Everybody’s favourite Regency era bonkbuster returns to streaming service Netflix next week for a hotly-anticipated new series
You mean Blackadder The Third?
Er, no, and not Poldark either. We mean the second series of Bridgerton, the smash hit drama based on the novels of American historical author Julia Quinn but brought to the small screen by former Grey’s Anatomy showrunner-turned-uber-producer Shonda Rhimes under her Shondaland banner. The show debuted on Netflix on Christmas Day 2020 and was met with near-universal acclaim for everything from its vivid costumes to its witty dialogue and diverse casting – in a departure from Quinn’s source material, writer-creator Chris Van Dusen has re-imagined late 18th century London as a place where black, white and Asian characters meet, mingle and (inevitably) do what people do after they have met and mingled. Referring to the show’s earthier moments, Entertainment Weekly critic Kristen Baldwin called the series “a wonderful diversion for those who love Pride And Prejudice but wish it had more stairway sex”. On that note, it’s fair to say there is not what you would call a scarcity of rumpy-pumpy.
What else is it about?
Questions about race and diversity are implied, but the surface plot follows the eight siblings of the powerful and aristocratic Bridgerton family as they find their way around Regency London, a journey which generally involves lots of parties, gossip and scandalous behaviour. Chiefly we follow the eldest Bridgerton daughter Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and her tangled affair with handsome duke Simon Basset (Regé-Jean Page). Each episode is narrated by a Lady Whistledown, notionally the writer of some kind of scandal sheet. She is voiced by none other than Julie Andrews.
Sounds glossy ...
It is. Estimates put production costs at £5 million per episode and, though most of the show is filmed in London and Bath, there is a catwalk parade of stately homes on show as well, among them Badminton House, Castle Howard and Hampton Court Palace.
What does the writer say?
“With Bridgerton, I wanted to take everything I loved about a period show and turn it into something fresh, topical, and relatable,” Van Dusen has claimed, adding: “[It] is a reimagined world, we’re not a history lesson, it’s not a documentary. What we’re really doing with the show is marrying history and fantasy in what I think is a very exciting way.”
And season two?
It airs on Netflix from March 25 and goes live at 7am, so if you want to spend the day in your pyjamas on the sofa you can binge the lot in one fell swoop. New characters include the Sharma family – matriarch Mary (Shelley Conn, pictured below), and sisters Kate (Simone Ashley) and Edwina (Charithra Chandran). Seasons three and four have already been commissioned and there’s also a spin-off prequel to look forward to which will examine the back story of Queen Charlotte, played in the series by Golda Rosheuvel. However Regé-Jean Page has left the series, which will only fuel the rumours that he is to be the next James Bond.
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