Sprawling estates covered in wisteria, ornate ballgowns, sweeping gardens, and handsome bachelors vowing to win the hands of desirable debutants; the Regency drama Bridgerton promises to offer some much-needed escapism for run-down and locked down New Year viewers.
The Netflix original series centres on the widowed Lady Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) and her eight children. Living across the street from the distinguished Bridgerton family is the less desirable Featherington family, headed by no-nonsense and domineering Lady Portia Featherington (Polly Walker) – a woman who is particularly partial towards gaudy and frilly attire, much to the dismay of her three teenage daughters. It is the spring of 1813 in London and the matriarchs of both households are keen to secure their respective daughters marriage proposals from eligible bachelors before the close of the summer season. Lady Bridgerton has high hopes that her eldest daughter Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) will be able to procure a respectable match, and her confidence does not appear misplaced when Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) declares Daphne to be ‘the diamond of the season.’
Unfortunately for Daphne, her eldest brother Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) is rather overzealous in his role of vetting Daphne’s hoard of suitors. Believing his sister to be far superior to virtually all of the men vowing for her hand, Daphne is left with slim pickings. To make matters worse, the Featheringtons have a new arrival in the form of their beautiful cousin Marina Thompson (Ruby Barker) and Marina’s popularity with the bachelors of the town hasn’t gone unnoticed by anonymous pamphleteer ‘Lady Whistledown,’ whose scurrilous writing has the power to elevate or to irreparably ruin the reputations of female hopefuls. Another recent arrival causing quite the stir is the dashing yet emotionally unavailable Duke of Hastings, Simon Bassett (Regé-Jean Page). Aware that Daphne is anxious about her fading popularity, Simon and Daphne formulate a ruse together. The pair decide to feign an attachment in the hope that Daphne’s unavailability will make her all the more attractive to male suitors and that Simon’s alleged interest in Daphne will allow him to escape female attention. Of course, their courtship becomes front-page news but inevitably their scheme has some repercussions which neither of the pair anticipated.
The plot, complete with many of the trademark twists and turns of period romances, rattles along relatively well which makes for easy viewing during these cold and dreary winter days. Moreover, Bridgerton certainly delivers in terms of aesthetics and cinematography, largely thanks to their extensive filming on location in Bath and Ellen Mirojnick’s hard work as costume designer. I was pleasantly surprised by the show’s soundtrack which features a fusion of classical music and pop hits from the likes of Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish, performed by the highly talented Vitamin String Quartet. The show explores certain themes with considerable success, such as gender double standards and the pain caused when an individual’s aspirations do not line up with their social destiny. Moreover, I have to commend some of the top-class casting decisions made by Kelly Valentine Hendry. Julie Andrews provides a brilliant voiceover to the series as ‘Lady Whistledown.’ I was particularly impressed by Derry Girls’ Nicola Coughlan who plays kind-hearted and smitten Penelope Featherington. Spunky, brazen, and forthright Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie) offers a nice counterpoint to her idealistic sister Daphne, as Eloise has no desire whatsoever to frolic about in fancy ballgowns simply to attract male attention. Adjoa Andoh gives a standout performance as Lady Danbury, the childhood guardian of Simon – she is acerbic, a straight-shooter and, quite frankly, a bit of an icon.
Bridgerton’s diverse casting attracted a lot of attention to the show prior to its release, given that period dramas rarely feature Black actors and POC. For the first few episodes, viewers are given the impression that race does not exist in the world of Bridgerton, an effective strategy in my opinion as I didn’t feel like their casting decisions needed to be rationalised. Then, out of nowhere, about halfway through the season there’s a scene where Lady Danbury explains to Simon that the marriage between King George and Queen Charlotte significantly improved the position of Black people in society. What makes this moment bizarre, other than that it feels very much shoehorned in, is that issues of race are never mentioned again after this or discussed by any other characters on the show. If it is true, as Lady Danbury says, that they were ‘two separate societies, divided by colour until the king fell in love with one of us,’ surely discussions of race would crop up repeatedly in conversation, especially given that the central couple in season one of Bridgerton is an interracial one. It seems as though the directors and writers felt that casting Black actors in a period drama was ‘the elephant in the room’ which they needed to acknowledge. Overall, I felt that should have either played up the fact that they have a diverse cast by addressing issues of race in a more meaningful and sustained manner or stuck with the ‘colour-blind’ approach in order to help normalise the inclusion of POC in period pieces.
Another note of caution: although Bridgerton has a PEGI rating of 15, do be aware that this show is rather racy, especially after the fifth episode. You might want to bear this in mind before watching Bridgerton with your family!
A couple of other minor gripes I have with this show are that I felt that the scripting was a bit dodgy in places and some of the borderline slapstick humour missed the mark for me. When I heard the news that there may be up to eight more seasons of the show, I was simultaneously delighted and dismayed – delighted because, in times like these, I think we can all agree that we need a worthwhile distraction and dismayed because I fear that the tumultuous relationship between Daphne and Simon may have a limited shelf life. I also find it a bit worrying that I’ve seen quite a lot of young people online idolising the relationship between the lead characters, even though it is pretty unhealthy and problematic. My hope is that – like Julia Quinn’s romance novels which the series is based upon – each season will focus on a different Bridgerton to a inject some extra vitality into future seasons.
Overall, Bridgerton is packed with enough scandals and seductions to keep you engaged. It’s the type of show that isn’t without its flaws but that you will inhale nonetheless. Most of the issues I have raised above came to me after I had finished watching the first season and did not significantly detract from my viewing experience at the time. Therefore, I would rate Bridgerton 4/5 stars.
Bridgerton is now available for streaming on Netflix only.
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