Bridgerton: everything you need to know about Netflix drama

Netflix’s new period drama, Bridgerton, which debuted on Christmas Day, has been described as a Gossip Girl from the regency era.

And you can see why. It is narrated by the mysterious Lady Whistledown, who regularly writes newsletters full of chatter about high society dating exploits. Everyone reads her well-informed takes with fascination – but no one knows who she is.

The year is 1813 and Daphne Bridgerton is making her London debut in hopes of finding a suitable husband. Things are challenged by his older brother, whose perceptive gaze prevents most male candidates from going too far.

“She is the oldest daughter of the Bridgerton family,” explains actress Phoebe Dynevor, “and obeys all these crazy social rules and expectations that were imposed on women, but also on men, at the time. But she is very young and naive and she is about to discover that the world is not exactly as she imagined. “

So, that’s the premise. Here’s everything else you need to know:

The eight-part drama was adapted from Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series of novels. They sold more than 10 million copies in the United States alone and have been translated into 32 languages ​​worldwide.

But there is a good chance that you have never heard of them, which may be partly due to a certain snobbery that exists in relation to gender.

“I think it’s a common thought, that people look down on novels with contempt,” says showrunner Chris Van Dusen. “I personally don’t understand why that is. I don’t think it’s the same with other genres. But at the end of the day, these books are full of attractive characters and interesting stories.”

Derry Girls star Nicola Coughlan, who plays Penelope Featherington, agrees: “I think they can definitely be [looked down upon], but that is part of the secret power of the program in a way, because it is a genre that has not been much explored on television. “

Shonda Rhimes is not well known in the UK, but she is one of the most powerful executives on the American TV scene, having created the medical drama Grey’s Anatomy and the political thriller Scandal. She also wrote Britney Spears’ film Crossroads, but no one is perfect.

In 2017, Netflix hired Rhimes and its production company Shondaland to

an exclusive deal valued at $ 150 million (£ 110 million), which has so far seen her develop Bridgerton and the next Inventing Anna series.

The deal was seen as a blow to Netflix due to Rhimes’ close ties to ABC. Extraordinarily, the move came about because of a dispute Rhimes had with ABC’s parent company, Disney, over some free family passes to Disneyland, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Anyway, Rhimes brought Van Dusen with her to supervise Bridgerton, because the pair is old.

“Yes, we do. I’ve worked in Shondaland for almost my entire writing career, since Grey’s Anatomy,” explains Van Dusen. “Before Bridgerton, I was working on Scandal and, when the series was coming to an end, I was looking for what to do next. I knew I wanted to do something completely different from modern political intrigue in Washington DC, and that’s when Shonda told me about Bridgerton. “

Almost all critics have noted that Bridgerton’s launch is timely, reaching the end of a terrible 2020.

Vanity Fair’s Sonia Saraiya described it as “silly and sparkling escapism – the perfect Christmas offer for a craptastic year”.

“It’s a fun show, at least for a while; the escapism ratio is high,” agreed Time’s Judy Berman. But, she added: “If only the writing corresponded to the production values.”

Aja Romano of Vox was more critical, saying that the show “comes out like many of the aristocrats is spectacular: soulless and boring”.

But the series’ diverse cast was applauded by Kathryn VanArendonk of Vulture, who wrote: “Bridgerton, a captivating example of what can happen when the novel can belong to characters who are not all heterosexual and white, and a reminder of fanfare and confetti from what the genre can do best. “

After Coughlan was cast for the show, she “lurked in the online fan forums”, which is something that only the bravest actors would do.

“And I realized that the fans really loved Penelope, so I felt a lot of pressure and like I didn’t want to let them down,” she explains. “They really wanted Emma Stone to be cast, so I was like, ‘I’m really sorry for being me!'”

Fortunately, they gave Coughlan the seal of approval. “They have been so adorable, when the cast was announced, they couldn’t be sweeter,” she says. “But there is a big fandom behind the series.” In fact, mining the Coughlan forum was quite useful for the other cast members.

“I think Nicola was definitely the spokesman for the Brigerstans, as they are called,” says Dynevor. “We would go to Nicola if we had any questions from fans.” Dynevor, however, chose to avoid the forums (“for my own mental health”), adding: “There is a lot of pressure when there are already such people.”

British and American viewers prefer period drama, especially the Regency period, because “it was a time of excess, beauty and decadence”, according to Van Dusen.

“It was overkill. And I think that’s why the audience loves it so much. You have the dance, the costumes, the jewelry, the country houses, the ballrooms sparkling and I think it all works to provide us with an escape.”

Coughlan says she is pleased with the launch of a show so “colorful and exciting” at the end of a year that it would otherwise be miserable. “We don’t need a monotonous gray period drama,” she says, “Bridgerton is totally in technicolor, so I think it will be good for people.”

It is clear from Bridgerton’s first minutes that a lot of time and effort was spent on the costumes, hair and makeup.

“The adaptation process was very complicated,” admits Dynevor. “I had 104 dresses, all handmade from scratch, which is quite unprecedented, the costume department was incredible. But also having to be fitted into the costumes – whenever I wasn’t filming, I was in an exam ”.

But that was not the only time-consuming thing that the stars had to do in preparation for filming. Dynevor also took “riding, dancing and etiquette classes”, in addition to learning all lines. “But you had to throw yourself into it,” she says.

Coughlan notes that today’s audience can feel a new appreciation of how far society has developed since the 19th century. “Eloise and Penelope are virgins who don’t know how to drive,” she points out. “But it was not so long ago that young women were not yet informed of all the facts of life.

“It’s fascinating to see, even though times have changed, how much human nature persists. The same pressure applies in different ways. You see the pressure on women to get married, and it still exists. You see the pressure on men to fulfill these stereotyped male roles in society and how people don’t want to be a part of it. “

Van Dusen concludes: “Underneath all the glamor and extravagance, there is a current modern commentary on the series about how, in the last 200 years, everything has changed, but nothing has changed, I think this is true for men and women.

“We explored things like family, sexuality, dating, they dated during the regency, and instead of dating apps like Tinder, they were effectively sliding left and right in the ballrooms all night. Find these references was something we had a lot of fun with. “