you can bet your breeches it is going to be a long haul before love finds away - if it does.
Courtesy of the wildly popular newsletter penned by Lady Whistledown (Derry Girls’ Nicola Coughlan), the entire “Ton” is transfixed by Benedict’s search. Among those who have their fingers crossed is Lady Araminta Gun (Katie Leung), a widow with two daughters to marry off.
So much for what is happening upstairs. Downstairs in Lady Gun’s home, a beautiful maid by the name of Sophie (Yerin Ha) is remembering her magical evening with a gentleman who can never be her husband …
Drenched in sunshine and awash with flowers in bloom, Bridgerton is a shot of vitamin D to the soul. If the writing is not as sharp as before, it still has more witty asides in a single speech than other shows have per episode. In short, just what we need to survive these miserable weeks before spring.
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